not so fast. We absolutely blew through slot to sign the #3 pick. $2.6 MM bonus vs $1 MM slot.
My commentary was more general than a gripe about the Nats' specific situation this year.
It's just you have to pick and choose who to splurge on vs who to economize on.
That's exactly what I don't like about it, though.
It's just a way to punish/stifle teams that could otherwise go all-out with their draft strategy. I'd rather teams be able to pick the best available player with any given pick, without having to worry about some budgeting process.
I get that it was designed to promote competitive balance by preventing big market teams from going too far over slot, but it seems like it's serving the exact teams it was intended to thwart. Teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets get to take advantage of an absolute absurd, broken free agent market. If that's going to persist, then mid market teams like the Nats should be able to invest more in the draft (yes, the DC area is a large media market but the MASN deal and years of Bawlmer poaching away the DC fanbase effectively makes the Nats a mid market team).
In the meantime, if they are going to insist on these limits, at least make it a little more than 5%. That's nothing.
