MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred was convinced by situations like the Cleveland Indians to start pushing for an international draft.
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Markets like the Indians are all but locked out of the big demand for Cuban players, as well as other international free agents, and new commissioner Rob Manfred would like to change that. He visited with the Indians players on Tuesday, according to a report by Cleveland.com. The commissioner believes that the playing field was leveled with the slotting system introduced for the amateur draft, but thinks there’s work to be done on the international side of things.
“Frankly, we thought we made progress on the international side in terms of caps and penalties we put in place. Two years into the deal we felt pretty good about where we were. So what happened?” Manfred asked.
Manfred said the relaxation of rules and the like with regard to Cuban players has put a stress on baseball’s international system. He said that the current system in place has proved wanting and is taking away from the competitive balance of the league. In order to get that back, Manfred said, an international draft needs to be put in place in the near future.
The players association would obviously have to approve any addition of an international draft, but it’s not hard to see where Manfred, or the Indians, are coming from. The Indians have managed winning seasons in the last two years, but before that, they hadn’t done it since 2000 and 2001. Meanwhile, their attendance is the lowest in the league most years.
Part of why, like other smaller market teams, is that the Indians aren’t able to attract exciting international players like the Cubans taking over the discourse of late. Manfred said he had no doubt that Cleveland fans would support a winning team and noted that they did better after their new stadium.
Because the harsh truth of the matter is that fans like winning teams. Despite all the talk among fandoms about bandwagons, unless you’re Spike Lee, you probably find a few excuses not to watch when your team is slogging through a sub .500 season, never mind going to a live game. It doesn’t help when they can’t manage to improve themselves from year to year either.
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