If you were curious about how the massive shrinking of the draft this year would impact bonus pools, MLB Pipeline has your info.
Thanks to compensatory and competitive balance picks, although the Cubs pick 16th in the first round this year, their highest since 2015, they have just the 19th largest bonus pool. That pool could be as large as $7,676,000 or as small as $6,702,600.
Why the range? As you may recall, part of the interim MLB/MLBPA deal for this season gave MLB the right to shrink the draft from 40 rounds to as little as 5 rounds. Since the bonus pool is based on just the first 10 rounds, that’s how you wind up with a range for pool possibilities at this time. (Also still a range? When the draft will be held – it is going to be sometime between June 10 and July 20, but the precise dates are TBD.)
The bummer for the Cubs if the draft is reduced to just five rounds? In a relative sense, teams without any extra comp picks – like the Cubs – are the ones most hurt by the shrunken draft. Although every team would lose the pools associated with rounds six through ten, your pool is a zero sum game. So, on a percentage basis, the Cubs’ bonus pool would shrink by 12.7%. By contrast, the Cardinals – who pick five spots after the Cubs – would see their pool shrink by just 10.8% (God bless those competitive balance picks … ).