Atlanta Braves Use of Draft Dollars Makes a Lot of Sense
By Fred Owens
The Atlanta Braves first two draft picks were the kind most of us expected. Players chosen after than had some scratching their heads; here’s why it went the way it did.
Remember the 2016 draft when the Atlanta Braves took a virtual unknown – Ian Anderson – as their first pick then grabbed Joey Wentz and Kyle Muller with their next two? They were able to do that because they signed Ian Anderson under slot. That allowed them to offer more tempting bonus checks to Went, Muller and the other picks in the first ten rounds.
This year two significant things changed for the rule four amateur draft that made selection more difficult; the draft pools decreased and the punishment for going over slots became more draconian.
Pools and Slots
Each team gets a draft pool based on their slot in he draft. As reported by BA ($$), drafting fifth gave the Braves as pool allocation of $9,881,200. Specifically the allocation looks like this.
| Round | Slot | Pool Remaining |
| Pool | $9,881,200 | |
| 1 | $5,707,300 | $4,173,900 |
| 2 | $1,674,600 | $2,499,300 |
| 3 | $709,000 | $1,790,300 |
| 4 | $487,400 | $1,302,900 |
| 5 | $364,100 | $938,800 |
| 6 | $273,700 | $665,100 |
| 7 | $213,400 | $451,700 |
| 8 | $169,600 | $282,100 |
| 9 | $146,000 | $136,100 |
| 10 | $136,100 | $0 |
Teams do not have to spend money in exactly that manner but there are penalties for exceeding the allocated pool amount. They must also sign their top ten picks or have the draft pool reduced by the amount of the slot not signed.
If for example, they failed to sign the #10 pick as shown above the pool is reduced by $136K
Players signed after round 10 for a bonus greater that $125,000 have the excess added to the amount spent in rounds 1 through 10.
As spelled out by BA, the penalties for overspending are draconian but you can judge for yourself.
- A team that over spends between zero to five percent of their pool are charged pay a 75%tax on their overage.
- If a team overspends between 5 and 10 percent of their pool they pay a 75% tax on the overage AND lose next year’s first round pick.
- A team so foolish as overspend form 10 to 15 percent above the pool pays a 100% tax on the overage and lose their first round and second round pick the following year.
- If a team is managed by morons and exceeds the pool by more than 15 percent, they pay a 100% tax on the overage and lose the first round pick for the next two years.
Some quick math will tell you that the Braves allowable overage – one where the only cost is money – is about $484,178.80. Adding that to the bonus pool give a total available figure of $10,365,378.80. I used a 4.9% increase so there may be a few buck more available but this number works for our purposes