As my own futile rebellion against this destruction of the Midsummer Classic, I cannot even watch the Home Run Derby with sound without going insane, is to subject the two readers of this blog to a simple analysis of MLB’s Rule 4 and 5 draft and how it relates to football (which on this blog is used instead of soccer). Since, most people don’t know about either of these rules or football, I also see this as a public service – rebel with a cause if you will.

Let’s start with baseball before getting into third rail of sports commentary. The Rule 4 draft in June of amateurs – high school and college – is the straightforward acquisition of young talent. Most draftees are signed to minor league contracts and placed in the minors to develop their abilities, with a very select few signing major league contracts immediately. The Rule 5 draft in December consists of teams picking minor leaguers not on a team’s 40 man roster. The 40 man roster is the 40 guys that have a major league contact with the team, as opposed to a minor league contract. The club can only have 25 men up at the Major league level at a time, with the other 15 in the minors, typically Triple A. Because these 15 reservist have a major league contract, which provides them certain rights over a minor league contract, the team can quickly bring them up to the majors, as needed.

Players selected in the December Rule 5 draft must serve on the 25 man roster for a minimum of 90 days which is a lot given baseball players get maybe 5 days off a month. There are a few more rules concerning releasing players to waivers, etc. but you can read more about that here. The purpose of the Rule 5 draft is to create a market for younger players who are not amateurs and not on a 40 man roster (everyone on the ‘teh Interwebs’ says Rule 5 prevents teams from hoarding younger players, the size of the roster and the need to perform every year prevent that, Rule 5 is creating a market just as Rule 4 does with amateurs).

Essentially, its a way for players to get up to the majors if they’ve hit a glass ceiling in their current organization, for teams to fill out any offseason needs before they start planning for the Rule 4 – typically pitching, defense and speed – and for Major League Baseball to stay competitive at both the major and minor league levels – people do go to see minor league games, who can afford a $1250 Yankees ticket.

In football, on the other hand, there is an open market for players during a league ‘transfer windows’. There are preseason and mid-season transfer windows by country/league association. During these times, clubs can purchase a player from a team for a transfer fee, which in many high profile cases, exceeds the value of the new contract that player signs with the purchasing club.

Interestingly, the players contract from the club he is leaving is terminated and a new contract is drawn up with the purchasing club – not the case in MLB and I believe all US sporting associations. The transfer fees are not always paid in cash at the time of transfer, for example they may be paid as a percentage of future transfer fees received if the purchasing club sends the player off to another club or via a friendly match where the selling club books all ticket receipts. Footballers are scouted and signed into training clubs, which are somewhat like minor league clubs, and until they are 18, their transfer is made difficult by FIFA regulations but still entirely possible. Once they turn 18, the player may be transferred between clubs in the UK, EU, Eastern Europe, Russia, Africa, and South America. All the while clubs that have contributed to the footballers training and football education are compensated through clear FIFA regulations.

Basically, the clubs are compensating each other for the time they have put into the player and theoretically for the future value of the player – meaning the player isn’t getting paid fair price for his athletic contribution, the equivalent of his high school coach is cashing his checks. On top of this, player protections are few and far between as far as my research can tell. “An established professional [footballer] who has, in the course of the season, appeared in fewer than ten per cent of the offi cial matches in which his club has been involved may terminate his contract prematurely on the ground of sporting just cause.” What the hell does ‘established’ mean? It’s not defined in set of regulations where I found it (here.)

It seems pretty clear to me that footballers are poorly compensated and receive few rights which entitle them to the playing time they deserve. The clubs that find and train them are well compensated and done so promptly – no later than 30 days after a player registers with a new club does that new club have to pay training compensation to the players former club(s). This system will keep the current structure of a few top teams, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Milan, Inter, etc. – let’s call them the aristocrats – while supporting but never giving any upward mobility to the smaller clubs – let’s call them Parisian waiters.

