Dodgers stars blast ridiculous MLB draft proposal: Its all about money

Freddie Freeman had to do a double-take Friday afternoon.When informed by a reporter of Major League Baseball’s Thursday proposal to make major alterations to the amateur draft process — including the exclusion of high school players, the reduction of the draft from 20 to 12 rounds and the cutting of the overall signing bonus pool for draft picks almost in half — the future Hall of Fame first baseman looked shocked.“What?” he said.When the details, which figure to become the latest flashpoint in MLB’s labor negotiations, were repeated to him, he simply shook his head.“I think maybe now the fans will start seeing that it’s just money,” Freeman said.“Because that’s just cutting.

It’s all about money.”The draft proposals, which were detailed by Baseball America and ESPN, were presented by the league to the MLB Players Association on Thursday, as part of ongoing and already contentious negotiations between the sides ahead of the expiration of the league’s current collective bargaining agreement on Dec.1.The MLBPA immediately balked at the idea, which would most notably prevent domestic prospects from entering the draft until after their sophomore season of college — as opposed to the current system which allows players to be drafted upon their high school graduation.In a statement, the union called the proposals “flat out bad for baseball, ones that would cripple the next generation of players and damage the future of our game.”Freeman, who was drafted straight out of Orange El Modena High School by the Braves in the second round in 2007, expressed his own extreme frustrations while speaking to The California Post on Friday. He called MLB’s proposal “ridiculous” and argued it was an example that the league’s approach to labor negotiations has “not been about competitive balance, it’s all about money.”He also highlighted the ways beginning his professional career straight after high school helped him develop into an even...