2018 Big Ten Baseball

[ELA]

I'll take your word for it.  I know absolutely nothing about the MLB draft, or MLB in general.  

But I love college baseball and always like to see our guys excel if they get to the next level.

Yeah, I think you have your total pool you can use, with suggested slot value.  So to sign a guy for way over slot, you have to sign a guy for way under.  So to free up the money to do that, they draft a kid in the 3rd, who is projected lower, but who they value somewhat higher, and then sign him for under slot, but still above what he would have gotten had he fallen to where he was expected, then you can use your unused money to sign someone else (in this case their 2nd round OF pick) for above slot value.
I think it was part of two CBAs ago where picks were holding teams hostage, with the legitimate option to go back to school, and small market teams were forced to pass on the best available players due to signability issues.

[utee94]

Makes sense.  I hope he gets paid whatever he might be worth, but of course it's not like he really needs the money given his family name...

Anyway, Horns win game3 against Tennessee Tech and advance to the College World Series, back home in Omaha.

[ELA]

Makes sense.  I hope he gets paid whatever he might be worth, but of course it's not like he really needs the money given his family name...

Anyway, Horns win game3 against Tennessee Tech and advance to the College World Series, back home in Omaha.

Well they just signed the HS OF for double his slot value to keep him from going to San Diego, so the money has to come from somewhere.
My guess is Clemens doesn't get 3rd round money, but gets more than 6th/7th round money, and the Tigers reached to take a kid in the 3rd, they wanted in the 5th, still saved enough money to sign the high school kid, and all parties make out.
To pull that off you have to find a kid you already have rated above consensus, and then take him even higher than you want him.  Seems like that's what they did with Clemens.  And so far in this tourney the kid ain't disappointing.  I'm excited to have him in the fold.

[OrangeAfroMan]

The tickets to Omaha have been punched:
Texas
North Carolina
Miss State
Texas Tech
Washington
Oregon State
Arkansas
Florida

[MarqHusker]

Brutal way to end it for Auburn. Right off the mitt. 

[OrangeAfroMan]

That's why he plays for Auburn, I guess.  

[OrangeAfroMan]

CWS Pairings:

Bracket 1:
Oregon State vs North Carolina
Mississippi State vs Washington

Bracket 2:
Arkansas vs Texas
Florida vs Texas Tech

Double-elimination within each bracket, with the winners of each meeting in a best-of-3 in the WS.

[utee94]

I preferred the old 48-team field with 8 regionals of 6 teams each in a double-elimination tournament.  It made for a VERY festive near-week of college baseball, with so many fans from different teams all coming to one place.

You also had a true double-elimination tournament in Omaha which I prefer slightly (except for a few years when it was double-elimination until the final game, and a team coming out of the loser's bracket could beat a team that hadn't lost a single game, and "win" the championship, like stoopid Wichita State did to Texas in 1989.  Bastages.  But I digresss...)

But with the current format, there's at least some nice symmetry.  The regional is a 4-team double elimination tournament, the super is a best of 3 series, and then the sequence repeats with a 4-team double-elimination tournament in your side of the bracket in Omaha, capped off with a final best of 3 series for the championship.

Pretty much all of the changes have been made to package it better for TV, so whether I like it or not, I must live with it.

[FearlessF]

agreed with all of that

even the Shocker part

[utee94]

wooshock bastages.  I hate those guys.

[MarqHusker]

Of the 5 or 6 times I went to Rosenblatt for the CWS, I don't think there was a time, where there wasn't a conversation, about who was playing who, and when the next day.  The format was not that simple to follow.   I didn't really care, I was there just to be there and enjoy the scene.    I'm not sure if its the same vibe at TDA park, but CWS is a fantastic event to attend, IMO much better than NCAA Hoops Tournament which remains convention like.

[OrangeAfroMan]

I like the current 64 teams down to a sweet 16, then Omaha setup.  

[utee94]

I like the current 64 teams down to a sweet 16, then Omaha setup.  

Did you ever get to attend one of the old 6-team regionals?  Preferably with your own favorite school hosting?  You might be too young, they killed that format in 1998.
It was really, really special.  Way more fun than a 4-team regional.

[MarqHusker]

I liked following it (old format) but since Nebraska never hosted, I never had the pleasure of witnessing the 'old format'.
Just the 'old' CWS format, which as I noted was perfectly fine, merely hard to explain.