San Diego Padres, Johnny Manziel, and the Backlash
For those of you who might not have heard Johnny Manziel was drafted..again..by the San Diego Padres in the 2014 MLB Draft. No, what you just read is not an illusion. The Padres took him with the 837th overall pick in the 28th round.
Initial reaction was shock that Manziel had been taken since he hadnβt played organized baseball since his junior year in High School. But once the dust settled at least on my Twitter feed there was plenty of anger directed at San Diego for making the selection. Now my Twitter feed is biased toward baseball players and baseball lifers due to my background working for the Ball State Baseball team and meeting many people through this. But I believe their anger was misguided.
The main arguments displayed by some of my followers were that The Padres had taken Manziel purely as a publicity stunt and cheated a hard working baseball player out of living his dream of playing professional baseball. This absolutely is true but it is also extremely biased and doesnβt take a look at the big picture.
By drafting Manziel San Diego βwastedβ one of its forty selections that it had in the 2014 draft. With the promise that Johnny has in football and his lack of recent baseball experience everyone knows that he won't sign. But the so-called βwastedβ pick wasnβt actually a waste. Ever since Manziel vaulted onto the national scene last year at Texas A&M the public canβt get enough of him. Everything he does garners national attention. Β Even as Iβm typing this ESPN has the MLB Draft-Manziel news going across its ticker at the bottom of the screen. With that said San Diego was hitching its wagon to the Manziel star in hopes it could get some much-needed publicity. Well it worked.
One thing that I have learned is that even bad press is good press. With all the hate that baseball players and coaches are giving San Diego for drafting Manziel it doesnβt hide the fact that you are talking about them and in so doing get other people to notice the story as well. The story doesnβt just have word of mouth gains it can also have financial ones. Iβm not sure what the rules are for selling merchandise and if Manziel has to sign in order for The Padres to start selling his jersey but if they do you can bet that a lot of people will want to buy it.
Letβs take a look if San Diego had not taken Manziel. They now would have to sign the kid they drafted, pay him, fly him to his team, pay for his meals throughout the season, and any possible medical expenses if he gets hurt. Is all that worth it for a kid who most likely will not amount to anything in terms of helping the big league club? I donβt have the stats in front of me but how many 28th round picks make the Major Leagues? Iβm sure not many. Also itβs no secret to anyone who has followed the MLB Draft over the years but the latter half of it is sometimes a joke. A number of selections tend to be sons, nephews, or family friends of GMβs, coaches, and scouts of these teams. This practice has led some to suggest that Major League Baseball reduce its draft to just twenty rounds. So instead losing money to pay, transport, feed, and train the player who probably wonβt amount to much The Padres can make money by getting publicity and selling merchandise with Manzielβs name and likeness attached to their brand.
At the end of the day Major League Baseball is not a charity, teams need to be profitable to continue to function. For the near future San Diego can link Manziel with them just like the Texas Rangers did with Russell Wilson the quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks. This year they invited him to spring training, which garnered not much but decent coverage and activity on the news and social media. This also has gains for Major League Baseball because they have been trying for years to make the MLB Draft more of an event like the NFLβs and NBAβs. This selection draws more attention to it and again gets more eyeballs to watch.
You canβt fault San Diego for looking at the bottom line and that always is $ as much as we might not like it to be. The one disappointment that I have from this ordeal is that the Cleveland Indians didnβt do this. With Manziel playing for the Cleveland Browns and the mystique and aura Cleveland residents have already bestowed upon him it should have been a no brainer for The Indians to get some great publicity and merchandise sales by drafting him.
Β With all that being said #GigEm










