Draft Opposition

Latin American players are vocally opposing an international draft. Good for them. The MLBPA should be fighting to eliminate the draft.

Of course, the Latin American players face attitudes like this from union member Torii Hunter:

“As African-American players, we have a theory that baseball can go get an imitator and pass them off as us. It’s like they had to get some kind of dark faces, so they go to the Dominican or Venezuela because you can get them cheaper. It’s like, ‘Why should I get this kid from the South Side of Chicago and have Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?’ … I’m telling you, it’s sad,” he said.

Before the draft, when African-American could be signed cheaply, they represented a much higher percentage of players in the game. Both an international draft and abolishing the draft levels the playing field. The abolition gives the players more freedom, so one would think that would be their preferred outcome.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2fQNTXk