https://www.mlive.com/tigers/2020/0...-go-up-for-grabs-tigers-will-be-shopping.html
As unprecedented free-agent period begins, Tigers ready to shop for players.
Mlive
DETROIT -- Baseball is about 48 hours away from something it?s never done before. And no one is quite sure how it?s going to work.
Hundreds of undrafted free agents will be up for grabs after a 48-hour quiet period following the conclusion of the MLB Draft.
Teams can sign an unlimited number of players beginning on Sunday but can offer each player no more than a $20,000 signing bonus.
Normally, teams might sign a couple of players who were passed up in the draft for one reason or another. But with a 40-round draft, the overwhelming majority of prospects found a home.
This year?s draft, with only five rounds, left many more qualified candidates on the sidelines. The best of the bunch will likely have several offers to choose from.
?We?ll have a list of players that we?ll have interest in. We?ll have them in preferential order. There?ll be a group of players, and it?ll be a pretty good sized list,? said Tigers general manager Al Avila. ?Obviously there?s no guarantee that you can sign the guys that you have on the top of your list, but you go and pursue and try to sign them.?
Avila said there?s no minimum or maximum number of players the club has in mind. They?ll just do their best to sign the ones they want.
What would the Tigers say to a prospect who has several offers?
?We do feel that in our situation right now, having what we feel is a great organization, where we have a good track record of developing players, there?s going to be opportunity,? Avila said. ?There?s going to be the best and most modern technology and analytics to help a player develop. We have a great and experienced coaching staff. And we have opportunity.
Obviously we feel that?s going to be a very attractive place for people to come and sign with us under these circumstances.?
There are other quirks beyond the shortened draft that make this year unpredictable. Four-year college baseball teams, which operate under severe scholarship restrictions, will have to creatively juggle their roster.
What happens if a undrafted junior wants to return to college for another year only to find out that his spot has been given to a rising freshman? What about that rising freshman who must detour to a junior college because his spot has been given to a veteran player who unexpectedly returned to campus?
?(College programs) usually over-recruit anyway,? Avila said. "They might have to tell a high school player, ?You?ve got to go to junior college because I?m full.? There may be some high school players that might opt out to go to a junior college for the short term.
?A lot of things can happen. Everyone?s going to make their own decision based on what they feel is best for them.?
Players who would have otherwise been drafted between the sixth and 10th rounds will be hurt more than anyone else by this year?s changes.
?Some of those guys are going to return to college -- if they?re asked back. There will be other guys who say, ?At my age, I?m ready to go. It is what it is. What good is it going to do to go play your senior years and then be in the same situation next year?? I would say it?s all over the board.?
