Here's a little bit of news from yesterday to pass on which doesn't seem like much at quick glance, but is a fairly sweet deal. Yesterday, Major League Baseball held the competitive balance lottery. Teams are awarded additional draft picks in Round A (following the 1st round) and Round B (following the 2nd round). Each of these rounds are six picks each.
Jonathan Mayo at MLB.com gives the scoop on how it works. Here's what he said.
The 10 smallest-market teams and the 10 lowest-revenue teams were placed in the lottery to have a chance to win one of these six extra picks in 2014. There aren't 20 teams in the lottery because there's plenty of crossover between the two lists.
The second group of six picks come after the conclusion of the second round. The teams from the first group that did not get one of the early picks were re-entered, along with any other Major League team that receives any revenue sharing. For this year, that was the Mariners.
Keith Law gives a decidedly more simplistic view, as he often does.
Extra draft picks for "poor" teams, assigned by lottery RT @Bleacherdave: what's a competitive pick and why didn't the A's get one?
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) July 17, 2013
This is pretty cool. The Mariners nab a pick in between the 2nd and 3rd round, where they have been able to do some damage in years past. Unlike other picks, you can also trade these lottery picks, so there's an added bit of fun there too. Last year the Marlins and Tigers swapped their picks in the Anibal Sanchez trade.