Bud Selig has assigned John Schuerholz to head a study committee. No information was provided as to its membership. If the union isn’t involved up front, which I suspect they are not, it seems a mistake as valuable time could be lost.

Back when the Brewery was running the Cards like General Motors ran Oldmobile, the signing bonus cap on a Dominican was $4,000. That was the PEAK bonus we would pay. This year, we popped about 750 times more money on Mateo.

What does this tell us? The Cards appreciate what Jose Pujols has done for them, the Dominican kid found at a KC juco. Since we are seldom going to outbid much richer teams for an elite veteran free agent, we have to turn up more studs like we once located Albert, in amateur ranks. This is why the Padres, As, and Cards, among others, have esclated bonuses in Latin America.

With bonuses high, the Commissioner wants to suppress the competition among teams by monopolizing assignment of player rights. It probably wont happen, but it would be a shame if it did. It would lower bonuses for foreign athletes by eliminating competiton for their services.

This year, Mateo and Sano were two of the top Dominican talents. If there were a draft, the Cards would not have gotten Mateo. But instead the Cards aggressively went over slot for Shelby Miller in the US and very aggressively to oubid every other team for Mateo. Thats the kind of aggression is needed every year.

The Cards were helped in 1967-68 by the Baby Bull Orlando Cepeda at first base. He was signed by the NY Giants in 1958.

The Cards got of their lazy backsides and signed a few guys in the mid 1960s. Willie Montanez went to the Phils in the Dick Allen trade and played well for them. Jose Cruz (Sr) enjoyed a lot of success after we sent him to the Astros. And then the Cards went back into a slerotic sleep in terms of hustling for talent outside the US.

We picked up Jose Oquendo from the Mets in the 1980s. The Mets were able to get a scout down to Puerto Rico and sign him as a kid.

In the mid to late 1980s, the Texas Rangers woke up and signed catcher Benito Santiago, catcher Ivan Pudge Rodriguez, and Juan Gonazlez, all in Puerto Rico. All free agents ripe for the signing. No need to wait for a draft, just get them signed. Hustle and find the talent.

The Blue Jays woke up and they signed Carlos Delgado. At least the oldest Molina was another UNDFA.

Then MLB extended the draft to this other part of the United States. So a guy like Carlos Beltran became a 2nd rounder, IIRC. Yadier was a 4th round pick by the Cards in 2000, out of high school. Joel Pineiro was up in Florida and about a 12th rounder from a small college program. Felipe Lopez born in PR went about 10th in the nation out of a Florida high school. Another recent Card J-Rod, John Rodriquez is a PR born kid who grew up in New York City; he got passed over in the draft, signing with the Yanks as an UDFA.

We drafted a switch-hitting 2nd baseman out of a Florida State in the first round in the late 1980s and his SS partner in round 5, both Puerto Ricans.

In recent years, teams have been spending more money on Latin American players. My only trip to PR, I was impressed by all the baseball diamonds I could see out the airplane window when flying over San Juan. Baseball must be the leading sport for kids. The Cards almost gave $3M to Wagner Mateo, because he is truly a free agent. However, if Mateo lived in the island of P.R., he would be covered by the draft and would make much less money. So it makes a lot of sense for the Governor to dislike the MLB draft. Its unhelpful for his citizens.

Puerto Rico must be much more educationally advantaged than the Dominican or some other islands. There are high schools and also local colleges. The best ballplayers will get atheletic scholarships from the US.

In recent years, the Cards are being more aggressive in recruiting amateurs out of Puerto Rico. We signed two PR high schoolers back in June, Hernandez and Garcia, southpaw and catcher, plus a Florida juco kid, Jon Rodriguez, PR born.

It would seem rude to ask him if he is telling a whopper. I would never wish Brian to do this.

But as a reader, should I accept all the corporate spins or the spins of agents? I dont work for a team or for a player. I must chart a middle course.

Luhnow represents MLB. It is obligatory for him to offer some kind of praise for MLB’s professed international strategy. He cannot say otherwise. So should I just accept his public views, for the record?

Before advent of the MLB draft, teams spent more on amateur bonuses in the US than on MLB salaries, hard though this is to recall today. It was a time of free for all competition. Very wild. The Cards did well, incidentally. Signed a lot of talent who helped them to success in 1964, 67, 68. Teams adjust to the rules of the competition. I would not shed a lot of tears for the fat cats who own MLB teams. I would let them duke it out, in the wild west. Best for the amateurs. I am generally in supportive to those who play the game.

Lets bear in mind, Jeff’s job is to compete in this environment. It is competitive. This year, the Cards won out on the very highly regarded Wagner Mateo (before an injury was discovered). We do NOT know that Jeff dislikes the wildness of the environment. For all we know, Jeff may LOVE this environment. The challenge is to beat other teams and spend money more wisely.

Brian may be a more orderly person. If its “wild”, this may sound worrisome.

A draft is structured to reward (compensate for) LOSING in the majors. The highest picks go to LOSERS. It is not clearly known, at least to poor Jumbo who is always the last to be told, that Luhnow or Bill DeWitt want the Cards to lose, so as to land better foreign talent via an international draft. I had higher expectations of them, but maybe I am naive. Sigh.

Regarding the paragraph, three under a picture, of course Puerto Rico’s government officials would want their amateur athletes to be liberated from the MLB draft. Why would anyone want their amateur athlete citizens to be subjected to a draft? The purpose of the draft is to reduce bonuses paid to amatuer athletes. So if a government genuinely cares about the wellbeing of its citizens, including amateur baseball players, then it should object to their being subjected to the amateur draft. This only speaks very highly of the Puerto Rican offiicials, who care for their citizens, rather than for Big Business.

It was not long ago that Puerto Rican players were not included in the draft! Maybe they remember the better times in Puerto Rico and aspire again to be Free. Good for them.

These societies are not mirror images of the United States. Public education opportunites may end around age 15 or 16. Its time for many poor kids to start work. Also, there is also not the amateur baseball infrastructure as you know of it in the United States. Not a lot of high school baseball teams or college teams. Thus, if a kid wants to try a career in baseball, he affiliates with a buscone for training. This is a privatized developmental system, not amateur ball as known in the States. Its more clearly aimed toward making bonus money for the lads and the buscones.

Q: do MLB teams want to sign 16 year olds?
A: Not really.
Their socieities do not want talented athletes to sit around, wasting time, for a few years until they become old enough to sign, by US standards. They prefer that young men get a chance to be hired earlier than in the US, because it is not the US and they may otherwise be wielding a machete to cut sugar cane, rather than a Louisville Slugger.

Q: do players have to sign at 16?
A: Of course not.
The players can sign at 22 or any age above 16, if they want. They have freedom to delay their entry into pro ball as long as they want. They get to choose what they perceive to be in their self-interest. Thats as it should be.

Q: so why do some sign at 16?
A: because they want to do so. They get to live their lives, make their own choices, whether these make sense to American fans or not.

Q: are they all really16?
A: No.
actually there has been pervasive lying about age, because if you can persuade a scout that you are 16, when you are really 20, you can make more money on a signing bonus. This provides economic incentive to mislead. And kids and buscones are not stupid. They know how to play the bonus game. My basic rule of thumb: Latin baseball players are smart enough to live their own lives.

So I think MLB could improve its situation in Latin America with a much simpler rule change: don’t allow teams to sign players under 18. You couldn’t do it all at once, but you could easily phase it in over 3-4 years.

Teams would be dealing with more physically mature kids, and would have a lot more time to evaluate kids as they develop, same as they currently have with American high schoolers.