Orioles get fourth pick in Competitive Balance Lottery

The Orioles added a draft pick for next June today in the first Competitive Balance Lottery. The Orioles will get the fourth pick in Round A, which will follow the first-round picks in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft. A projection on the MLB Network, where the results were announced this afternoon, was that the pick would fall between the 32nd and 37th overall selections and the Round A picks will come before the second-round picks. The order for the Round A picks is Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Arizona, Orioles, Cincinnati and Miami. The order for the Round B picks, which will come after the second round is San Diego, Cleveland, Colorado, Oakland, Milwaukee and Detroit. The Competitive Balance Lottery came about as a result of baseball's new collective bargaining agreement and is designed to help lower-revenue teams and teams that finish near the bottom of the standings. The MLB Network listed the Orioles as having the best chance, just over 12 percent, to get the highest pick handed out today. They wound up with the fourth-highest pick. These 12 picks become the first draft picks that can be traded and they can only be traded during a season, meaning from now to the end of the 2012 regular season and then from opening day next year to next season's draft. So today's news will likely mean the Orioles will have at least two of the top 40 picks in next June's draft, their own and the Competitive Balance Pick they now own in Round A.