While there are still plenty of unsigned free agents available on the open market, only two of those unsigned players could affect the draft order: Toronto catcher Rod Barajas and St. Louis right-handed pitcher Joel Pineiro. Clearly teams are showing more patience and prudence during difficult economic times. They’re waiting out players, knowing the longer they wait, the more cost-effective the remaining available players will be.

Because of that we now have a very good idea of how the draft is going to shake out. Below I have listed the draft order through the supplemental third round, in what I call a “worst case” scenario, including the projected compensatory picks for both Barajas and Pineiro, assuming they both sign elsewhere.

And that “worst case” scenario tells us that the supplemental round can go no deeper than 18 selections, which includes the compensatory selection for unsigned 2009 draft pick James Paxton.

Those 18 picks are up from the 17 from a year ago and the 16 from 2008, but still well below the 34 picks in the sandwich round in the 2007 draft.

Regardless of what Barajas and Pineiro do, the compensatory picks for the unsigned 2009 draft picks from the sandwich and second rounds (Paxton, Jake Eliopoulos, Kenny Diekroeger) will not change for the 38th, 69th and 79th overall selections respectively.

First Round

1. Washington Nationals
2. Pittsburgh Pirates
3. Baltimore Orioles
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Cleveland Indians
6. Arizona Diamondbacks
7. New York Mets
8. Houston Astros
9. San Diego Padres
10. Oakland Athletics
11. Toronto Blue Jays
12. Cincinnati Reds
13. Chicago White Sox
14. Milwaukee Brewers
15. Texas Rangers for unsigned '09 pick Matthew Purke
16. Chicago Cubs
17. Tampa Bay Rays
18. Los Angeles Angels from Seattle Mariners for Chone Figgins
19. Houston Astros from Detroit Tigers for Jose Valverde
20. Boston Red Sox from Atlanta Braves for Billy Wagner
21. Minnesota Twins
22. Texas Rangers
23. Florida Marlins
24. San Francisco Giants
25. St. Louis Cardinals
26. Colorado Rockies
27. Philadelphia Phillies
28. Los Angeles Dodgers
29. Los Angeles Angels from Boston Red Sox for John Lackey
30. Los Angeles Angels
31. Tampa Bay Rays for unsigned '09 pick LeVon Washington
32. New York Yankees

Supplemental First Round

33. Houston Astros for Jose Valverde
34. Toronto Blue Jays for Marcos Scutaro
35. Atlanta Braves for Mike Gonzalez
36. Boston Red Sox for Jason Bay
37. Los Angeles Angels for John Lackey
38. Toronto Blue Jays for unsigned '09 pick James Paxton
39. Boston Red Sox for Billy Wagner
40. Los Angeles Angels for Chone Figgins
41. Toronto Blue Jays for Rod Barajas*
42. Tampa Bay Rays for Gregg Zaun
43. Seattle Mariners for Adrian Beltre
44. Detroit Tigers for Brandon Lyon
45. Texas Rangers for Ivan Rodriguez
46. St. Louis Cardinals for Mark DeRosa
47. Colorado Rockies for Jason Marquis
48. Detroit Tigers for Fernando Rodney
49. Texas Rangers for Marlon Byrd
50. St. Louis Cardinals for Joel Pineiro*

Second Round

51. Washington Nationals
52. Pittsburgh Pirates
53. Atlanta Braves from Orioles for Mike Gonzalez
54. Kansas City Royals
55. Cleveland Indians
56. Arizona Diamondbacks
57. Boston Red Sox from Mets for Jason Bay
58. Houston Astros
59. San Diego Padres
60. Oakland Athletics
61. Toronto Blue Jays
62. Cincinnati Reds
63. Chicago White Sox
64. Milwaukee Brewers
65. Chicago Cubs
66. Tampa Bay Rays
67. Seattle Mariners
68. Detroit Tigers
69. Toronto Blue Jays for unsigned '09 pick Jake Eliopoulos
70. Atlanta Braves
71. Minnesota Twins
72. Texas Rangers
73. Florida Marlins
74. San Francisco Giants
75. St. Louis Cardinals
76. Colorado Rockies
77. Philadelphia Phillies
78. Los Angeles Dodgers
79. Tampa Bay Rays for unsigned '09 pick Kenny Diekroeger
80. Toronto Blue Jays from Boston Red Sox for Marcos Scutaro
81. Los Angeles Angels
82. New York Yankees

Third Round

83. Washington Nationals
84. Pittsburgh Pirates
85. Baltimore Orioles
86. Kansas City Royals
87. Cleveland Indians
88. Arizona Diamondbacks
89. New York Mets
90. Houston Astros
91. San Diego Padres
92. Oakland Athletics
93. Toronto Blue Jays
94. Cincinnati Reds
95. Chicago White Sox
96. Milwaukee Brewers
97. Chicago Cubs
98. Tampa Bay Rays
99. Seattle Mariners
100. Detroit Tigers
101. Atlanta Braves
102. Minnesota Twins
103. Texas Rangers
104. Florida Marlins
105. San Francisco Giants
106. St. Louis Cardinals
107. Colorado Rockies
108. Philadelphia Phillies
109. Los Angeles Dodgers
110. Boston Red Sox
111. Los Angeles Angels
112. New York Yankees

