I realize this is my fault for not reading the fine print of the contract demand, but I had two 18-year-old draft picks added to my 40-man roster as a condition of their signing. This is the first time any of my franchises have had this happen. Is this new? I usually wait until I promote them to the bigs or they are susceptible to the Rule 5 draft before adding them.

That's interesting. I've never seen that.

i had it happen to me 3 or 4 years ago in a different world, when a pitcher wanted a BL contract. i gave it to him & accelerated his progress in the minors so that he was in majors when his options ran out. he turned out ML ready when he made it to the show.

As I understand it, it's rare that draftees demand a Big League contract. To get two in the same draft must be something else.

I have never seen a draftee command a big-league contract. 40-man roster is a different demand.

I had a player sneak that past me as well. The only thing it did was I had to add him to the 40-man and he earned $55K every season instead of the salary of the level he was at. And he ran out of options, which didn't matter because he's one of the best SP I've ever seen (if he could stay healthy)!

Yeah, both those guys are earning $55K instead of the $27K for Low A, which is where I sent them to get their feet wet.