MLB and Decker

GoBigGold

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Is there a chance Decker could still decide to join the Brewers MLB and skip the 09 NCAA football season?
He would be in the Brewers farm club...hmmmm I wonder if deep pockets senator for life Herb Kohl (Kohl center) would beef up an offer to Eric Decker thereby removing a starting WR from the U of M?
 

No

A. He was a 39th round draft pick by Milwaukee--those guys never get big money
B. He will be redrafted in June, the Brewers only hold his rights for one year. If he has a big year this year, he could go higher, but most likely still won't get into the big money rounds.
C Decker can wait until he is Drafted next spring/ Summer by the NFL and MLB and play them off one another to try and get more money out of the deal then...thats his best option.
 

i would say no and for a very simple reason:

i think decker really wants to be able to play in the new stadium this year and won't pass on that opportunity to go to the minors one year early - for the brewers no less.
 

This is the year for him to sign. . .

. . .if he wants to be a baseball player professionally. He’ll be offered a lot more money than others taken in the same round because he has leverage most players don’t. He was drafted in the 39th round last year in part because he told teams prior to the MLB draft that he wasn’t going to sign and not to bother taking him. If he knows that he wants to play baseball rather than football after college, his maximum leverage will be this summer. He will have college football, a pro football career and another season of college baseball eligibility as other realistic options to present at the bargaining table. If he waits until after his senior year he loses the college baseball and college football bargaining chips. He’ll also have a harder time convincing any baseball team that football is a serious option, unless he foregoes his college baseball season to go to one of those football draft prep programs, the combine, etc.
 

Is there a chance Decker could still decide to join the Brewers MLB and skip the 09 NCAA football season?
He would be in the Brewers farm club...hmmmm I wonder if deep pockets senator for life Herb Kohl (Kohl center) would beef up an offer to Eric Decker thereby removing a starting WR from the U of M?



Oh and to add another thing as I reread what you wrote

Herb Kohl doesn't own the Brewers. He owns the Bucks. The Brewers are or at least were owned by the Selig family...as in Bud.
 


Well, the fact he's got one of the lowest batting avg. of any starter on the team combined with almost the most strikeouts leads me to believe that he will be suiting up this fall in TCF. Not to mention he hasn't played in 3 games as it appears he's been benched.
 

Well, the fact he's got one of the lowest batting avg. of any starter on the team combined with almost the most strikeouts leads me to believe that he will be suiting up this fall in TCF. Not to mention he hasn't played in 3 games as it appears he's been benched.

He's injured. Pro scouts love him.
 

I am not going to be critical of him because he is a tremendous athlete. I have seen him play baseball and I believe that his future is in football.
 

Can MLB compete with the NFL for these 2-sport guys? It seems like if the NFL wants someone they get him.

It seems like the only guys who chose other pro sports are the ones who NFL scouts think have great college football skills that are of questionable value in the NFL (i.e Jeff Samardzija).
 




It seems like the only guys who chose other pro sports are the ones who NFL scouts think have great college football skills that are of questionable value in the NFL (i.e Jeff Samardzija).

I think you are right about the players that make it to college and play football. But you aren't counting all the players that get drafted right out of high school and sign with a MLB club. Had Joe Mauer went to FSU instead of signing with the Twins I bet he would be playing in the NFL. I think two sport stars in high school usually make their decision on what sport to pursue before college. It's either go to college on football scholarship or sign a baseball contract and go to the minors.
 

There have been a few guys over the years who played minor league baseball in the summer and then played college football in the fall. Theoretically, Decker could sign with Milwaukee - play in the rookie ball league in June and July - report to Gophers football camp in August, play football this fall, then move on to his baseball career again next summer. Not saying it will happen (it is unlikely). But, it is something others have done.
 

It seems like the only guys who chose other pro sports are the ones who NFL scouts think have great college football skills that are of questionable value in the NFL (i.e Jeff Samardzija).

