Major League Baseball has long been unique among professional sports leagues in its approach to the amateur draft. Unlike the NFL, NBA, and NHL, Major League Baseball prohibits teams from trading draft picks. However, this rule has sparked debate among fans, analysts, and team executives, with some advocating for the ability to trade picks to add strategic flexibility, expedite rebuilds and garner further interest in the event itself. From this chair, the pros of trading draft picks significantly outweigh the risks associated with such a change.
Major League Baseball’s insistence on not having a salary cap places cash-strapped teams in a bind. There are ways to build a successful, efficient, sustainable winner. The Rays have proven as much. But what if the league ratcheted up the ways a team could acquire young, controllable talent. Allowing teams to trade draft picks would provide front offices with more tools to build their organizations. Teams in contention could trade future picks for immediate help, while rebuilding teams could accumulate picks to accelerate their development pipelines. This flexibility could make the trade deadline and offseason even more dynamic. It places an even greater onus on scouting and player development for teams who are unwilling to spend in the free agent pool. And it places even more pressure on high-payroll teams not to miss on free agents and trades.
The value of a prospect in Major League Baseball has never been higher. The value of draft pick capital is equally at an all-time high. The introduction of the PPI pick and expansion of Compensatory Picks each CBA speaks to the leagues desire to use the draft as a mechanism for incentivization. By making picks tradable, their value becomes more liquid. As an example, an additional $3 million in bonus pool money might mean a great deal more to the Pittsburgh Pirates than it does to the New York Yankees. Perceived value added/lost is the crux in trade discussions around the league. Why not add another form of currency to the toolbelt of front offices looking to strike a deal?
In meeting with BBWAA, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred suggested there is some ownership receptivity to allowing teams to trade draft picks. However, he notes it has to be collectively bargained with the MLBPA.
— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) July 16, 2024
Major League Baseball is also, put simply, behind the times. They’ve made a concerted effort over the last handful of years to elevate the MLB Draft. They’ve moved it to All-Star Weekend and have begun televising it on multiple networks. Want an easy way for the casual fan to be more engaged? The NFL, NBA, and NHL all allow draft pick trades, and it has become a cornerstone of those draft events. Even the potential for a trade to take place leading up to the event draws eyes and ears. Especially in the mass media content space. Adopting a similar system in MLB would, at a minimum, bring the league in line with competing leagues.
College baseball continues to blossom. There are more fans engaging with the amateur side of the sport than ever before. Prospect junkies are well-researched on the top handful of players at the top of each draft these days, and that research is trickling down to the casual fan in haste. Fans know the players at the top of each draft these days. By extension, if teams could trade picks, fans could root for their team to trade up to acquire a player they’d been watching and rooting for all spring. Major networks like ESPN have poured a ton of money into broadcasting rights for college baseball. Why not parlay those telecasts with narratives surrounding teams trading up to acquire players highlighted on those broadcasts?
More importantly than anything, trading picks could allow rebuilds to accelerate. Struggling teams currently trade their soon-to-be free agent players for whatever the league offers them in return. A lot of times those deals don’t involve prospects the team typically prefers. They take what the market offers. Their hand is forced by controllability timelines. The Draft is an opportunity for organizations to choose players they specifically prefer. Players that fit their ballclub, their ballpark dimensions, their weather and their culture. Struggling teams could trade established players for multiple draft picks, giving them a chance to restock their farm systems more quickly. This could help level the playing field between large-market and small-market teams by providing more avenues for rebuilding. And if it doesn’t, the blame squarely falls at the feet of the scouting and player development departments in-house.
Surely there are counterarguments for such a rule change. The league would have to ensure small market clubs are not selling off draft picks to big market clubs to line the pockets of their owners. The inverse is possible too. The league would want to make sure large market teams aren’t shipping out all their picks at the top of the draft each year. Those television markets would simply stop caring about the Draft all together. From this chair, the pros outweigh the cons.
The ability to trade draft picks presents the league an exciting opportunity. And one would imagine it’s going to be a big discussion in CBA negotiations following the 2026 season. MLB would need to implement safeguards to prevent abuse and ensure that the system benefits the league and its fans. But MLB is already behind the times on this issue, and expedition to the modern landscape would benefit the sport.
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