What If You Could Trade For Draft Picks?

Yes, I know that teams can technically trade their competitive balance picks at certain times of the year, but what would the draft tonight be like if you could, like the NFL and NBA, trade any pick for other picks or players? Being a bit of a draft nerd (I like the NFL, but I love the NFL Draft) I think it would be tremendously interesting.

Beyond interest, however, would the system benefit an organization like Kansas City? Without the salary cap limitations of the NFL and NBA, would that lead to more or less desire to acquire early draft picks?

Unlike either football or basketball, the players chosen with even the highest picks are often a season or seasons away from making an impact on the major league team. Rare is the occasion when you could trade a front line player for a draft pick and have the player taken with that pick be immediately better than what you traded away: not an uncommon thing in the NFL.

Still, the idea of being able to trade intrigues me.

The Royals desperate for power will likely have no chance at Kris Bryant, who has immense power and could quickly (in baseball terms) navigate his way to the majors. What would you give up to acquire the second or third pick in this year's draft. If you don't like Bryant, what would you give up to move up just in general?

If MLB ever did decide to allow trading of picks or for picks, how would the financial side of things work? When I first started writing this (if you call this writing), I was operating under the general assumption that whatever slot value was assigned to the pick would be part of the trade. You want to put another wrinkle in the mix, would it make sense for a team, let's say Houston, to trade the rights to the first overall pick, but not trade away all of the slot money associated with that pick? That might make things really interesting.

Tonight, I would think a team like the Cubs might be willing to trade the second overall pick in exchange for a player or players who were closer to the majors than the guy they would pick at number two. Just for talking purposes, would you trade Yordano Ventura and the 8th pick for the Cubs' 2nd overall? Would you trade Billy Butler for Colorado's 3rd overall pick plus their first round pick next year as well? I think I would do the first, not sure about the second suggestion.

What do you think the value of a draft pick is? Would teams be willing to trade for them? Will it ever happen?