A significant exception to this would be Drew Henson. He played as backup QB to Tom Brady at Michigan for two years, started as a junior and led the Wolverines to a share of the Big 10 title, and was regarded as a potential Heisman candidate for his senior year but opted to sign a baseball contract with the Yankees as a 3rd round draft choice. I don't recall that there were concerns about his college football game translating into the NFL.
 



He's injured. Pro scouts love him.

Even if scouts love some parts of his game, and even though he doesn't play baseball year round, it's hard to project him as that great of a baseball prospect when right now his OBP is .358 and SLG .391. Though in a world where there are still GMs that would have a clearly not ready Carlos Gomez as an everyday player, who knows. Either way, he's still not even close to being the prospect for baseball that he is in the NFL, where he could wind up being a first round pick if enough things work out in his favor.
 

Decker's dad reffed a few high school basketball games I coached in and I talked to him about this very question. He said he will look @ his options after the baseball season but also said he will be in a VERY good situation after the football season and will make his choice then....In other words, he will be playing football this fall for the Gophs and then look into his future Pro choices according to his dad. Dad was a really nice guy btw....
 

There have been a few guys over the years who played minor league baseball in the summer and then played college football in the fall. Theoretically, Decker could sign with Milwaukee - play in the rookie ball league in June and July - report to Gophers football camp in August, play football this fall, then move on to his baseball career again next summer. Not saying it will happen (it is unlikely). But, it is something others have done.

Have the rules changed? I seem to remember when the Twins drafted a prospect (J.D Drew maybe?) who didn't sign that the moment he set foot in a college classroom that the Twins no longer held his rights.
 

Have the rules changed? I seem to remember when the Twins drafted a prospect (J.D Drew maybe?) who didn't sign that the moment he set foot in a college classroom that the Twins no longer held his rights.

You are exactly right - link

Decker couldn't even sign with the Brewers if he wanted to.

Of course, he could be drafted again this summer and sign with the team that selects him then.

As others have said, it seems to me his best bet is to leverage the NFL and MLB against each other after his sr. year of baseball. All that said, I think it's obvious his future is in the NFL.
 

Correct, I should have said he could sign with whatever team drafts him in June, play rookie ball in June and July, and then come back to school to play football in August. Theoretically, he could do that (again, I doubt he does).
 

Have the rules changed? I seem to remember when the Twins drafted a prospect (J.D Drew maybe?) who didn't sign that the moment he set foot in a college classroom that the Twins no longer held his rights.

Did the Twins draft JD Drew out of high school? That is something I never knew.
 


Jeff Samardija played football and baseball at Notre Dame, and went to the Cubs. Joe Mauer went from HS to playing baseball even with schoolys to play QB at college. Guys choose baseball when they want, and football when they want that. It has nothing to do with the NFL "getting what they want".

Also, in the example you are thinking of, Drew got drafted (out of college) by Philadelphia. He decided not to sign, and was placed back in the draft, where he was drafted by St. Louis. If a player is drafted, and not signed prior to the next draft, he and his rights go back into the draft pool for the next year.

Decker, if he decides to play baseball will play for Gopher football in the fall, and then he will be drafted in 2010 and go from there.
 

Even if scouts love some parts of his game, and even though he doesn't play baseball year round, it's hard to project him as that great of a baseball prospect when right now his OBP is .358 and SLG .391.

And he's 22. Scouts don't like raw 22-year-olds.
 

Decker is really struggling right now in baseball, he was out of the lineup for three straight games this past week and in Friday's game at illinois, he struck out three times and had a bad error in CF when he dropped a ball that lead to a huge inning for the Illinois. He has been dropped to 8th or sometimes 9th in the lineup. He is a good baseball player but I think the Decker hype got a little out of control and the more he plays, the more his weaknesses are exposed. He is a better football player, in baseball it was the mystique and the unknown that lead to all this pro ball talk, in football he already is a star.
 




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