Ivy League Cubs

By: Jacob Zanolla

Now that the 2024 MLB Draft is concluded, I wanted to bring up the thought of trading draft picks. I know you can technically trade comp. picks, but that’s it. Every other sport allows the trading of draft picks, and it makes the draft, along with off-season and trade deadline, way more fun. Don’t get me wrong, the MLB trade deadline is the best in sports, but why not make it even better?

Before the 2023-2024 season, Ryan Poles traded the first overall pick (for the Chicago Bears) to the Carolina Panthers for DJ Moore and several other draft picks, including the Panthers’ first rounder in 2024. At the time I was a little skeptical, but still thought it was a good haul. This trade will now most likely go down as one of the best (or worst, depending on who you root for) trades in football history. Poles knew the Bears couldn’t seriously compete in 2023, so giving the Panthers an opportunity to draft a quarterback (Bryce Young) in return for one of the best wide receivers in football, along with multiple top picks, was a no-brainer. Poles was able to use their first round pick on Caleb Williams, who is regarded as one of the best football prospects of all time. They do seem to say this a lot with QBs coming out of college, but I’m going to believe them because it means the Bears will do well!

Anyways, Chicago has benefited from draft pick trading very recently. Why is baseball waiting to implement what all of the other majors sports are doing? While it is most likely on track to be added later this decade, there are some positives and negatives. 

One negative is the difference in prospect evolution when looking at other sports compared to baseball. Let’s use Caleb Williams as an example again. Williams was taken 1-1, and will start for the Bears Week 1, not needing to play in any minor league systems before taking the big stage. Basketball (think if Wembanyama) and hockey (Bedard) are the same, with the top rounds sending their players right to the “majors.” Baseball is way different. Garrett Crochet was called up the same season by the White Sox after getting drafted, and Paul Skenes only needed three to four months in the minors before getting the call to Pittsburgh. Skenes was ready way before then, but still, you get my point. Other than that, very few teams are aggressive when it comes to promoting their draft picks. I’d say the season after being selected is pretty aggressive, with two years after seeming like the ideal path for a first round draft pick. Cam Smith, who the Cubs selected a few weeks ago, probably has an ETA of 2026 or 2027. 

Its easy to say that the draft is hit or miss, but that really is the case for baseball. Most draft picks never make the majors, with a sizable portion of them never even seeing Triple-A. Whether its injuries, lack of development, or both, reaching the majors is hard. Therefore, I’d say there’s an argument to say that MLB draft picks aren’t as valuable as other sports, unless the pick is in the top few of the first round. 

As I was getting ready to publish this, Jeff Passan posted a story talking about how draft pick trading could make the trade deadline more interesting (great minds think alike Jeff!). He’s not wrong, that would be incredible. Not only would it make the trade deadline interesting, but teams have more value and stock to move throughout the season. Along with this, I’d enjoy this feature in baseball video games, but that doesn’t really affect anyone but me.