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2015-16 International Prospects

Cuban Pitcher Vladimir Gutierrez Declared Free Agent

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4:25pm: MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports that Gutierrez will begin working out for teams next month, adding that his market likely won’t begin to take shape until that happens.

4:09pm: Major league baseball has declared Cuban righty Vladimir Gutierrez a free agent, Baseball America’s Ben Badler reports. He has been seeking to become eligible to sign since defecting in February.

Badler notes on Twitter that a number of scouts prefer Gutierrez’s total package to that of Yadier Alvarez, who just agreed to a $16MM bonus with the Dodgers. (That signing will require the Dodgers to also pay a 100% tax on that amount.) Like his countryman, Gutierrez will be subject to the international signing limits.

Whereas Alvarez offers big-time present-day stuff that needs polishing, Gutierrez possesses much better present command of his offerings with upside through projection. Per Badler, the 19-year-old is “long” and “lanky,” and there’s reason to believe that he can build on a low-90s fastball. Gutierrez’s primary off-speed pitch is a plus curve, though he’s also shown a change that could be a useful offering, as Badler wrote last year.

Because he falls within the bonus rules, Gutierrez cannot be signed (at least, to a $300K or greater bonus) by clubs currently serving overage bans: namely, the Angels, Diamondbacks, Rays, Red Sox and Yankees. The Braves can likely be ruled out as a destination as well. Atlanta has acquired an extra ~$1.3MM of bonus money, but that has been in an effort to avoid incurring future signing restrictions upon finalizing three already-reported high-profile international signings. Were the team prepared to go well beyond its spending pool, the trades to acquire international slots wouldn’t have been necessary in the first place.

With several teams carefully moving international bonus slots around to avoid future penalties, it seems at least plausible to think that Gutierrez will end up signing with a team that has already blown past its spending limits this year — particularly, of course, if he can command a bonus anything like that given to Alvarez. The Dodgers, Cubs, Giants and Royals are among the teams that currently stand to take on two-year bans on $300K+ signings.

A’s Acquire Aaron Kurcz From Braves

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The Braves announced that they’ve traded right-hander Aaron Kurcz to the Athletics in exchange for an international bonus slot that’s valued at $167K. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets that this latest trade will allow the Braves to sign Venezuelan shortstop Juan Morales.

The Braves have been the most active team in terms of trading for international bonus money. They’ve moved right-handers Cody Martin, Caleb Dirks and Garrett Fulenchek in addition to outfielder Jordan Paroubeck and now Kurcz in order to acquire an additional $1.299MM in bonus money to sign Morales, Dominican shortstop Derian Cruz and Dominican outfielder Christian Pache. By making these trades, the Braves have avoided incurring spending restrictions in the 2016-17 signing period, and Ben Badler of Baseball America tweets that the organization plans to spend aggressively in next year’s class.

An 11th-round pick by the Cubs in 2011, Kurcz went to the Red Sox as part of the compensation package for Red Sox GM turned Cubs president Theo Epstein. Boston traded him to the Braves in the offseason deal that sent Anthony Varvaro to the Red Sox. Kurcz, 24, missed the 2013 season due to Tommy John surgery but has otherwise posted consistently low ERA marks and gaudy strikeout totals with questionable control. He has a lifetime 2.87 ERA in the minors with 11.6 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9, with his BB/9 rates worsening as he’s ascended he minor league ladder.

Angels Acquire Rafael Lopez From Cubs

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3:12pm: Chicago will receive the 120th slot, which carries $149,700 in spending capacity, Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com tweets.

1:56pm: The Angels and Cubs have agreed to a trade that will send minor league catcher Rafael Lopez to Anaheim in exchange for an international bonus slot and left-handed pitching prospect Manuel Rondon, the teams announced. Chicago had designated Lopez for assignment last week.

The 27-year-old Lopez debuted with the Cubs in 2014 and received 14 plate appearances. Lopez picked up a pair of hits in that brief cup of coffee, and he’s had a reasonable amount of success in the upper minors. In 107 games/410 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, Lopez is a .281/.359/.333 hitter and has caught 30 percent of attempted base stealers.  With Miguel Montero projecting as the team’s catcher for the foreseeable future and David Ross signed to a two-year deal, though, there was little hope of Lopez carving out a significant role in the Majors anytime soon. He was on the Cubs’ 40-man roster and has subsequently been added to the Halos’ 40-man roster as well. The Angels announced that Lopez has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake.