Rule 4 and 5 don’t give power to the players, teams still have a lot of the bargaining power and can ultimately just drop a player to waivers. Worst case, with a Rule 5 draftee where they must pay the team they are drafting the player from a $50k fee, if player clears waivers (meaning no team added the player to their 25 man roster) then the original team gets the player back for $25k. Not a lot of risk, but risk management is kinda what Rule 5 is all about. That said, the Rule 5 ball players end up on a major league roster, playing in the big leagues in a big league ball park. Once they complete their 1 year mandatory service they are free agents deciding their own fate. Far better than being shipped around the globe like cattle.

FIFA needs to work on creating more fluid markets for the world’s footballing talent. This transfer system is aristocratic, old world trickery. The world seems ok with this, but football is getting big in America and “we don’t tolerate that type of shit in America, sir!” I suggest starting with eliminating the transfer system by allowing something like the Rule 5 draft with tiered and structured ‘transfer’ payments depending on the age of the player. I’d like to see players get a chance to prove their worth on the pitch and I’d definitely like to see some wizardly general management putting together competitive teams to face off against the sexy CR9 and Kaka who are sure to dominate in Real Madrid.

By the way, great book on the topic of Baseball and Football(soccer) is National Pastime by Stefan Szymanski and Andrew Zimbalist.

As such, I’m inspired to talk a little baseball with you. A couple of weeks ago, I was catching a Sunday Night Baseball game between the Dodgers and Cubs with one of my sports handicapped friends at Toby’s Public House. The Dodgers were pummeling the Cubs at the friendly confines of Wrigley field so we weren’t too wrapped up in the game, at least my buddy, who is a mild Cubs fan, was not. He was chatting with the bartender about the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade, which took place this past Saturday, when I saw a sharp ground ball hit to the right of the veteran Cubs first baseman Derrick Lee. After making a diving stab, D Lee threw to second base to get the lead runner. As he is making this throw I think to myself, will the Cubs pitcher, a middle reliever whose name escapes me, be agile or smart enough to cover first for the 3-6-1 double play? He doesn’t and the play is over with the batter reaching on a fielder’s choice.

As overly cerebral as I am, watching or playing sports is like putting on an oversized suit, my head becomes smaller and my body bigger. My mouth begins to run out of control. Any pain I feel dissipates. Any anxieties plaguing my decision making are forgotten as my thighs and calves swell. I’m ready for action. The possibility of a 3-6-1 double play has put me in this state and my buddy takes notice. “What happened?” he asks searching the television screen for answers.

Naturally he is not impressed by the play. “Yeah, I wouldn’t expect the pitcher to get to first, I mean, how can he even make it there?” I raise my empty for a refill and explain the mound is closer to the first than home and that pitchers are trained to cover first on any ground ball hit to their left (towards first base). Getting no reaction, I realize I shouldn’t have expected one. This is fairly esoteric baseball stuff. Well, prepared to be enlightened.

Baseball is all numbers. Pitcher = 1, Catcher = 2, 1B = 3, 2B  = 4, 3B = 5, SS = 6. Outfielders aren’t important for this discussion. So a 3-6-1 double play starts with the 1B, makes a stop at the SS, and is realized with the pitcher. Typically, double plays are 4-6-3, or 6-4-3. Rarer, but still common double plays are 5-4-3 (AROUND THE HORN!) and are personally my favorite. A 5-4-3 requires the ball to travel 180 feet, 90 feet from third to second and another 90 to first. As does a 3-6-1, so I was and still am a bit perplexed as to why they are less common.

My hypothesis is relying on a pitcher to complete a double play is contrary to the old baseball axiom to never force the play, to take the safe out and make sure you don’t keep the runners in motion. A fairly mundane conclusion to this inspired post, but it is the pure skill and excitement of a 3-6-1 DP that is to be cherished. Not only does the ball need to go 180 feet, but the SS must avoid a maliciously sliding runner to make an especially accurate throw to a pitcher who has a normal sized glove and little practice picking the ball out the dirt on an in-between hop. (!) Lucky for me, this weekend’s Boston Red Sox game broadcast on FOX gave me the pleasure of seeing one completed by, of all people, the ancient knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. Thanks Baseball Gods! (who were also smiling on the Cubbies this weekend)