Potential Candidates for Inaugural EBA Player Rights Draft

[agrudez]

With the announcement today that the MBBA and EBA have concluded their tireless negotiations over a new transfer agreement came exciting news for everyone west of the Atlantic whom have been pining to see the best Europe has to offer in North America - the institution of an EBA Player Rights Draft. How it will work, from the MBBA commissioner’s own lips:

"At the conclusion of the season, teams will be allowed to participate in an "EBA Rights Draft". Draft will be held in the same order as the Ammy Draft. It will cost 10 PP and $5M from your Bonus Funds to buy a player out of his EBA contract. He must be a former MBBA player, or have at least 4 years of EBA service in order to be eligible. Buying out the contract makes him a free agent, and gives you the right to match any offer on that player.
Teams can only choose to draft the rights to one EBA player per season, and must have the 10 PP and $5M available in order to participate."

To be affectionately termed the Rule VI draft, the EBA Rights Draft hopes to be a boon for league parity in the MBBA as it seeks to not only give struggling teams an additional avenue to improve in the offseason, but also to help balance league finances for the long haul so that North American Free Agency, which has for many seasons lacked the fan-fare that one would think it would garner, can be yet another legitimate method of team building in the future. If you are thinking this will be a direct infusion of talent onto those struggling rosters; however, the commissioner had a response for that (when pressed by a rather obnoxious reporter):

“No, you don't get to negotiate, you can negotiate in FA like everyone else, but you can match the final contract.”

A novel concept indeed - adding an extra layer of strategy to the offseason onion for savvy GMs. For instance, do you knowingly select the best overall talent first overall in the Rule VI and force yourself to weather a bidding storm (and risk wasting the PP, money and pick if the bidding goes awry)? Or do you elect to go for a lesser talent that may come at a more… appetizing… price at the end of the day? These are decisions that will be particularly intriguing as the inaugural instantiation of this concept occurs at the end of the ’09 campaign – for now; however, MBBA GMs across the league are rushing their scouting directors away from the coed dorms at US colleges and into the hostels of Europe to scout potential Rule VI candidates. Candidates such as (to name a few):

Brussels
28 year old SS SHB Jean-Marc Fraysse: 5/5/7/6/5 - 7/6/9/8/5; 7/9/8/8 (‘7’ SS); 7/7/9; .988 OPS, 3586 ABs

24 year old RHP Lionel Sanguinacco: 10/9/7 – 10/9/7; 97-99, 70%, 2++ pitches; 2.43 ERA, 288.1 IP

Belfast
28 year old 1B RHB Thibaud Lecocq: 8/7/7/7/8 – 7/6/6/6/7; 2/5/3/3 (‘5’ 1B); 4/6/7; .893 OPS, 2249 ABs

Paris
27 year old 3B SHB Han Witter: 8/8/6/6/9 – 8/7/5/5/9; 6/7/8/3 (‘6’ 3B); 5/6/6; .84 OPS, 2338 ABs

London
25 year old RHP Sean McVeagh: 7/9/7 – 8/9/7; 96-98, 68%, 2++ pitches; 4.14 ERA, 584.2 IP

Amsterdam
23 year old RF LHB Jude Longton: 5/6/6/5/5 – 8/8/8/7/6; 7/5/8 (‘8’ RF); 4/9/10; .932 OPS, 1121 ABs

27 year old LF RHB Carlin Adie: 8/7/8/9/8 – 7/7/8/9/7; 5/10/7 (‘7’ LF); 7/8/9; .84 OPS, 2071 ABs

30 year old CF RHB Sammy McTeir: 6/9/7/7/6 – 5/8/6/7/6; 9/10/6 (‘9’ CF); 8/10/10; .831 OPS, 3770 ABs

25 year old RHP Edwyn Odenthal: 7/6/6 – 9/7/6; 98-100, 51%, 1++ pitch, 1+ pitch; 3.89 ERA, 428 IP

Munchen
25 year old RHP Iestyn Pilgrim: 10/8/6 – 10/8/7; 97-99, 54%, 2++ pitches; 3.1 ERA, 117.1 IP

26 year old RF LHB Loran Wakefield: 7/5/3/5/8 – 8/7/4/7/9; 9/7/9 (‘9’ RF); 8/7/8; .851 OPS, 1489 ABs

[recte44]

The strategy part will be so interesting.

[trmmilwwi]

I think the EBA has banned 3rd and 4th pitches like MLB has banned PEDs. WTF?!

[kestu]

Is Longton eligible? Really will only have a little over 3 years played at the end of the year...

[agrudez]

Is Longton eligible? Really will only have a little over 3 years played at the end of the year...

Ah, probably not actually... '4 years service' probably refers to service time, eh?

[recte44]

No, he's not eligible:
Pro Service: 3 Years

[agrudez]

No, he's not eligible:
Pro Service: 3 Years

Oh, is it major service time or pro (40 man) service time? He might be 4 years in the latter by season's end - definitely not the former, though.

[recte44]

Major League (EBA) Service Time.

[recte44]

[Al-Hoot]

You can also go in game, list all EBA players, add a filter that lists ML service, and look at the players with 4+ EBA major league service OR any amount of MBBA service. If the player is not already a free agent, then he is eligible for this Player Rights Draft. Good hunting. (I probably won't have time to do an extensive hunt, so I appreciate Kyle posting some of the best candidates.)

[agrudez]

Note that some of these guys are actually ineligible (like Jude Longton) because I mistakenly used pro service instead of ML service.

Aka... read it, enjoy it, but don't use it.

[Al-Hoot]

Or you could edit the post to indicate the one or two who aren't actually eligible.

[agrudez]

Or you could edit the post to indicate the one or two who aren't actually eligible.

Jeeze... want me to just PM you whom you should pick?

[Al-Hoot]

Better, yet, just PM recte44 my draft list. Thanks!

[Greeney03]

Gee thanks Kyle. I selected Longton and got turned down by Matt! Haha!


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[agrudez]

Gee thanks Kyle. I selected Longton and got turned down by Matt! Haha!

Next year, my friend! Sorry about that!

[Greeney03]

Gee thanks Kyle. I selected Longton and got turned down by Matt! Haha!

Next year, my friend! Sorry about that!

Haha no worries, i was bummed out when Matt told me, No. Lol


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