Rondon, 20, is a left-handed pitcher out of Venezuela that has spent the past two seasons pitching for the Angels’ affiliate in the Dominican Summer League. He worked to a 2.50 ERA with 8.0 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 in 108 innings at that level over the past two seasons, though he’s not particularly young for the league. This season, Rondon has moved up to he Rookie league in Arizona, where he’s struggled in a small 8 1/3-inning sample, yielding eight runs on 13 hits and four walks with seven strikeouts. He will not turn 21 until next March.

In the past 24 hours, the Angels have added Lopez and right-handers Gaither Bumgardner and Jason Hoppe in exchange for international bonus slots. The Angels are restricted from signing any international amateur for more than $300K after blowing past their budget to sign Roberto Baldoquin last winter, rendering the slots largely inconsequential to them.

Rays Acquire Garrett Fulenchek From Braves

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The Braves announced that they have traded minor league right-hander Garrett Fulenchek to the Rays in exchange for a pair of international bonus slots. The value of those slots comes out to roughly $494K.

This marks the third separate trade that the Braves have made today in order to acquire international bonus money. The moves were made necessary by a pair of agreements to sign promising young international prospects Derian Cruz and Christian Pache for a combined total of $3.4MM. The Braves began this year’s international signing period with a bonus pool of $2,458,400, meaning they needed to acquire nearly $900K to accommodate the agreements free of penalty. Thus far, Atlanta has traded right-hander Cody Martin to the A’s and, in a second trade, sent minor leaguers Jordan Paroubeck and Caleb Dirks to the Dodgers. The combined total of those three moves has added $1,131,600 to its bonus pool, which will allow the Cruz and Pache signings to be finalized under the team’s cap, which has swelled to an even $3.59MM.

In parting with Fulenchek, however, the Braves have surrendered perhaps the most promising piece yet in any of these three deals. The 19-year-old was Atlanta’s second-round pick (66th overall) just one year ago. A high school righty out of Texas, Fulenchek debuted with the Braves’ Gulf Coast League affiliate in 2014 and pitched to a 4.78 ERA with 29 strikeouts against 22 walks in 37 2/3 innings. While those numbers aren’t exactly impressive, he still ranked firmly within the team’s Top 20 or so prospects. Baseball America rated him ninth among Atlanta farmhands this offseason, while Fangraphs placed him 17th. (Those rankings occurred prior to some of the team’s trades, however.) MLB.com presently ranks Fulenchek as the Braves’ No. 13 prospect.

Fulenchek received a $1MM signing bonus last year and is described by most as a projectable right-hander. BA praised Fulenchek’s ability to generate ground-balls with his fastball. Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel noted that he sits 91-95 mph with his fastball and touches 96 at times, also flashing an above-average slider. MLB.com notes that he’ll have to work on repeating his delivery point, but could develop into a big league starter over time.

Fulenchek is a far more notable acquisition than most players that are swapped for international pool money, though it should be noted that he was selected by the Braves’ previous front office, which has since undergone some changes. He’s not as highly touted a prospect as Touki Toussaint, whom Atlanta effectively purchased from the D-Backs last month, but it’s nonetheless a bit surprising to see such a high profile draft pick moved just over a year after he was selected.

The Rays, for comparison, acquired a similar pair of slots from the Marlins earlier today in exchange for minor league right-hander Enderson Franco despite being limited to a maximum of $300K per signing this period.

Dodgers Acquire Minor Leaguers Paroubeck, Dirks From Braves

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The Dodgers announced that they have acquired minor league outfielder Jordan Paroubeck and minor league right-hander Caleb Dirks from the Braves in exchange for an international bonus slot that is worth $249K. This is the second international bonus slot that the Braves have acquired today, as the team earlier sent righty Cody Martin to the A’s in exchange for an additional slot. Combined, Atlanta has acquired $637,400 to allocate to international signings.

Paroubeck is probably the more notable of the two names going back to Los Angeles. The Braves acquired Paroubeck, Matt Wisler, Cameron Maybin, Carlos Quentin and a Competitive Balance draft pick (No. 41 overall) from the Padres in the blockbuster deal that sent Melvin Upton Jr. and Craig Kimbrel to San Diego. Paroubeck drew praise for his athleticism at the time, but he’s yet to debut for the Braves in the minors this season. A second-round pick in 2013, Paroubeck slashed .286/.346/.457 in 157 plate appearances with the Padres’ Rookie-league affiliate in his pro debut last year.

Dirks was selected in the 15th round last season and has amassed a 1.53 ERA in 59 pro innings, averaging 10.1 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in that small sample. A closer late in his college career, Dirks has worked exclusively as a reliever in the Braves’ system. Baseball America noted at the time he was drafted that he features a 91-94 mph fastball with a below-average slider but an aggressive temperament that makes him well-suited for late-inning action.

