Quote:
Originally Posted by Derek Sutton
Yah this was addressed in "Moneyball" (the book) the budget teams (KC, OAK etc...) do not have the money to sign the top players coming out of the draft, so they draft players they know that they can afford and will sign with them, rahter then picking the best player available.
|
True. (And wasn't that a terrific book?)
But even the big-money teams, the Yankees and Red Sox and so forth, worry about signability. In particular, they don't want to be drafting high-school kids who might change their minds and go to college (and therefore back into the draft).
Anyway, the fact that MLB gives out tons of compensatory picks doesn't mean that the NHL could make things work the same way. A 40-round draft with no trading of picks is not the same as a 7-round draft with trading allowed. MLB compensatory picks have such low individual value that they can afford to hand them out like candy.