The Phillies announced that they have acquired the No. 1 international signing slot for 2015-16 signing period from the Diamondbacks for right-hander Chris Oliver, left-hander Josh Taylor, and the No. 9 slot.
Oliver, who turns 22 this week, was the Phillies’ fourth-round pick out of the University of Arkansas in 2014. He had a 4.04 ERA and 4.2 BB/9 but with an extremely low 3.5 K/9 in 69 innings with Class A Lakewood. He also struggled greatly in his pro debut last season. MLB.com ranked him the Phillies’ No. 20 prospect prior to the trade, however, noting that he can throw up to 97 MPH.
The Phillies signed Taylor as a non-drafted free agent. He posted a 4.61 ERA, 9.2 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 68 1/3 innings, also in the Lakewood rotation.
The Diamondbacks were awarded the largest international bonus pool heading into the July 2 signing season, at $5,393,900. The Phillies had a pool of $3,041,700, but they had already agreed to sign Dominican slugger Jhailyn Ortiz for $4.2MM and Venezuelan catcher Rafael Marchan for $200K. MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports that the No. 1 bonus slot is worth $3,590,400 and the No. 9 slot is worth $1,352,100, so the trade effectively gives the Phillies about $2.2 million extra spending to work with. That should give them enough spending rights to cover Ortiz and Marchan and still have a little money left over.
About time the Phillies stopped worrying about going over and just get some top level talent ! THEY HAVE THE CASH ! Their far from being a small market team
There isn’t any top level talent left. Yadier Alavez already signed. Why blow out this year when there will be top talent next season?
I’m talking in general. They pass on top flight talent and go for the Miguel Alfredo González types. They passed on Yasmany Tomas because they were worried about “His Conditioning” Nice way of taking the cheap, And then sign a 16 year old that’s 260 pounds. Makes no sense
They didn’t want to give the 100M that Tomas wanted, and MAG was considered top talent at the time, with multiple teams offering 40-50M+, until his physical showed issues, which dropped his price tag down to 12M.
Btw, They were worried about Tomas’ conditioning because he was considered a 3B/LFer, not a 1B/DH type like Ortiz.
Tomas’ contract is absolutely awful. He has an opt out, which pretty much meant if he hit, he was going to opt out for big money. If he didnt hit you were stuck with a bust. Absolutely, not a contract the Phillies need right now.
This deal they just made will allow them to really be the only team who has the cash to pay like a big market team next international period. They can sign every single one of the top international prospects and have no one to negotiate against that can match the cash.
Blow out the spending next year. It’s going to be a long rebuild, and they need several pieces.
Good move. Next year most of the large market teams will still be in penalty, so less competition from teams like Yankees, and Dodgers. Then they can really go to town.
Yankees,Dodgers and Rangers don’t care about penalties
The penalties are enforceable whether they care about them or not. The Yankees and Red Sox didn’t sign anyone for over $300k this year and they’ll still be limited next year. And then the Cubs and Dodgers will be out also.
Yea, which is why they spent past the penalties. However the rules are that if you blow by the spending limits, you are stuck for two years of not being able to offer more than 300k to a single player.
You misunderstand. The Yankees, Dodgers and Res Sox have already exceeded their spending limit either this year or last year. So next year, none of those teams can sign anyone for more than $300k. So next year the Phillies won’t have those big market teams to compete against when signing the top available players. Phillies likely won’t care about their limit next year either.
This is exactly what I was hoping the Phillies would do. I posted on one of the articles the other day about the Braves trading for additional international pool money and said the Phillies should be doing the same. If you’re going to spend over the limit and be penalized, make it worth it and do what the Dodgers are doing and spend big on every top guy. If you’re barely going to break the limit, then just trade for additional pool money to stay under for this year and spend big next year. Smart move.
So the #1 pick and the best chance at signing Kevin Maitan?? Pretty good start here Phillies.
If I am mistaken please correct me but I am pretty sure that the rules state that a team can only acquire up to 50% of their original bonus pool.. So in the Phillies circumstances they will max out at roughly $4.5 million.. With the additional money from the D-Backs they are over that amount already.. Their 2 signings have put them at around $4.4 million spent so far.. I don’t think the Phillies will be signing anyone else let alone Maitan unless they want to get hit with penalties..
Maitan isnt until the 2016 period. They wont be in the penalty in 2015 if they dont make any more signings. They then can blow past the cap in 2016 with very little competition to match the money.
The only downfall of this, is if they institute an International draft.