Ben Badler of Baseball America has provided three separate looks at the 2017-18 international free agency period over the past week or so, running down 20 well-regarded prospects as well as their likely destinations once the signing period kicks off on July 2. Badler’s scouting efforts do require a subscription, though I’d highly recommend it for those who are interested in the international market (as well as the upcoming amateur draft, which BA obviously covers extensively as well). Financial details on all of the names within aren’t available, though Badler does report that 16-year-old Dominican shortstop Wander Franco (not to be confused with the Royals prospect of the same name) is expected to sign with the Rays for a bonus just shy of $4MM. Franco also ranked No. 1 on the International Top 30 of MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez — another invaluable resource for those wishing to brush up on the top international prospects on the market in the weeks leading up to the new signing period. Those seeking a refresher on the new international spending limitations from the most recent collective bargaining agreement can refer back to Badler’s recap from this past December, as well (no subscription required on that one).
A couple more notes on the international market…
- Cuban shortstop Jose Israel Garcia was recently declared a free agent by Major League Baseball, per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, and he’s drawing interest from a number of clubs. To this point, the Reds, Astros and Padres have all shown interest in Garcia. That would seem to indicate that he’s looking to sign before the current period comes to a close on June 15, as each of those teams has exceeded its 2016-17 pool allotment to the point that they’ll incur maximum penalization in the 2017-18 class. There’s not much data on the 19-year-old Garcia, though Heyman has described him as “slick-fielding.”
- ESPN’s Keith Law wonders (Insider subscription required and recommended) whether the White Sox made a mistake in making such a substantial commitment to Cuban star Luis Robert. As Law notes, position players from Cuba have flopped in the Majors more than they’ve succeeded. Law also adds that he’s spoken to a number of scouts to gauge Robert’s abilities, as he’s yet to be able to see Robert himself, and each scout to whom he spoke offered concerns about Robert’s hit tool. All agreed that he’s athletic and is a plus runner in addition to possessing above-average bat speed and raw power as well, however. Conversely, Law suggests that if one team was going to “overpay” and take such a significant gamble on Robert’s upside, the Cardinals had the best rationale. The Cards are without their top three picks in the 2017 draft after forfeiting one to sign Dexter Fowler and losing another two as punishment in the notorious data breach scandal, thus depriving them of means to add high-impact young talent. While Robert is certainly a risk, the Cardinals’ lack of alternative means of acquiring young talent would’ve made them a better fit to make the gamble. St. Louis was also already over its bonus pool even without Robert, while the Sox only just pushed themselves into the penalty bracket with Robert’s deal.
I didn’t read Laws piece but I’m confused as to how it could be a “bad move” for the ChiSox but would have been a “good move” for the Cardinals?
The ChiSox didn’t really need him I guess. They have a bigger opportunity to get some high end talent in the draft, making the signing of Robert kinda moot.
The Cardinals (as explained) are missing their top three picks (1 for the Fowler Signing, 2 for the Astros Breach Scandal) meaning they are unlike the White Sox in that they cannot get that much high end talent.
Hence making them a better fit.
“The ChiSox didn’t really need him”
The White Sox are planning to go out of business? How could any team not need another top talent?
KLAW has some very fuzzy thinking here.
Law has some fuzzy thinking most of the time.
The Cards lost their top picks, do if the want young talent, they have to pay on the international market, whereas the ChiSox have other cheaper options.
Kind of like a payday loan. If you don’t have any other options, you have to take a payday loan. But it’d be dumb to do if you have other options.
Nothing clever or interesting about that article. It’s nothing but typical media bias. The national sports media spends a considerable amount of energy propping up traditional favorites like the Cardinals. They spend even more energy disparaging Chicago-based teams; especially the White Sox.
Good observation about media bias. ESPN has become known to give more attention to the east and west coast teams. You can always find the Yanks, Red Sox, Mets, Dodgers, Giants and also the Cardinals on the tube. If The Rockies are ever in a national prime time game-I would be totally shocked. This is a team with good young starters and some bangers at the plate.
ESPN is anti Yankee and you can ask any Yankee fan that and I’m telling you 7 or 8/10 will agree. ESPN is pro Red Sox and it’s blatantly pathetic.
espn is pro anyone they think will get them ratings; because they are pro red-sox doesnt mean they are anti-yankee..
ESPN is just trying to make money, and the teams they play are the largest markets. Sucks for us with smaller market teams. That’s not bias, that’s business
I’ve seen plenty of stories on Judge & Sanchez in the last 12 months. So in sorry but ESPN loves yanks, sox, cubs, dodgers. everyone else is the red headed step children.
You just described a bias based in business.
Is that why ESPN will show more Yankees games this year than any other team and have done so for a decade or more? Its a business and they are going to cover the teams in the large markets more than anyone else. NY is the largest market.
He doesnt know what he’s writing at all !!!
Hopefully he dies become a good big leaguer
Look, I’m getting really fed up with this “All Cubans aren’t automatic all-stars so lets trash them while theyre still considered prospects” bizarre train of thought that many baseball fans seem to love to bring up.
Success/Fail rates in MLB. ARE. NOT. RACE. RELATED.
We all know this, Robert is a 19 year old prospect, he might be a star he might not, we won’t know until he plays but if he isnt its 100% not a problem or the fault of the team signing him.
We do not view Cubans the same as 1st round draft picks – why???
Lol wtf bro
“As Law notes, position players from Cuba have flopped in the Majors more than they’ve succeeded.”
That is the same for every race of baseball player, but people always bring up for Cubans for some reason.
