Based on what MLB told team personnel yesterday, the most recent draft concept would be 20 rounds, with teams allowed to trade picks. Every pick would have a hard slot value, so if a team drafts a player and the slot value is $1 million, that player would sign for $1 million. Picks in the top three rounds would be protected for clubs, so if a team drafted a player in one of those rounds who didn’t sign, it would potentially receive compensation in the following year’s draft.
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One of the bigger twists in MLB’s latest draft concept is the draft order. Instead of replicating the order of the June draft, which would reward the team with the worst record the previous season with two No. 1 overall draft picks, the teams picking at the top of the draft would rotate annually by division. So one year, for example, the teams in the National League East would get the top five overall picks. The next year another division would get the top five picks, and it would rotate every six years.
Source: Ben Badler, Baseball America
It will be interesting to see what the MLBPA asks for in order to sign off on whatever finalized proposal comes its way. Not that it’s a big issue for their members but, still, it’s a pretty big bargaining chip, I would imagine.