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Some thoughts about the USA Today article and the Padres:
-being the only team discussed in the article is a really bad look, but it’s made clear throughout the article that it’s systemic.
-there’s no specific allegation that the Padres have made handshake deals with 12 year olds
-being the only team discussed in the article is a really bad look, but it’s made clear throughout the article that it’s systemic.
-there’s no specific allegation that the Padres have made handshake deals with 12 year olds
-the deals that were canceled were for two players that would have been eligible to sign this summer, before the period changed. The Padres’ excuse that the lack of ability to trade for more pool money due to roster freezes is certainly plausible.
-If the Padres had made handshake deals with players for more money than they had available in their pool, with the expectation that they’d be able to trade for more, they would have to cancel any deals that exceeded the limit if they couldn’t get extra money.
-MLB’s stance is clearly that they know all about handshake deals but their view is that it’s on the trainers/players/families to make those deals at their own risk. Their thought is either party can opt-out of handshake deals at any time without repercussion from the league.
-That the problems with deals happening with younger 12-14 year olds, according to Santin, really started after the 2016 IFA period when MLB implemented the league-wide bonus caps makes these issues unrelated to other issues Preller has had in IFA.
-We know that Preller & Co. seek advantages by going to the edges of what’s allowed by the rules. It’s unclear in this article if he or Kemp have actually broken any rules, or that they’re doing anything that’s substantively different from other teams are doing.
-The league has long considered IFA to be a “Wild West” situation and owners have sought an international draft to fix it. Many have been against the idea, calling it another way to limit signing bonuses, but it really would solve a lot of these Wild West problems.