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Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Make everyone a free agent at age…
What is that ideal age? (Number of MLB years played is irrelevant. Don’t talk about it.)
Here are your constraints:
1. Teams have to have an incentive for the growing pains, learning curve, and player development.
2. The league has to have an incentive to continually look for better and better players, worldwide.
3. Players should have the same rights of choice as any non-athlete.
If you make everyone a free agent at age 18, then you’ll have the ARods and Griffeys scooped up immediately by the Yanks and other large-market teams. Otherwise, almost all high school players will be ignored as too risky. They’ll let them go to college, and use that as the testing ground.
The Pirates and Royals will simply look for 25-yr olds Lastings Milledge and Jeff Francoeur, serviceable players that the large market gave up on, because they won’t be able to compete for Ryan Zimmermans and Stephen Strasburgs.
If you make free agency at age 30, then most players won’t even be around to get offers. Almost all their peak years are gone. If you make free agency at age 18 or 21, then teams will have no need to develop players, and so, a good system to actually force teams to find quality players can never exist.
Free agency at age 27? Would that be fair to both sides?
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