Though Major League Baseball can accurately claim that the total allotment for international bonus pools has risen this season, the overall amount that clubs can spend on international talent has actually decreased, explains Baseball America's Ben Badler in his latest piece. While the bonus pool itself has risen, MLB has eliminated the six exemptions per team that allow a club to sign a player for up to $50K without that money counting against its bonus pool. By doing so, MLB eliminates a possible total of $9MM that can be spent on international talent. That's more than enough to offset the 1.2 percent rise from $78,226,600 in 2013 to $79,194,000 in 2014 that Badler reports in his article.
In the previous spending period, teams were able to sign an unlimited amount of players for $7500 or less in addition to their six exemptions of $50K or less. Badler points out that the $7500 figure will increase slightly to $10K for the coming signing period, but that marginal increase hardly accounts for the elimination of $50K exemptions.
The penalties for exceeding bonus pools will remain unchanged and will continue to pale in comparison to the penalties set for exceeding the limitations in the June amateur draft. Because of that, we're likely to see more teams take the route that the Rangers and Cubs took in the 2013-14 period and blow past international spending limits with little regard. The Yankees are one club that will reportedly do just that in the 2014-15 signing period.
Baseball should be encouraging the elite athletes to play baseball here, instead of trying to put a cap on it. That $79MM total for baseball pales in comparison to the amount of money that they are paying free agents.
I thought baseball was a world wide game, or they were trying to make it one?
What you are suggesting and keeping penalties low encourages just the opposite.
Penalties are not for encouraging global baseball but rather decrease international spending bidding wars on players in countries which is relatively easy to break the law and MIGHT be lying about their age, using steroids, etc.
I think they are more concerned with their own money. Most of these rescrictions are geared towards latin american players, not exactly the place that mlb would expand to, not to mention that most of them have their own leagues. They are going to be seeing lots of competition with soccer leagues in these places.
Agree to an extent there.
MLB has in recent year been proclaiming itself as a world wide game though, opening the season in Japan, PR, Aussie Land. Japan has a regular season lasting months, Taiwan, South Korea that are fondly followed by thousands and thousands of fans. The Caribbean has it’s winter leagues, Mexico has it’s own league, filled with many 4A and AAA talents that in the old days, was filled with impressive talent.
The league is trying to get the game started in Europe, South Africa and they are doing this to pull talent away. I realize 99% will leave anyway ( except for maybe some Asian and European) players, just to get away from the economic conditions surrounding them and that they grew up with. However.. The league stating itself as a WW game, yet openly taking the best young talent out there from other leagues may not be the best way to endear themselves with fans and grow.. I mean like fans of Taiwan, South Korea and in Europe where they are just trying to grow, Australia.
I do think though that seeing someone from your area tearing up the major leagues is going to do a lot more good than that player being in their country playing against not good competition. Japan is a populous country with enough money to pay their players somewhat decent salaries. Many of those other countries unless you only have a few teams you are forced to draw from the lesser talented players. Even though those countries are exempt, you still see established players coming over from Japan and Cuba.
Right again, it is monetary conditions in most all cases, except with Cuba where it is both monetary and oppression, lifestyle, etc..
NPB players are paid far less, then they (owners) don’t have massive revenue streams coming in that MLB owners do. They do pay comparably with what MLB teams did (inflation even) as to what MLB teams did, say 25 years ago, which is not bad for a league that does not make it’s billions off of the media.
That would be an interesting topic here one day if the guys could bring it up. I am thinking Sadler had one awhile back, or another writer on the economic differences of the 2 leagues and how they compared now and then and similarities.