NEW YORK — The worst eight teams in baseball would be able to select players from the top eight in a new “competitive balance draft” proposed by commissioner Bud Selig.

        The teams with the eight highest winning percentages over the previous three years would be able to protect just 25 players apiece in the draft, according to a 37-page memorandum sent to teams last week and obtained by The Associated Press.

        Only the teams with the eight lowest winning percentages over the previous three years would be allowed to make selections, and they could take only one player each. The draft would take place annually after the World Series but before the end of the winter meetings each December.

        Because the teams with the worst records often are the ones with the least money, they could attempt to draft high-salaried players and trade them to wealthy clubs for younger and cheaper talent.

        “I think that would be a possibility,” said Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner's officer. “This would operate very similar to an expansion draft. Although there is some confidentially with respect to the protected lists, I'm sure clubs would look for a way to make trades.”

        The draft was recommended in July by the owners' latest economic study committee, and commissioner Bud Selig told his staff to present it to owners for approval when they meet in Phoenix on Jan.17-18.

        “I really don't want to talk about it,” Selig said Monday. “I'm not really sure how that got out.”

        Owners are being asked to vote on a variety of rules changes, many of which the Major League Baseball Players Association probably would challenge:

        • Making all players around the world subject to the June draft, which would eliminate much of the ability of Cuban defectors and young Dominican stars to command huge signing bonuses.

        • Changing the eligibility for college players in the draft from players in their junior seasons to those in their senior seasons, taking away the leverage of players who threaten to return to school.

        • Forcing all draft picks to sign by July 15.

        Agent Tom Reich said the changes were tied to the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement Oct.31. “This is labor dispute foreplay, firing shots across the bow,” he said. “This is the kind of stuff that has gone on forever.”

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