The roughly $638K the Braves have picked up in this pair of trades boosts their bonus pool to $3,095,800. That leaves the Braves about $300K shy of the combined $3.4MM the Braves will reportedly spend on international prospects Derian Cruz and Christian Pache. The team likely will not announce the signings until acquiring additional bonus money, as money cannot be acquired once a team’s spending limitation has been officially reached.

Some may find the Dodgers’ willingness to trade away their international bonus money curious, considering the team is already spending far and away more money than any club in baseball on international prospects. However, there’s little reason for the Dodgers to hang onto their slots. They’re already going to incur the maximum penalties and be unable to sign players for more than $300K in the coming two signing periods, so by trading the slots away, there’s merely increasing the amount of overage taxes they have to pay while also accumulating some minor league talent. The only incentive for a team exceeding its bonus pool to hang onto the slots is to save a bit of money, and that’s not something with which the deep-pocketed Dodgers are overly concerned, so it makes sense to see them using these assets to add some depth.

Rays Acquire International Slot From Marlins

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The Marlins have traded an international bonus slot that is valued at about $500K to the Rays in exchange for minor league right-hander Enderson Franco, reports Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald (on Twitter). The decision is somewhat curious on Tampa’s part, as the Rays exceeded their international spending pool by quite a wide margin in 2014-15, which prevents them from signing an international amateur for more than $300K in the current signing period.

Franco, 22, is a Venezuelan right-hander that was originally signed by the Astros. The Rays selected him in the minor league portion of the 2013 Rule 5 Draft, and he’s pitched reasonably well for Tampa since being acquired. Franco has shown impeccable control throughout his minor league tenure, averaging just 1.8 walks per nine innings in part of six seasons — including a stellar 1.0 BB/9 rate in both 2014 and 2015. Thus far, in 71 2/3 innings as a starter in the Class-A Midwest League, he’s posted a 3.89 ERA with 5.9 K/9 against that 1.0 BB/9 mark.

Rangers Acquire International Slot Money From Angels

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4:34pm: Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com reports that the Rangers are receiving two international bonus slots from the Angels, which are worth a combined total of $879,500 (Twitter link).

3:15pm: The Rangers have acquired an international bonus slot from the Angels in exchange for minor league right-hander Jason Hoppe, executive VP of communications John Blake announced (on Twitter).

Toppe, 23, was the Rangers’ 27th-round pick in last year’s draft out of Minnesota State University. He debuted with the club’s short-season Class-A affiliate in 2014 and has returned to that level to begin the 2015 season. The Minnesota native has a 4.97 ERA with a 38-to-10 K/BB ratio in 38 professional innings to this point. He didn’t rank among Texas’ top prospects.

The Rangers have a $4,586,600 bonus pool this year, per Baseball America, and have already agreed to $2.6MM worth of bonuses with Leodys Taveras and Miguel Aparicio earlier today. The Halos blew past last year’s international spending cap in order to sign Cuban infielder Roberto Baldoquin, so the team won’t be able to sign an international free agent for more than $300K anyhow. As such, it’s logical that they’re exploring trades with their international slots.

Blue Jays To Sign Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

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1:04pm: Guerrero will receive a $3.9MM bonus, Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com tweets.

10:18am: The Blue Jays have reached agreement with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ben Badler of Baseball America reports on Twitter. Guerrero, son of the famed big leaguer of the same name, was the first overall international prospect on BA’s pre-July 2 board. He is represented by Beverly Hills Sports Council and Rick Thurman, Rafael Nieves and Nelson Montes.

Toronto had been widely expected to land the highly-touted Guerrero, who bears a striking resemblance to his father. While he doesn’t quite reach Vlad Sr.’s “all-around tools,” in Badler’s estimation, that’s hardly a knock. The younger Guerrero is said to have a very promising bat with contact ability to go with good power potential.

On the other hand, Guerrero is not a strong runner and does not appear to possess his father’s cannon of an arm. Those current limitations, including at least some question of whether he’ll ultimately be a serviceable corner outfielder, led both Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs and MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez to rate Guerrero fourth among eligible July 2 prospects.

The Blue Jays entered the day with $2,324,100 to spend without incurring any penalties, per Baseball America, and it appears likely that the club will go well beyond that to get Guerrero. While his bonus has yet to be reported, McDaniel predicted that Guerrero would sign for $3.45MM.

NL International Signings: Rockies, Mets, Braves, Nats, Reds

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Here are the day’s notable international signings from the National League. Rankings courtesy of Ben Badler of Baseball America, Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs, and MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez.

  • The Rockies have a $2MM deal in place with outfielder Daniel Montano after he signed today, per a tweet from MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez. Montano rated 12th on the MLB.com board, based upon his good instincts in center, smooth left-handed stroke, and decent power potential. There are some questions, including inconsistent performances at times, which led BA to slot him 16th and Fangraphs to rank him just outside the top twenty.

