http://tinyw.in/SJdS
聽說本板快要強制外文翻譯喏
所以小弟決定要享受為數不多的發外電不附翻譯的時光
大意就在標題裡
In what appears to be an attempt to crack down on an industry trend of early
agreements well before July 2, Major League Baseball has changed its rules
with regards to how teams can evaluate international amateur players.
MLB sent teams a memo Tuesday stating that, effective today, international
players are not allowed to be at a team facility until they are 16 years old
or until six months before they become eligible to sign, whichever comes
first. That means most players who become eligible to sign on July 2, 2015 won
’t be able to enter a team’s Dominican academy—a vital component for teams
to be able to evaluate players—until Jan. 2, 2015. For players who turn 16
between September and December, they will be allowed to go to a team facility
once they turn 16. The only exceptions to that rule will be if a player
participates in an event sponsored by MLB, such as an MLB-sanctioned league
or showcase, or is part of the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI)
program.
That rule change will have a major effect on how teams evaluate talent in
Latin America. Most teams consider bringing players into their academies in
the Dominican Republic the most important and efficient means of player
evaluation. The academy allows teams to bring in players from all over Latin
America and put them through whatever evaluation process they feel is optimal
—simulated games, bullpen, situational drills—to get the best gauge of the
player’s talent and personality.
The rule change could also be an attempt by MLB to grab power away from
trainer-organized leagues like the Dominican Prospect League and the
International Prospect League. Those leagues play weekly games that are open
to all 30 teams and typically are played on the field of a team’s Dominican
complex. While MLB’s memo didn’t explicitly reference the DPL or the IPL,
it would appear that those leagues will no longer be able to hold games or
other events at MLB complexes until Jan. 2, since many of the players in
those leagues will still be 15 before then. It appears those leagues will
have to play their games at other fields that aren’t MLB team facilities,
which is certainly feasible, although the leagues often run simultaneous
games on adjacent fields, which may be trickier to pull off outside of a team
academy.
Both the DPL and IPL have events scheduled soon at MLB team facilities that
now will likely have to be changed. On Aug. 28, the IPL is bringing players
to Tropicana Field for a showcase at the Rays’ stadium, while the DPL has a
tournament in September and is planning to play at MLB fields in Jupiter,
Fla., in October. The MLB memo states that club facilities include both
domestic and international properties.
The rules would also appear to cut into teams’ ability to evaluate players
in the Tricky League, an informal, unofficial summer league some teams
participate in to put the players they signed on July 2 into game situations,
since those players can’t play in the Dominican Summer League yet. Players
who have already signed should still be able to play in the Tricky League,
but since those games are played at team academies, clubs wouldn’t be able
to supplement their rosters by putting July 2 players for the following year
into those games, which some teams like to use as an evaluation tool.
Additionally, both overnight stays and one-day visits to a team’s academy
will now count toward the total days that a player is allowed to stay at a
team’s facility. Under the previous rules, a player who is 16 years old or
within six months of being eligible to sign was allowed to stay overnight at
a team academy for up to 30 days (not necessarily consecutive days) within a
six-month time period, then was not allowed to stay overnight at the team’s
academy for the next 60 days. Now even visiting a team’s academy for one day
will count against those 30 days, regardless of whether the player stays
overnight.
A less-controversial rule change is that unsigned players are not allowed to
live with a team employee, which previously was not explicitly against major
league rules. If a team wants to provide overnight housing for a player, it
has to be at an official team facility, so teams aren’t allowed to host a
player at a hotel or a property that’s owned or rented by a team employee.
While several teams have engaged in this practice, the most notable recent
example was the Yankees having Dominican shortstop Christopher Torres stay
during the week at the home of Edgar Mateo, an assistant Dominican area
scout, then return home on weekends.