Office of the League Commissioner----With the 2007 season in the books, Commissioner Scott Hatfield held an unprecedented meeting with veteran GM’s on Friday, January 4th, to discuss possible changes in league operation, following a series of high-powered email discussions with various owners dating back to December 11th.
“Essentially,” Hatfield conceded, “the league has been in operation for a while, and I have quite a few veteran owners who have invested enough in this league to have a stake in its’ future, and in this spirit, I have chosen to open up the league to at least a semblance of representative democracy. However,” Hatfield continued archly, “this was just a bone to keep some of you limp-wristed, bleeding-heart Commies from complaining too much about my benevolent dictatorship. You clowns are pink down to your underwear, I bet. And no, I’m not giving that dog back. Pat loves the thing.”
Despite Hatfield’s incoherent comments, the Commissioner’s Office was notably silent during discussions, which were recorded (in part) by Frostbite Falls GM Andrew Haynes, one of six GM’s in attendance (Arizona, Darwin, Las Vegas, Worcester and Yuma were also represented). The only notable interjection by the league turned on the question of how to balance the desires of individual owners versus parity. With that in mind, the following decisions about the league’s 2008 operation were announced:
1) There is no support for expansion at this time. The league will remain three divisions of four teams (total of 12). At least one new GM will be sought for 2008, and perhaps two. However, there is no longer any compensation in the Draft for owner recruitment.
2) Owners unanimously supported a reduction in the salary cap to $110,000,000, and pledged to support the Commissioner in not requesting a change to the cap during the season, and to abide by the cap requirements even if it required that a player be arbitrarily be cut.
3) Many of the Draft’s features will not be changed. The Draft itself will remain 10 rounds. Owners who draft unprotected players from other teams during the Draft will still compensate them with their next draft pick, if available. If the next draft pick available is not in the subsequent round, owners will receive an additional compensation pick. No team can lose one of their unprotected players in the final round. In addition, teams will pay a surcharge for swiping another club’s player in the first three rounds, paying variously 30, 20 or 10 percent above their salary. Unprotected players ‘floated’ through the Draft can be resigned immediately after the Draft for 50 percent of their salary.
4) But there are some changes to Draft Day, starting with who can be protected. Players can now protect up to 12, rather than 10 established players in addition to their minor-leaguers. These will be categorized as follows:
5 protected players who could still be dealt during the season;
5 ‘keepers’ who can not be dealt during 2008
1 ‘franchise player’ who can not be dealt during the length of their current contract
1 ‘franchise pitcher’ who can not be dealt during the length of their current contract
The ‘keepers’ and ‘franchise players’ salaries are reduced by 20 percent during the seasons they are retained, an incentive to use these designations on high-salaried players, who are effectively ‘deferring’ salary for this concession.
5) Another major Draft change is that, immediately following the Draft, owners must commit to a roster with a maximum size of 40 players. This roster can consist of any combination of protected players with salary, unestablished minor-leaguers, 2008 draftees and unprotected players ‘floated’ through the Draft, but it can have no more than 40. All players not on that 40-man roster will be unconditional free agents, that can be signed by other teams, who submit ‘priority lists’ that are all to be opened simultaneously, exercised on the basis of that year’s Draft Order. So clubs will be able to have more than 40 players in their system during the regular season. Because whatever acquired through the Draft must be protected immediately after as part of the 40-man roster, the prohibition against dealing or acquiring multiple picks in the Draft is eliminated.
6) Finally, after considerable debate, it was agreed that players could not be considered established until they had at least two years of major-league service time. In the past, players were considered established based upon things such as innings pitched or at-bats, which entailed time-consuming book-keeping on hundreds of players. In 2006, Commissioner Hatfield used service time to make this determination, but he confessed that he underestimated the degree to which major league clubs call up players (especially pitchers and catchers) merely as insurance policies. Such players accrue significant service time while actually having little impact, Hatfield admitted.
In conclusion, Hatfield noted that the bulk of owner-initiated activity at this meeting led to decisions which were intended to promote greater parity, by increasing the size of the free-agent pool, decreasing the salary cap and the minimum roster size, thus making it more difficult for ‘haves’ to stockpile talent. The only exception to this trend was the increase in service time required for players to be considered established, and this would have to be seen as a victory for teams with large farm systems----at least until after this year’s Draft, when they will have to cut all but 40 bodies...!
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