The MLB Draft is probably the most complained about aspect of major league baseball. There are many subtle quirks and loopholes that ultimately lead to confusion when they come into play. Take this year's Pedro Alvarez episode. The newly installed signing deadline for draft picks came into play when Pedro Alvarez's deal with the Pirates was reportedly submitted to the commissioner's office past the midnight deadline.

It was then decided the situation would be resolved through an arbiter, but no one knew if Alvarez would have to sign the original deal, be allowed to negotiate a new deal, or be forced to re-enter next year's draft. Skipping the gritty details, about a month later Alvarez and the Pirates were allowed to negotiate a new deal, which was basically the same as the old one.

Have I forgot to mention Scott Boras was involved in all of this? No one has taken advantage of the weak draft rules as much as Scott Boras, and in doing so has helped to highlight the many problems with the entire drafting system. I have many issues--from the compensatory picks to suggestive slotting to the international signing procedure with the drafting system myself.

I like to equate it to the nation's economy. To start off, neither is working very well. Bud Selig represents the incapable leaders in government who do not know how to correct the issues. Scott Boras is the corrupt CEOs and suits on Wall St. who take advantage of the system and as a byproduct point out its weaknesses. I feel like I could go farther with this metaphor but everyone gets the point so I'll stop.

I could talk all day about the drafting system and how I feel it should be fixed, but instead I'd like to talk about one player, Matt Harrington. Matt Harrington holds the MLB draft record of being selected in the most drafts at five. Here is the story of how that happened.

Matt Harrington was the seventh overall pick in the 2000 draft by the Colorado Rockies. His agent at the time was Tommy Tanzer, and Tanzer was asking for a ridiculous signing bonus of just under five million dollars. Josh Hamilton, the first overall pick of the year before received a four million dollar bonus, so clearly Tanzer's asking price was a bit high.

The Rockies' final offer ended up being four million dollars, which Tanzer rejected so Harrington would have to return to playing unprofessionally and entering the draft next year. Feeling they had been given terrible advice, Harrington and his family would fire Tanzer and even tried to sue him. To replace Tanzer the Harringtons would hire... you guessed it... Scott Boras.

In the 2001 draft, Harrington was selected 58th overall by the San Diego Padres. Fifty-eighth is still respectable, but far from last year's seventh overall. Regardless, Boras was confident he could garner Harrington a contract near last year's enticing four million, major league deal. The Padres were staunch negotiators and 1.2 million was the largest contract offered. Not surprisingly, Boras declined that offer and Harrington once again went through the draft unsigned. Just for perspective, Harrington was only 19 years old at the time of this draft.

Harrington would begin 2002 in the world of independent league baseball. In 32.1 innings he posted an unspectacular 6.68 ERA with just 25 strikeouts to 24 walks. Regardless of his struggles, Harrington was still selected in the 2002 draft, this time however in the 13th round (374 overall) by the Rays. The Rays offered average slot money, around 10,000 to 20,000 dollars. Harrington's stock was falling fast, but he still did not sign the contract. He would have to wait until next year.

In 2003, as a 21 year old, Harrington was running out of options. He was drafted in the 24th round--711th overall--by the Cincinatti Reds but failed to agree on terms to a contract. If they had come to agreement, the signing bonus would have been virtually non-existent, especially compared to the 4+ million dollar deal he was offered three years ago, or even the 1.2 million two years ago.

This is the part of the story where you start to feel bad for Matt Harrington, as his career is obviously circling the drain. He was drafted again in 2005--for the fifth time--by the Yankees in the 36th round or the 1,089th overall pick. They didn't even offer him a contract.

Despite having gone through all of this, Harrington was just 23 years old and was still determined to make it to the major leagues. Although his first obstacle was to at least make it into a minor league system. As per the prototypical Hollywood story, Harrington would experience a renaissance of sorts. In 2005 and 2006, Harrington would pitch with an Independent League team as a middle reliever. More than just pitching, he pitched well.

Well enough that in 2006 the Cubs were willing to give the now 24 year old Harrington a chance. They signed him over the 2006 offseason and gave him a shot to compete in their minor league system. However this is real life and not Hollywood, so the inevitable happy ending never came. Harrington was released by the Cubs early in 2007 and was forced again to play in Independent League baseball.

I am not sure of his current status, but I believe Harrington must have given up on trying to become a major leaguer. At 26 years old, he has passed the age when a player has the chance of becoming the next Brad Ziegler. It really is a shame to realize that Matt Harrington never received a signing bonus from any team over the course of everything. It is his fault he rejected the 4 million and 1 million dollar offers. I don't know if I could live with myself if I were him.

But hey, look on the bright side, now he gets an article written about him on MLB Front Office. So it's not all bad, although the MLB drafting system is.