Could the Pirates trade their draft pick?

History was made yesterday as part of the trade that sent Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante from the Marlins to the Tigers. In that deal, the teams exchanged a pair of draft picks. That was the first trade of draft picks in Major League Baseball history.

One of the unique things about the new Collective Bargaining Agreement is an annual lottery for small-market and low-revenue teams. This lottery involves six draft picks immediately following the first round of the amateur draft and six draft picks immediately following the second round. The odds of winning a pick are based on the team's previous year's record. In this year's draft, the Pirates got the second pick in the compensation round following the first round of the draft. Under the new CBA rules, this pick is able to be traded during the season before the July 31 non-waiver trading deadline.

The Pirates' pick would carry considerable value, but there's no telling exactly what that value would be. There's no history of trading picks, so the market hasn't established for picks yet. The trade yesterday involved exchanging picks in order to sweeten the pot for the Tigers in case Anibal Sanchez does not sign an extension and becomes a two-month rental. It's probably easier to gauge the difference in value between picks rather than the value of a pick in exchange for talent on the market.

Neal Huntington has said he is not looking to trade his team's pick, but is willing to if he feels another team meets the internal value the Pirates have set on it. He acknowledges, however, that he's not really sure how the industry values the pick at present. There are two reasons the team might be willing to trade their pick. The first is that it could mean the Pirates can keep one of their current minor league prospects rather than include them in a trade. Huntington is proud of his farm system and is reluctant to part with guys the team has been developing. The second reason is that the Pirates already have two first round picks next year because they were unable to sign Mark Appel by this year's signing deadline. That might mean the Pirates are more willing to move the pick than they would be in a year where they only have one first round pick.

Whatever the Pirates decide to do (and I do think they need to do something), it will be interesting to see if more of these picks will be traded and what value they will have. It's just one more thing to spice up this already enticing trade deadline.