J.D. Drew, Scott Boras and the Amateur Draft
Imagine a system which allows Major League Baseball to
sign hundreds of players each year for a fraction of
their market value, with no protest from the Players’
Association. Now imagine the owners’ threatening to
destroy this system through their own ineptitude. This
is the story of J.D. Drew, Scott Boras and the amateur
draft.
The owners instituted the amateur draft in 1965 to
keep themselves from bidding up the value of top
prospects. While the reserve clause bound players to
their organization for life upon signing their first
contract, amateur players remained free to sign with
whichever club offered the most money. This freedom
allowed untested 18-year-olds to sign for more
up-front cash than a veteran could earn in ten years.
But after Rick Reichardt used his bargaining leverage
to extract a $205,000 signing bonus from the
California Angels in 1964, MLB decided to eradicate
this sliver of free market.
The result was the amateur draft, which, from the
owners’ perspective, proved an instant success. In its
first year, #1 pick Rick Monday signed for $104,000,
barely half of what Rick Reichardt had received the
year before. The next three #1 picks signed for
$75,000 each. Reichardt’s bonus remained the most ever
paid to an amateur until the Mets signed Darryl
Strawberry for $210,000 in 1980 -- but by then,
Strawberry’s bonus was only 150% of the average
player’s salary, compared to the 1400% Reichardt had
obtained.
The amateur draft was that baseball rarity, a
successful, legal way to reduce salaries. Baseball’s
antitrust exemption and precedents from other pro
sports effectively prevented disgruntled draftees from
challenging the process in court. The Players’
Association didn’t object to the draft: it doesn’t
represent draftees, and its members knew that the
money not needed to sign amateurs would probably wind
up in their own pockets. But now a loophole created by
the owners’ failure to adapt threatens this cozy
system.
The draft allows major league clubs to obtain
exclusive negotiating rights to players completing
their senior year of high school. A player who opts
for college is again eligible for the draft after his
junior year. The drafting club retains exclusive
negotiating rights until one week before the next
year’s draft, in which unsigned players can again be
drafted. The draft thus keeps salaries down by forcing
players either to sign with the drafting club, or to
sit out a year in hopes of receiving a better offer
from someone else.
The draft rules defined draft-eligible players to
include those who have never “signed a professional
baseball contract.” When they were written,
“professional baseball” included only major league
clubs and their minor league affiliates -- but when
the Northern League and other independent minor
leagues formed, the rules weren’t amended. Scott
Boras, a former Cardinals and Cubs farmhand who had
become one of the game’s most powerful agents, saw a
loophole.
Boras represented Jason Varitek. Now a Red Sox
catcher, in 1994 Varitek was a Georgia Tech senior
hailed as the year’s best catching prospect. The
Seattle Mariners drafted Varitek in the first round of
the 1994 draft, but when Seattle refused to meet his
asking price, Varitek signed with the St. Paul Saints
of the independent Northern League. Boras asserted
that since Varitek had signed a professional contract,
under MLB’s own rules he was no longer eligible for
the draft and would become an unrestricted free agent
one week before the 1995 draft. The Mariners averted a
showdown by signing Varitek before the deadline.
At the time no one knew what a player like Varitek
would be worth in the open market. That would soon
change, thanks to a series of mind-boggling blunders
by club executives. Major league rules require teams
to tender contracts to their draft picks within 15
days after selecting them, but in 1996, only one team
met this deadline. As a result, four of the top 12
picks sought and won free agency. #2 pick Travis Lee
soon signed a four-year, $10 million contract with the
Arizona Diamondbacks, a deal worth $7.5 million more
than #1 pick Kris Benson received from Pittsburgh. Now
everyone knew the stakes.
MLB tried to close these loopholes before the 1997
draft -- but it missed one. As of draft day, the
definition of “first year player” in the Major League
Rules still included Northern Leaguers, leaving open
the tactic Scott Boras had recommended to Jason
Varitek. This year Boras represented Florida State
outfielder J.D. Drew. Drew, picked #2 in the 1997
draft by the Phillies, demanded “Travis Lee” money of
$11 million; the Phillies countered with a “standard”
offer of $2.05 million. When the Phillies wouldn’t
budge, Drew signed with the Northern League; Boras
declared that he would become a free agent a week
before the 1998 draft.
Months later, MLB revised the rule to “clarify” that
players who had signed only with independent leagues
were still subject to the draft: Drew could play in
the Northern League until he was 40 without ever being
able to choose his own major league employer. Drew and
Boras fumed. They could sue over the rules change or
the draft itself, but such a battle could keep Drew
out of the majors for years.
Enter the Players’ Association. Although the MLBPA
didn’t represent Drew, it was determined to protect
the principle, established in a prior arbitration,
that MLB couldn’t change the draft rules without its
consent. And by bringing the matter to baseball’s
independent arbitrator, the MLBPA could bypass the
courts and obtain a definitive ruling on Drew’s status
before the 1998 draft.
A ruling on the MLBPA’s grievance is expected by late
May. If the arbitrator finds for the union, J.D. Drew
will become a free agent on May 26 -- and a Northern
League contract could become many prospects’ ticket to
even greater riches.
Copyright © 1998 Doug Pappas. All rights reserved.
Originally published in the May 1998 issue of Boston
Baseball.