I'm completely fascinated by this story.

ESPN reports on Carter Stewart

Quote:For years, opponents of Major League Baseball's draft who believed it stifled the true value of players have hypothesized about ways to avoid its constraints. Nineteen-year-old Carter Stewart is ready to test the viability of an alternative -- and travel more than 7,500 miles from his Florida home to do it.

Stewart is in agreement on a six-year contract worth more than $7 million with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Japan's Pacific League, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN. Stewart was the No. 8 overall pick in last year's MLB draft but didn't sign after the Atlanta Braves, who believed he was injured, offered him a signing bonus well under the $4.98 million slot value of the pick -- around $2 million. Stewart went to junior college instead and was expected to go early in the second round of this year's draft -- and receive an offer of less than $2 million.

Instead, he agreed to a groundbreaking contract with the Hawks, who have won four of the past five Japan Series. Stewart is expected to finalize the deal by the end of May. Not only does Stewart stand to make more money during his six years in Japan than he would have with an MLB organization, he could potentially return to the United States as a 25-year-old free agent allowed to sign a long-term contract with any of MLB's 30 teams.

This reminds me a lot of how players are signed by soccer clubs. It doesn't matter what country you come from and there are few rules with regard to how a club spends its money. This obviously isn't that cut and dry or capitalistic, but I think it's a good thing that kids have more options. Leagues, not just franchises, competing against each other is a good thing.

The MLB is the premier baseball league in the world, but that doesn't mean they can't be challenged in certain respects. Personally, I think it would be fun if there were several great baseball leagues in the world. Japan obviously has a good league, but they don't really compete with the MLB for the same players. In soccer, your league's ability to be a force in the game is purely a matter of will and resources available.

I'm a big fan of the way professional soccer is constructed and a lot of that has to do with a global governing body that sets standards. Not that I would necessarily call for that in baseball, but I think this could be the beginning of MLB being forced to alter their business model and account for international competition.

In short, I think this kid has a great idea. Why in the world would you want to languish away in the minor leagues for little money when you could go compete in front of passionate crowds in Japan and make a ton of money doing it?