Colin Cowherd learns MLB forbids trading draft picks on air
There’s an old saying that you learn something new every day, and that held true for Colin Cowherd last week.
The well-known sports talk host was discussing with Jason McIntyre what it would take in his mind to trade Shohei Ohtani.
The Los Angeles Angels superstar will be a free agent after this season, and with no guarantees he’ll remain with the Angels, the question has become a hot topic among sports talk programs.
That brings us back to Thursday as Cowherd and McIntyre discussed the idea during “The Herd.”
That led Cowherd to suggest that if he was the Angels, it would take “five first-round picks, your best prospect, your third-best prospect and two solid starters” to get the deal done.
McIntyre responded by noting the Angels not so stellar history in the draft and insisted that he would take an organization’s top prospects for Ohtani.
Colin Cowherd and Jason McIntyre discuss the stakes to trade Shohei Ohtani.
Cowherd continued the conversation, asking if three No. 1 picks and three top prospects would get the job done for McIntyre, who said it would.
That’s when Cowherd was alerted to a problem with the current scenario.
“It says here you can’t trade draft picks. I’m a baseball casual,” Cowherd uttered after getting the notice.
The sports talker had noted his limited knowledge of baseball earlier in the discussion as well, which became much clearer after he had steered the conversation in the draft picks direction.
MLB has forbidden teams from trading draft picks since the inception of the draft in baseball back in 1965.
The rule was put in place in order to protect the competitive balance and keep small market teams from mortgaging their future in order to bring in a quick source of income, according to Sporting News.
Shohei Ohtani is greeted in the dugout after scoring a run during the fifth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
The only draft picks that are allowed to be traded are competitive balance picks, which are given to the 10 teams in the smallest markets and in the bottom 10 of revenue in the league.
While Cowherd may be a “baseball novice” he may want to keep this tidbit of information handy the next time he talks Ohtani trade.
Source: New York Post
