Under The Knife 6/21/23
Un-Combine
The MLB Draft Combine is this week and it’s easy to say that it will get less attention than the NFL Draft Combine. The NFL is a media monster and it turns everything it can into an event, though I will say that keeping it in Indianapolis, where everyone I speak to is very happy with the hosting, is one of the better mind-changes the NFL has made in years. Even the NBA hasn’t been able to turn their Combine into media attention, even with pretty strong participation and a setup for testing and scrimmages that should be more TV friendly.
So why doesn’t MLB get attention? Mostly, because the key things the Combine does are behind the scenes. They’ve centralized MRI reads. The medical exam is done behind closed doors, obviously. The issue is participation and unless/until Rob Manfred makes the Combine mandatory or close, we’re not going to see a lot of the top players there.
Part of the issue is timing. A handful of top picks are in Omaha this week. Others are just done with their high school or college seasons and likely in a ramp-down phase, or should be. The bigger part is that there’s a catch-22 - it won’t get bigger until more top players go, and more top players won’t go until it’s bigger. Add in agent and even some team reluctance and the MLB Combine has some headwinds.
As is, I don’t see this succeeding. I don’t think even Manfred would be willing to take the heat of making it mandatory, especially with Scott Boras looming and always looking for a way to challenge the draft in court. It’s been 25 years since he last found a loophole, all while discussing the legality of it in general. Even with the antitrust exemption, maybe because of it, I just can’t see it and if, say, Dylan Crews decided not to participate, are teams really going to let him fall in the draft to teams that are above them in the standings?
What MLB should do as a change is focus on showing us these players more ahead of the draft. Rights are the central complication here, and perhaps the story of the next year as Diamond Sports bleeds out. However, I can see some sort of sharing agreement with ESPN for college game re-play rights and getting high school games shouldn’t be hard nor expensive. All those spots on MLB overnights, where they could show games and highlights of top prospects all through June and July leading up to the draft have value.
The MLB Draft is never going to be the spectacle of the NFL’s process, just because of the long time horizon. We’ll see guys just drafted by NFL teams in games in less than 100 days. For the guys drafted last July, only one is in the majors (Zach Neto) and most aren’t close. Whether that’s the right way to develop players is a topic for another day, so let’s get on to the injuries:
JOEY VOTTO, 1B CIN (strained shoulder)
HUNTER GREENE, SP CIN (strained hip)
Joey Votto’s return, paired with the DFA of Wil Myers, tells us a lot about where this team is. Votto has earned some loyalty and even benefit of the doubt. If Votto’s trying to come back from the surgery I think he had (biceps tenodesis), it’s nearly historic, but regardless, giving him a chance to show he’s not done is fine and contract aside, players like Votto who choose to be a positive force for the team are fine. If he can hit, even better.
With Hunter Greene hitting the IL as the team tries to get ahead of this lingering hip “lock up”, it’s a smart move, using the hot streak to buy time. Greene’s expected to miss the 15 days and not much more, but if they learn he’s not going to be back in the long term, then the season becomes a discovery of just how good the kids are rather than focusing on winning a division or getting into the playoffs. This is a team that’s gotten here with it’s 1 and 2 starters off or out, so losing Greene and Lodolo would seem to make this team much less, but who knows with hot. Depth becomes an issue if Greene’s hip continues to bother him, meaning we could see some “warm bodies” like Levi Stoudt up next.
The Reds may not be America’s Team, but they feel like they’re Cincinnati’s again. It shows you just how quick a city will come back if owners stop saying stupid things and start putting out exciting, even winning teams. I said today on radio that this team feels a lot like the Rays in 2007. It’s a team everyone could see was improving, but it’s happening a year earlier than expected.
JP CRAWFORD, SS SEA (bruised shoulder)