Drafted players now eligible to be traded after World Series

MLB announces that drafted players are now eligible to be traded after the World Series.

In an email to all 30 teams, Major League Baseball announced that players selected in the amateur draft will be permitted to be traded one day after the end of the World Series, according to FanGraphs. The rule will be immediately effective following this year’s draft.

This change is a necessary one. Previously, major league teams had to wait one year after players were drafted to trade them. The problem with that rule is that it conflicted with another. The rule regarding players to be named later (PTBNLs) gave teams just six months to choose a PTBNL, causing a loophole that teams took advantage of.

We’re looking at your, San Diego.

Here is an excerpt of the email, as obtained by FanGraphs:

"Please be advised that the Commissioner’s Office and the Players Association have agreed to amend the Major League Rules in advance of this year’s Rule 4 Draft with respect to players-to-be-named-later (“PTBNLs”) under Rule 12(e0(2), and the trading of draft picks under Rule 3(b)(6). …commencing with players eligible for the 2015 Rule 4 Draft, (a) players selected in the Draft may be traded beginning on the day followoing the conclusion of the World Series, and (b) drafted players cannot be PTBNLs unless they otheriwse could be traded pursuant to Rule 3(b)(6), as amended, at the time of the trade."

One example of why the rule needed to be changed is Trea Turner, the Padres 2014 first-round pick. Everyone inside baseball knows that Turner will be named as the PTBNL in a three-team trade between the Rays, Padres, and Nationals, which sent Wil Myers to San Diego. Turner will be eligible to be traded to the Nationals in June but, because of the rule, he has spent Spring Training and the first couple of months of the season with the Padres.

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