Hello There, Guest! (LoginRegister)

Post Reply 
Pitching prospect signs with Japanese team, skips the MLB draft
Author Message
AllTideUp Offline
Heisman
*

Posts: 5,154
Joined: Jul 2015
Reputation: 559
I Root For: Alabama
Location:
Post: #1
Pitching prospect signs with Japanese team, skips the MLB draft
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?
05-22-2019 02:52 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Advertisement


Wedge Offline
Moderator
*

Posts: 19,862
Joined: May 2010
Reputation: 964
I Root For: California
Location: IV, V, VI, IX
Post: #2
RE: Pitching prospect signs with Japanese team, skips the MLB draft
(05-22-2019 02:52 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  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?

IMO it's time for our pro sports leagues to get rid of their player drafts and replace them with a pool or a cap for new signings. E.g., each team gets X million each year to sign free agents who have never before played in the league. Use the money to sign players out of HS, or college, or Europe or Australia, wherever. Convince the guys you want that your franchise is the best place for them to sign.

The best or wealthiest franchises couldn't sign every good player, couldn't even sign most of them, because they would be limited by the "rookies salary cap" like every other team.

Best of all, it would be the end of tanking, the end of the draft's rewarding of both intentional and unintentional incompetence.
05-22-2019 03:25 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
AllTideUp Offline
Heisman
*

Posts: 5,154
Joined: Jul 2015
Reputation: 559
I Root For: Alabama
Location:
Post: #3
RE: Pitching prospect signs with Japanese team, skips the MLB draft
(05-22-2019 03:25 PM)Wedge Wrote:  
(05-22-2019 02:52 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  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?

IMO it's time for our pro sports leagues to get rid of their player drafts and replace them with a pool or a cap for new signings. E.g., each team gets X million each year to sign free agents who have never before played in the league. Use the money to sign players out of HS, or college, or Europe or Australia, wherever. Convince the guys you want that your franchise is the best place for them to sign.

The best or wealthiest franchises couldn't sign every good player, couldn't even sign most of them, because they would be limited by the "rookies salary cap" like every other team.

Best of all, it would be the end of tanking, the end of the draft's rewarding of both intentional and unintentional incompetence.

Americans are too enthralled with the idea of parity.

Or at least, we are big fans of our respective team being given the same advantages that every other franchise has. This leads to a certain degree of mediocrity because there's no such thing as perfect parity. Invariably, you have to manufacture outcomes and one of the symptoms of that is tanking.

Personally, I think MLB or any other league should share TV money and then everything else should be a matter of what you can accomplish with your own individual decisions. There really shouldn't be a salary cap or a luxury tax. And I agree that there shouldn't be a draft.

If a player wants to sign with your team and the two parties agree on a price then that should pretty much be all there is to it.

Unions should exist to prevent larger organizations from colluding to lower salaries and such. Other than that, they're influence should be minimal.
05-22-2019 03:42 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Advertisement


dbackjon Offline
Hall of Famer
*

Posts: 12,007
Joined: May 2010
Reputation: 655
I Root For: NAU/Illini
Location:
Post: #4
RE: Pitching prospect signs with Japanese team, skips the MLB draft
(05-22-2019 03:25 PM)Wedge Wrote:  
(05-22-2019 02:52 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  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?

IMO it's time for our pro sports leagues to get rid of their player drafts and replace them with a pool or a cap for new signings. E.g., each team gets X million each year to sign free agents who have never before played in the league. Use the money to sign players out of HS, or college, or Europe or Australia, wherever. Convince the guys you want that your franchise is the best place for them to sign.

The best or wealthiest franchises couldn't sign every good player, couldn't even sign most of them, because they would be limited by the "rookies salary cap" like every other team.

Best of all, it would be the end of tanking, the end of the draft's rewarding of both intentional and unintentional incompetence.

Awful idea - the end of Pro Sports as we know it here - you will end up like European Soccer - leagues always dominated by one or two rich teams.
05-25-2019 05:17 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Wedge Offline
Moderator
*

Posts: 19,862
Joined: May 2010
Reputation: 964
I Root For: California
Location: IV, V, VI, IX
Post: #5
RE: Pitching prospect signs with Japanese team, skips the MLB draft
(05-25-2019 05:17 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  
(05-22-2019 03:25 PM)Wedge Wrote:  IMO it's time for our pro sports leagues to get rid of their player drafts and replace them with a pool or a cap for new signings. E.g., each team gets X million each year to sign free agents who have never before played in the league. Use the money to sign players out of HS, or college, or Europe or Australia, wherever. Convince the guys you want that your franchise is the best place for them to sign.

The best or wealthiest franchises couldn't sign every good player, couldn't even sign most of them, because they would be limited by the "rookies salary cap" like every other team.

Best of all, it would be the end of tanking, the end of the draft's rewarding of both intentional and unintentional incompetence.

Awful idea - the end of Pro Sports as we know it here - you will end up like European Soccer - leagues always dominated by one or two rich teams.

That wouldn't happen because there would still be a rookies salary cap. Each team would have the same amount of money each year to spend on rookies. Thus, it would not be like European soccer leagues in which each of the top 2 teams spends more each season on new players than the entire payroll of any of the other teams in the league.
(This post was last modified: 05-25-2019 09:50 PM by Wedge.)
05-25-2019 09:46 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Post Reply 




User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)


Copyright © 2002-2024 Collegiate Sports Nation Bulletin Board System (CSNbbs), All Rights Reserved.
CSNbbs is an independent fan site and is in no way affiliated to the NCAA or any of the schools and conferences it represents.
This site monetizes links. FTC Disclosure.
We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit our web site. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice or to opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit http://www.networkadvertising.org.
Powered By MyBB, © 2002-2024 MyBB Group.