Supplemental Third Round

113. Toronto Blue Jays for unsigned '09 pick Jake Barrett
114. Chicago White Sox for unsigned '09 pick Bryan Morgado
115. Los Angeles Angels for unsigned '09 pick Josh Spence

It’s easy to say that the Blue Jays are in a good position to add more picks, particularly of note since new GM Alex Anthopoulos has made it perfectly clear that the organization intends to place a newfound interest on rebuilding the organization from the bottom up. However, while the team stands to gain as many as six extra early picks, three of those are due to unsigned early picks from last year’s draft.

The Los Angeles Angels have already hit the draft jackpot, gaining two extra first-round picks and two supplemental first-rounders due to the departures of John Lackey and Chone Figgins. That gives them five selections among the top 40 overall picks.

The Red Sox had a net gain of two picks. They lost their own first-round and second-round picks after signing John Lackey and Marcos Scutaro. They also gained the first and second rounders of the Braves and Mets for Billy Wagner and Jason Bay respectively, as well as gaining two sandwich picks for those two players.

The Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers each stand to gain a pair of sandwich picks, although the Tigers lost their own first rounder by signing Jose Valverde. The Cardinals could join the Rangers and Tigers with two sandwich picks should Pineiro sign elsewhere.

Similar to the Blue Jays, the Rays have a few extra early picks, although largely due to not being able to sign their first- and second-round picks from last June.

Gerhart, Jones to enter NFL Draft

It turns out that the prospect of playing in the NFL was too great for a pair of players who were poised to make an impact for their respective college baseball teams this coming spring.

I chronicled Toby Gerhart’s situation prior to the Heisman Trophy voting, in which he finished a close second to winner Mark Ingram; the closest vote in the 75-year history of the prestigious award. He did receive the Doak Walker award for the nation’s top running back and also led the nation in rushing touchdowns (28) for Stanford.

Chad Jones’ decision may not be as surprising, as football has always been his first priority. He missed more than a month of the LSU baseball team’s season last year, but still played a key role in the Tigers’ College Baseball World Series Championship season. In a limited role as both an outfielder and as a left-handed relief specialist, he hit .343 in 35 at-bats and posted a 2.70 ERA in nine relief appearances.

In declaring to become eligible for the NFL draft, both are passing on the opportunity to not only play baseball, but also to play another year of football. Jones has declared as a junior, and Gerhart could have come back for another year of medical red-shirt eligibility after playing only one game during the 2007 season due to a knee injury.

Gerhart has already withdrawn from school to prepare himself for the NFL combine. Both players are projected to be selected in the second round of the draft in late April.

Both players remain eligible to be taken in the baseball draft, where teams could take a chance on them while retaining their signing rights. After all, Jake Locker signed with the Los Angeles Angels last summer for $200,000, and he has shown no inclination that he intends to ever pursue a baseball career. So, it’s possible similar, creative contracts could be reached with both Gerhart and Jones, even if their baseball careers are also effectively over.

Radical Changes for 2012?

Word emerged from Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun (draft enthusiasts should check out Elliot’s work on the Canadian Baseball Network, where he ranks and profiles the top Canadian draft-eligible prospects) via Twitter that Major League Baseball is working on putting together a committee to hammer out the details to institute hard draft slotting and a world-wide draft, as quoted by an unnamed scouting director.

Bud Selig has made it perfectly clear over the past year that he fully intends to make slotting a reality the next time the Collective Bargaining Agreement is ratified. The current CBA expires after the 2011 season.

You may remember two Collective Bargaining Agreements ago that both the owners and the players agreed to make changes to the draft, changes that would be made as advised by a panel that was put together after the CBA was signed. Of course, nothing was made of those efforts.

This time around they are handling the draft, usually forgotten and/or overlooked by both the owners and the players, the right way to tackle the issues prior to the expiration of the current deal.

Draft slotting may not be as hard to get the players’ union to sign off on, since players eligible for the draft are not part of the players’ association, although it is an issue that needs to be collectively bargained. The basic idea is that if amateur players sign for less money, there will be more cash available for current big leaguers.

I’ve expressed before that I’m less confident a world-wide draft could work, but this news is very intriguing regardless. As pointed out by Anup Sinha late last week, the commissioner’s recommended slotting system just isn’t working, and the only way to make sure the worst teams are getting the best players is to level the playing field financially, at least when it comes to the draft.

The thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those of Perfect Game USA. Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.