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Message: [QUOTE="sutomcat, post: 4704989, member: 27"] My take on the Mets 2023 draft after 2 days…. The Mets had 13 picks in the first 10 rounds. They got 2 extras in the fourth round for losing free agents and a second in the third round because they didn’t sign one of their draft choices last year. That player who didn’t sign was Brandon Sprout, who was drafted again by the Mets this time around (and will sign with them this time; more on that later). The Mets being the Mets, they did some unusual things, drafting 4th year college players with 10 of their 13 picks. They did something similar a few years ago when they drafted unsignable Matt Allan in the third round (and paid him so much that he did sign with them). The problem with that strategy is that every team is given a budget by MLB limiting how much money can be spent signing players in a given draft. You can exceed it but the penalties are very high and this is rarely done. So when the Mets drafted Allan, they paid him like a player drafted in the top 10 in the first round, and to do that and stay on budget for the draft, they focused on filling out that draft with 4th year college seniors. You draft 4th year college seniors if you have limited money available because this is their last go around in the draft and they have no leverage. These guys are routinely signed for less than slot value. Anyway, it is easy to understand why they drafted so many 4th year seniors the year they drafted Allan. Why did they do it again this year? Money. A year ago, the Mets had about $13 million available to sign players from the 2022 draft. They only had $8 million his year. Why? Mostly because the Mets payroll is so large. I think it is partly because the Mets did well last season. The Pirates have the biggest budget to sign players this draft. Their budget is $16 million. About twice what the Mets have to work with. I think the Mets are expected to pay Houck well over slot value as well. He is a HS senior with a college scholarship and if he doesn’t get significantly overpaid, he can and will tell the Mets to pound salt. Sproat had leverage last year. He had a year of eligibility left. The Mets offer wasn’t amazing and he had the option of coming back to Florida so he chose not to sign. The time around, he will take what he is offered. Anyway, the penalties for exceeding max payroll levels are severe and have a major impact on building a roster, as we saw last winter. And they have a major impact on drafting players as well. You can’t run long term with a payroll as big as the Mets have. This draft is a good lesson reminding the team they have to cull payroll and bring in more affordable young players to build a sustainable powerhouse baseball franchise. [ATTACH type="full"]229217[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]

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