Earlier Updates

  • The Mets have landed two top international shortstops, according to Badler. Venezuelan product Andres Gimenez, the second overall prospect on Badler’s list, is headed to New York. The bonus will be for $1.2MM, per Sanchez (via Twitter), for a player that Badler called the second-best available prospect based upon his excellent batting skills from the left side of the plate, decent power potential, and strong overall defensive profile. And Dominican shortstop Gregory Guerrero will also join the club after agreeing to a $1.5MM bonus, per Badler. Guerrero, cousin of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and nephew of Vlad Sr., rated 9th among July 2 prospects in McDaniel’s estimation. Per McDaniel, the Mets signee has a more advanced hit than power tool, but could increase his pop over time. He is ultimately expected to move off of short to the hot corner. Having entered the day with $2,531,300 in spending capacity, these two deals put New York at just over 6.6% above their pool. That would line the team up to face a one-year ban on signings of over $500K, making a deal for another bonus slot appear likely.
  • The Braves have a deal in place with shortstop Derian Cruz for $2MM, Badler reports. McDaniel was high on Cruz, rating him the 8th-best player available, citing his outstanding speed, good hitting tools, and potential ability to stay at the shortstop position or otherwise play up the middle defensively. Atlanta also agreed to a $1.4MM bonus with outfielder Christian Pache, per Sanchez (via Twitter), the tenth-rated player on MLB.com’s top-thirty list. While these signings will put pressure on the team’s total spending allotment of $2,458,400, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets that the club will attempt to trade for about $1MM in extra capacity to steer clear of future signing restrictions.
  • Dominican outfielder Juan Soto will join the Nationals after agreeing to a $1.5MM deal, Sanchez tweets. That’s the team’s largest-ever bonus for a young international signing, James Wagner of the Washington Post notes on Twitter. Soto’s appeal lies more in his feel and approach at the plate than in pure bat speed, Baseball America writes in rating him 13th in the class. Though he does not offer much on defense and looks to be a corner outfielder in the future, Soto is said to have the potential to be an above-average offensive producer both in terms of pure hitting and power.
  • The Reds have agreed to a $1MM bonus with outfielder Christian Olivo, according to Sanchez (via Twitter). MLB.com was highest on Olivo, rating him 23rd on the international market and noting that he has a fairly high power ceiling that he has yet to fully tap into. The left-handed hitter has drawn mixed reviews in the baserunning and defensive departments.

AL International Signings: Royals, Astros, Mariners, White Sox

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Here are the day’s notable international signings from the American League. Rankings courtesy of Ben Badler of Baseball America, Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs, and MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez.

  • The Royals have agreed to terms with Dominican outfielder Seuly Matias, Badler reports. He’ll get a $2.25MM bonus, per a Sanchez tweet. Matias ranked as high as seventh on international prospect lists, with Baseball America giving him that slot and citing his big upside. Matias is said to possess a legitimate gun from the outfield, and could have the athleticism to stick in center field. There are some questions about how advanced his bat is, but Matias reportedly has good bat speed and real promise if he can develop. Kansas City also added infielder Jeison Guzman for a $1.5MM price tag, Sanchez reports on Twitter. Badler was also the most optimistic evaluator on Guzman, writing that he still has plenty of growing to do but has good overall athleticism and a good feel for the shortstop position despite sub-par speed. With just $2,074,700 to play with this year, Kansas City could be on its way to a signing ban unless it can trade for additional bonus slots.
  • Outfielder Gilberto Celestino, a native of the Dominican Republic, has agreed to a $2.5MM bonus with the Astros, per Sanchez (via Twitter). MLB.com had him in the seventh position coming into today, explaining that he could be a long-term center fielder. Though some have questioned whether he has good enough raw tools to be an impactful player down the line, MLB.com says that Celestino has a good track record of production and solid makeup.
  • The Mariners have a $1.7MM deal in place with Dominican infielder Carlos Vargas, Sanchez reports on Twitter. Seattle lands a player that McDaniel placed tenth on his international prospect board. Vargas is both projectable and comes with a good track record, though he’s likely to move from short to third in the long run.
  • Outfielder Franklin Reyes is headed to the White Sox for $1.5MM, Sanchez tweets. Reyes rated near the back of the top thirty on the above-linked rankings. He’s already 6’4 and is adding weight, contributing to his big power potential and strong arm. He’ll have to improve his overall hitting ability and show enough mobility in the corner outfield to pan out, according to Badler. Chicago also added Fernando Tatis Jr., son of the former big leaguer, for a $700K bonus.
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