More O.J., agents, runners and baseball draft

Jason Whitlock, the love-him-or-hate sportswriter, offers some interesting points about how the media and the public view college basketball and baseball players.and their interactions with agents. Writes Whitlock:

When the NCAA enacted its new, get-tough Academic Progress Report standards, a little-known fact that the media ignored is that college baseball programs traditionally performed far below basketball programs. Let me translate that for you: Baseball players were less likely to graduate from college than basketball players. The APR forced baseball coaches to bring their kids back to campus for summer school rather than allowing them to audition in front of scouts and agents in the Cape Cod League. Yeah, the "cesspool" of street agents, runners, handlers, scouts and agents we love to rail against in basketball co-mingle in baseball at high school All-American games without raising a word of dissent.

Conquest Chronicles, a USC fan blog, weaves some of my earlier comments on agents and the baseball draft to make his case that college athletics could be improved if we "Make it above board!". Writes Conquest Chronicles:

I am not naive enough to think that this sort of thinking work have stopped the alleged benefits that an O.J. Mayo might have received but instead of being a watch dog why not consider some sort of partnership with the pro leagues and agents with stiff penalties for those that break the rules.

The product would be so much better if the "minimum" requirements helped nurture the players into more responsible solid citizens that can also play at that level. I also agree that rookies should play one year in the "D" league before getting to the big dance. Surely some legitimate compromise can be made..

Money Players reader and frequent commenter Garrett Sanders emails some interesting points:

Guillory allegedly was given $250k to recruit OJ by BDA, but "only"30k ended up in his pocket. Clearly, if OJ took money from Guillory, he was wrong for this...but the larger point is that there is economic system that compensates people who have deep relationships with top players. For college coaches, the market determines what college coaches can are paid. For runners, agents can have them on the payroll (even if the practice is generally frowned upon). And then for the players, the ones who create economic value for both sports agents and athletic departments, are conveniently cut out of the deal. I am not sure I want college athletes to be paid, the  schools and the NCAA are the ones who have turned this into a big money game. So if they take the one and done players, they're telling the public it's about the money, not the education. And if they don't pay them, someone else will step in. Everyone can do their typical hand wringing, but should anyone expect a different outcome.

Comments

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the baseball draft is very important for baseball clubs, although the player rarely sticks with the team he is signed with its important to discover their talent early so you can figure out what the players are worth and what they can bring to the table in a few years of being in the system.