Quote:
Originally Posted by PSUColonel
Is this an isolated occurrence, or is it commonplace? I just checked some of the draftees from my latest draft, but could not find an instance such as this.
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Although I can not speak for others, this happens much too often in my league. I usually sim 10-15 games at a time, so I rarely see the Waiver Wire, but I would say that at least once a season I see somebody waived that is a top prospect, simply because their major league options started much too early and they are neither good enough to be on the 25 man roster nor capable of being sent back to the minors.
Although I can not quantify perfectly how often this happens, I can offer the following anecdotal evidence. In my last draft, I chose a total of six players I was interested in prior to the draft (my team was picking 9th). I was able to draft one of the six and then I tracked the others throughout the signing period to see what happened or perhaps if I wanted to make a trade offer once they signed. All six were young (one was 21, the other five were teens) and all were rated one out of 4.0-5.0 potential stars.
Of the five other players, two did not sign despite being drafted in the first round. I know this can happen, but I think the occurrence of this is way too high as well. But that is a different topic for a different thread.
One other (the 21 year old) signed a major league contract and was immediately put on the major league team and placed in the role of utility infielder. By the end of the season he has about 40 ABs and is still 1/5 starts, so it remains to see how badly stunted his growth will be by this move. But I suppose I can blame some of that on his agent.
The remaining two players both signed minor league deals and were placed on the appropriate rookie team, which is exactly what should have happened for such raw players. Except that on the very next day after signing, both were placed on the 40 man roster by their respective teams:
Brandon Billings was signed by Oakland on May 28, then added to the 40-man roster on May 29. He never advanced out of rookie ball and was still a one star player at the end of the season, but he is on the 40-man roster and will run out of options and almost surely be exposed to waivers by the time he is 21.
Dan Hunter was drafted by Cincinnati in the second round and then signed on July 8th, along with the third round pick Von Black. On July 9th, both players were added to the 40-man roster, although this move meant that one player had to be released and one waived and designated for assignment to make room. Hunter stayed at rookie ball throughout the year and ended as a one star player, but will also run out of options and almost surely be waived before he turns 21.
The thing that really bothers me about this is that it gives such a competitive advantage to human players. Of six players I tracked, five had their development delayed and quite possibly ruined by simply going unsigned or having rosters mishandled. As the human player, I gained an advantage in the game simply by being smart enough to not put a player who was years away from tasting the majors or being Rule 5 eligible on the 40-man roster.
It seems as if some relatively simply logic could be put into place to protect against this.