Only carded players eligible for drafting?

Posted on behalf of Mike R.:

Proposal: Starting with the 2007 draft, only carded players may be drafted.

Rationale:
1. Taking a flier on a minor league stud prospect is cheap right now, and most don't pan out.
2. The ones that do, rob high-quality, long term star performers from future drafts.
3. Strat-o-Matic now cards players that have as few as 25+ AB and 20+ IP, so most future stars will get a limited card about 1 year before they hit the big time (i.e. Hermida, Zimmerman, King Felix) (Delmon Young notwithstanding)
4. It would even the playing field for scouting players, for those managers that don't feel compelled to follow Double A baseball rosters and preseason prognosticators.
5. It would add value, and excitement to the first few rounds of the draft.
6. You still can retain current carded players on your roster that won't have a card for the future year ( i.e. B.J Upton, Trevor Hoffman, Rocco Baldeli), but if they don't get retained, nobody can draft them again until they actually get another card.

I know we talked at length about this topic when we converted to retention, and agreed on the no-holds-barred approach. After three years, the league as a whole has done a very good job of syphoning off the best young talent available, including those that are just breaking in as top Rookie prospects. This proposal would allow us to keep the retention number at 18, yet give everyone a more even shot at the young studs, and add more excitement to the draft, especially the first round.

Anybody that follows Lamanna's Baseball Bulletin, or SOMWorld sees that regardless of the retention math, most leagues limit draftable players to carded players. In these leagues, Felix Hernandez is a lead-pipe lock as the first pick in the draft, and there is a huge scramble to try and acquire such a top pitching prospect. In the I75 League this year, three of the top 5 in Lamanna's Rookie Card list are already gone, including #1 King Felix (congrats to the Warriors on that pick, BTW).

So I say, get your uncarded stud prospects this season and then let's close the loophole, for the good of the league!