Get A Draft Pick, Even If It Is A Late Round One

from Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic,

GMs will tell you that given their preference, they’d acquire picks in 2022 rather than 2021 because there will be greater certainty by then – more eyeballs on the prospects, a truer sense of what players’ upsides might be.

If you’re a team selling low-budget rentals at or before the trade deadline this year and all you are offered in return is a bunch of fifths, sixths and sevenths, is it even worth the bother? The answer, according to at least one decision-maker, is yes, absolutely.

His thinking: If there’s ever a year to accumulate extra late-round picks, it is this one, on the grounds that if it truly is a shot-in-the-dark draft anyway, the more…