@adbono posted:The transfer portal has created full blown free agency among the most competitive of D1 programs. This wasn’t the intended purpose and I don’t like it. But you can’t blame the players and coaches for taking advantage of it to improve their situation. Especially when money is involved (NLI for big name players) and jobs are at stake for HCs at big name schools. How would you like to be HC at a mid-major and have a player in your program turn into a star tight before your eyes? How could you possibly keep him? The reality is that what is happening in D1 is exactly what MLB wanted to happen. The elite D1 teams are turning into pro level ball clubs. The players are older and more skilled. The best talent is becoming concentrated among the big name schools. The SEC and the ACC are full of minor league caliber teams. And this costs MLB nothing. MLB has gotten rid of many low level minor league franchises (saving themselves millions of dollars in the process) and replaced them with the best D1 teams - for free.
It's been tossed around here that the top of the SEC + other stacked programs are around the level of A+/AA. It's hard to argue against it.
I agree 100%, I really do believe it's part of a master plan between MLB and NCAA. If we're not that big into conspiracy theories fine but at the very least the pendulum has swung to a top heavy only model. Our program has picked up 5 players who have torched us in midweeks at their smaller programs. We essentially had a trade - we picked up a SS from a lower level D1 program and they picked up one of our backups. They're both starting.
There are two issues that the public decided to neglect. The first is that players could always make money off their name - they just couldn't do it at the collegiate level. Nothing was stopping a player from going to Australia, G League, MLB draft. Players were willingly choosing to forgo $$$ in lieu of getting an education because it's a pretty good safety net. I don't know why people acted like there weren't options.
The second is that the free agency pool aka transfer portal essentially killed any future for the little guy. Any talented player will follow the money or the wins. Look at football - players are leaving their programs for more money. How can any up and coming program compete with that on a year to year basis?