Draft changes shape new landscape
Major League Baseball cutting its 2020 draft from 40 to five rounds because of economic concerns resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic is hardly an ideal scenario for the Pirates, who are looking to add as much talent as possible into the organization. The draft, of course, offers one of the most cost-effective ways of doing that.
But it’s certainly not an insurmountable task, Larry Broadway insisted in an appearance on 93.7 The Fan. Broadway, senior director of minor league operations, described the situation as a “challenge” and said it’s one the new brain trust is ready to attack
“I think it’s a challenge. It’s definitely a challenge,” Broadway said. “It’s a challenge that everybody is going to face. We’re typically used to ingesting 30-35 players out of the domestic draft and undrafted free agents. To have potentially five or less than five or five to 10 if there are some free agents added, that’s very different. That also impacts the landscape of what it looks like next year.
“Yeah, there are a lot of questions to be answered. It’s going to be a fun challenge to be able to think about things differently and a challenge a bunch of people are ready to take on as soon as we can understand what the constraints are a little bit better.”
Major League Baseball plans to hold the draft remotely, according to a memo obtained Friday by ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
As of now, teams are not allowed to have draft rooms and will do all drafting via video conference. That could change, the memo says, as the draft date approaches.
Shortening the draft will do a few different things, but the biggest will be raising the importance of getting these picks right, essentially eliminating any margin for error. But inside of that, there are several more ripple effects. Among them:
• The owners drew a hard line. Had they acquiesced to a 10-round draft, that would’ve meant less than $1 million per team in additional slot money (total $29,578,100). Apparently that was too much for a group that won’t be making money on ticket, merchandise or concession sales anytime soon.
• The amount of talent in this year’s draft could be diluted. Sure, the top guys will be unaffected, the ones who know they’re going in the higher rounds. But what about the players who aren’t so sure and have the option of staying in school? Might make more sense for that high school senior to go the college rout.
• Talented players going to or returning to college could create a glut of talent for next year. Picks in baseball’s draft have slot values assigned. What if a guy doesn’t like how far he falls in 2021, then doesn’t want to sign for what he views is less than he’s worth?
• What does this mean for the future of the minor leagues? It almost assuredly points to contraction, which Broadway said he expects, though he didn’t really levy an opinion either way.
“Whatever that is, we’ll be looking to leverage it as best we can,” he said.
Athletics
Former Pirates infielder Art Howe of Shaler is in intensive care in a Houston hospital with the coronavirus.
Howe, 73, best known as the manager of the “Moneyball” Oakland Athletics playoff teams in the late 1990s and early 2000s, confirmed to Houston TV station KPRC 2 Thursday night he has been dealing with the illness since first feeling symptoms of COVID-19 on May 3. Howe told the station he found out he was positive two days after being tested and tried to recover at home. He went to the hospital by ambulance on Tuesday, and remained in ICU.
Howe spent 12 seasons in the majors as a player, primarily at second base and third base. He played for the Pirates (197475) and Houston (1976-82), but missed the 1983 season with an injury before playing two more years for St. Louis (1984-85). Howe hit .260 over his career with 43 home runs and 293 RBIs. His only postseason homer in three playoff trips came in the 1981 NL Division Series against Los Angeles.
Astros
Bob Watson, an All-Star slugger who became the first black general manager to win a World Series with the New York Yankees in 1996, died. He was 74. The Houston Astros, for whom Watson played his first 14 seasons in a baseball career spanning six decades, announced his death Thursday night. See obituary, WB-4.