Like a Third Nostril

[MFS62]

The Cards need an extra Lottery pick?
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/07/2014-competitive-balance-lottery-results.html

Later

[bmfc1]

WTF? They sell out every night (with those "greatest fans"). The current Mets are more "small market" than the Cardinals.

[Frayed Knot]

These extra picks are based on a combination of market size and revenue (bottom ten from each - although there aren't necessarily 20 teams since there's likely to be some overlap). There's then a 'lottery' drawing to determine six picks stuck in after the 1st round and then six more after the second so the term 'lottery pick' doesn't have quite the meaning as in the NBA. The Cards in this case get the 3rd of six picks following round 2 next year which will probably be somewhere in the 70s where they'll be unlikely to snag the next LeBron. You wouldn't think the Cards would be in the bottom 1/3 in revenue but StL could well be in market size.

The whole thing seems like a weird idea to me and that's before you get around to questioning the accuracy of the revenue figures. You know this system had to come out of some compromise in negotiations because it totally sounds like something put together by a committee. The other novelty is that these picks [u:1y18fn9b]Can[/u:1y18fn9b] be traded in advance of next year's draft.

[Edgy MD]

I'll say it againish. Artificial competitive balance measures are for the birds. And not the Redbirds, neither.

[Vic Sage]

the draft is a form of well-paying indentured servitude. It is archaic, paternalistic, and illegal (if not for their politically garnered anti-trust waiver), and simply serves to depress wages to employees.

STOP THE DRAFT NOW!

That used to mean something different when i was a kid...

[Frayed Knot]

Vic Sage wrote: the draft is ... illegal (if not for their politically garnered anti-trust waiver), and simply serves to depress wages to employees.

Except that it's not just the anti-trust waiver that keeps it going. The NFL has no such blanket protection yet their ability not just to have a draft but to restrict by age who can enter into it has survived legal challenges.