(The above picture has no relevance here, other than being AWESOME. I mean, honestly. My favorite part of the picture isn't the two rings on his hand, or the contemplative pose in front of an old truck, or even the impressive mullet-beard combination. No. My favorite part is that before his buddy took the picture, our man had a brilliant idea: "You know what this pose really needs? Me chewing on some hay.")
There sure seems to be a growing feeling within baseball that major draft overhaul is on the way, most likely with a strict slotting system.
The owners are sick of paying amateurs more than All-Stars, and big league players are becoming more and more vocal about their agreement on this, a rare bit of harmony between labor and management.
Markets like Kansas City are a big part of the roots of this issue, of course, with the Royals essentially sitting out a few years' worth of drafts when they ran out of money after the first five or so rounds.
There have been too many years where J.D. Drew or Rick Porcello or some other superstud slips in the draft as teams shy away from high bonus demands, the players usually selected and signed by big money teams, turning the entire purpose of the draft on its head.
And here's the irony: a strict slotting system -- at least initially -- will actually hurt the Royals as they currently operate.
It's a bizarre thing that a rule designed to curb spending could actually hurt the Royals. But it's true.
The rule may or may not have helped the Royals two years ago, when Porcello and Matt Wieters were available when the Royals instead took Mike Moustakas. Porcello and Wieters each signed for significantly more than Moose's $4 million, though one person close to Wieters swears the Royals' reasons were not money.
Either way, the Royals set an all-time record on their draft spending last year, more than $11 million going to a class led by Eric Hosmer. The Royals were aggressive again this year, using their first three picks on players widely known to be seeking more than MLB's recommendended slot payments.
And that's the point.
Dayton Moore talks all the time about how he sees a strong farm system as the only way to improve the Royals long-term. He wants 60 percent of his big league roster to be homegrown players*, pointing out that even the Yankees didn't win their 1998 championship until committing to the farm system and stopped winning when they went away from it.
* I've never been clear as to what, exactly, people mean when they talk about "homegrown players." Are these only the guys a team drafts and promotes through the minor league system, like Zack Greinke? Or can they be minor leaguers acquired by trade who still make their big league debut with your team, like Mark Teahen?
If it's the Greinke group, the Royals only have five of those right now on the 25-man roster (Alex Gordon would be six). If we count the Teahen group, the Royals have eight (Gordon would be nine).
So you see an aggressive draft strategy in which each of the last fourth-round picks get more than a million dollars, an effort to stock the minor leagues with not only high-ceiling prospects, but a lot of them. In the international market, the Royals haven't been serious bidders on the most expensive prospects the last two years*, preferring to spread their money a bit more.
* RHP Michael Inoa signed for $4 million with Oakland last year, a record for international prospects that Miguel Angel Sano is trying to break this year.
Well, if a strict slot system is part of the next CBA like so many believe, the 2012 versions of Tim Melville and Chris Dwyer will be selected long before the Royals can play Captain Save-A-Throw with seven-figure offers for fourth-round picks.
In short, the Royals won't be able to spend their way to good drafts.
They'll have to outscout everybody else, to make better projections and better decisions.
It's still far too early to tell whether the current leadership is doing that -- though if what we hear about the reasons for Moustakas-over-Weiters are true, it's a bit of a dubious beginning.
At least at the moment, the Royals have a loophole of sorts in which they're infusing the organization with more than their fair share of talent. It may or may not materialize, but it's at least a rare and encouraging sign.
If the next CBA includes a hard slot system, the Royals will have to find another way to do it, their already daunting "process" becoming even more so.
if their going to slot the draft, they have to create a "in or out rule", and that in itself will cure a lot of the problems the Royals have in the draft. They have to overspend because no one wants to play for this sorry franchise.
Nevertheless they were going to overhaul the draft in the last CBA, but steriods took all of their time. Which is kind of strange to me, you know, it highlites why baseball struggles the way it does, just sit down and work at it untill a deal gets done.