Stanley Pringle still in PBA Draft pool

The PBA Commissioner’s office assured the Inquirer that as of Tuesday, 27-year-old Fil-Am Stanley Pringle, the projected top overall pick in the PBA Draft on Aug. 24, has not withdrawn his application.

The 6-foot-1 guard from Virginia Beach has made it known that he wants a monthly pay of $20,000 (about P860,000) for his services, an amount way over the maximum cap of P150,000 established by the league for rookies.

PBA Media Bureau head Willie Marcial said no rookie has been paid that amount in PBA history. No one has also dared demand such a figure.

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Reacting to this column on Pringle last Saturday, PBA Operations director Rickie Santos called to inform us of the possible consequences should the cager and the drafting team, in this case Globalport, not come to an  agreement within five days after drafting.

“The commissioner will need to arbitrate if Pringle and Globalport do not come to terms within five days after the draft,” Santos said.

“If the commissioner finds the player reasonable, the team retains its rights to the player until the next draft and the player can re-enter the draft. This is equivalent to the one-year sit-out you mentioned in your column.

“The team retains the rights until the next draft, in essence, giving the two parties time to thresh things out. If still they fail to come to terms, the team has the option to trade its rights to the player.”

Now if in the arbitration process the commissioner finds the player unreasonable, Santos said the team loses its rights over the player and the player can only re-apply for the draft after two years.

While we were at it, we decided to ask Santos for the guidelines on dispersal draftees, some of whom have not been contacted by the expansion team that drafted them.

“The expansion team takes over the obligations of the mother team, as stipulated in the existing contract. This starts immediately after the player is drafted. Whether or not he eventually gets to play for the expansion team,” Santos said.

When the original contract with the mother team expires, Santos said the expansion ballclub is required to tender an offer to the player for one year, to retain its right of first refusal over the player.

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PBA chair Ramon Segismundo Tuesday confirmed that he will no longer be involved in the PBA when he steps down as board head on draft day.

“I will be concentrating on my corporate functions at Meralco,” said Segismundo, who will be replaced by MVP Sports Foundation president Al S. Panlilio in the PBA board, with Ryan Gregorio and Meralco’s Betty Siy-Yap  as his alternates.

Meanwhile, the Trillo brothers will be working together at Meralco—Paolo as team manager and Luigi as assistant coach to Norman Black.