A great Cuban prospect = 1st rd pick = not all 1st rd picks play in bigs
“Cuban” isn’t a race, folks. It’s a nationality.
That’s because the level of play he has faced. Stop reaching for race related issues.
“Cubans or Cuban people (Spanish: Cubanos) are the inhabitants or citizens of Cuba. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds. As a result, some Cubans do not treat their nationality as an ethnicity but as a citizenship with various ethnicities and national origins comprising the “Cuban people.”
Depends on the person.
Your quote just says that some people see “Cuban” as solely a nationality, while others also view it as their ethnicity. No mention of race, because nobody is arguing that “Cuban” is a race (no more so than “American: or “Australian” or “South African” are).
Cuban is a notoriously loud-mouthed owner.
Oddest comment I think in MLBTR history.
It isn’t about race. Not to mention that “Cuban” is nationality, not a ethnicity.
For one, the competition level between the Cuban circuit and the Collegiate level are kinda stark at best. It’s like trying to compare the KBO and the MLB as the same entities when they are not, they have different ways in which the game is played.
Also, Cuban players got some hefty bonuses too. I would like to slash .330/.430/.576 out of college and get a 30 million signing bonus when I’m no better than an 8th round pick talent wise.
It’s a real stretch bro.
Yeah, this comment sounds like something Stephen A. Smith would bring up on that annoying show he has on ESPN. Seeing it on this site is odd indeed.
Maybe second weirdest, but either way…
His comment does not get rave reviews.
plus there is the other factor involved, which is taking a young kid who grew up with nothing and giving him several million dollars, more than he ever could have conceived of, having him move to a new country, deal with high expectations due to the $ paid, , and then hope he will remain focused enough and hungry enough to become a successful pro.
Robert would have gone 1/1 and he is 19.
Less than 20% become starters in the majors. A few more become bench players.
Hunter Greene probably would still be ranked as the #1 prospect if Robert were available in this draft. Greene wouldn’t go #1 overall either way but the ceiling for him is ridiculous. Higher risk than hitters or College pitchers since he’s only 17
Cuban is a nationality, not a race.
Nobody is saying that this is race related (Cuban is not a race, by the way, but a nationality). It instead has everything to do with how a prospects performance in a given league will translate to MLB success. The same questions come up when players come from Japan or Korea. We also hear about it in the relative pros/cons of selecting US high school or college players in the draft.
Cuban players are not viewed the same as 1st round raft picks for several reasons:
1) Some (not all) of the Cuban players come over when they are a bit older, so they have the possibility to make a big impact quickly (think Cespedes or Puig).
2) The contracts that Cubans have the ability to sign are significantly higher since they are essentially free-agents and can sign contracts at market value, vs draft picks whose signing bonuses are much lower.
3) Our country’s history with Cuba adds a huge amount of intrigue and novelty to the idea of these guys coming to the US, vs some white-bread college kid from Florida.
I think its because they are getting paid like Major Leaguers and not draft picks.
I think top draft picks are not getting $30+ mil
They’re not viewed the same as a 1st round pick because a Cuban player costs more to acquire. It’s about money, not race.
Success/Fail rates in MLB. ARE. NOT. NATIONALITY OR RACE. RELATED.
Fixed.
cubans (as well as dominicans that is used this way) aren’t a race, it is a culture and nationality – kind of like some friends on mine that are white and puerto rican and chinese and chilean
I appreciate that comment. I hadn’t thought of it, but yeah it’s racist.
So Law says the Sox shouldn’t have signed Robert because it was too much $ and he can’t hit.
But the Cards totally should have bucked-up for him!?
Ever since looking silly, and being called out, for saying Sale would be a bust, his anti-Sox bias has gotten out of control.
He said if any team was going to spend that much, it should’ve been the one with no other avenue to that type of high-upside but also high-risk talent. That’s not a slam on the Sox — it’s saying that the Cardinals have more reason to be open to taking this level of risk.
Law flat-out lauded the prospect haul that the White Sox got for Sale and Eaton this winter, by the way, and he’s owned the Chris Sale thing numerous times. He also never said he’d be a bust, he said the delivery would make him a reliever (which many, many scouts believed, hence Sale going 13th in the draft as opposed to in the top five).
The Sox are in the middle of a rebuild. This type of risk is exactly what a team like that should be taking in my opinion. The more high risk/high reward types they have in their system, the greater the chance of a few of them breaking out and becoming stars and the better the chance of the rebuild being successful. The Cardinals did offer more money, so they recognized that Robert (or another IFA player) was their only way to get a 1st round talent this year. They lost out on him when he chose another team. It was still a good signing for the White Sox.
There is no way to bash the Eaton and Sale prospect hauls. To do so would show a complete lack of understanding of the game and while Law has shown time and again that he has “fuzzy thinking” sometimes, he is not stupid. He harped on the Sale thing in several articles pre and post draft. He should eat crow for an equally long period of time. He did say that Sale would “be a bust as a starter”. Those exact words. And that he was a waste of a high draft pick. He didn’t have him in his 1st round mock draft. Sale has been the best player out of that draft.
What’s funnier is that the weeks leading up to his signing everyone rants and raves about him. After signing – he can’t hit.
Oh ok so according to Keith Law, Roberts has the potential to be a bust because he can’t hit, but would have been a nice pickup for the Cardinals. How in the world does that make sense. maybe I’m missing something?
Where did I write, and where did Keith write, that Robert would’ve been a “good pickup” for the Cardinals? His rationale is logical: the Cardinals can’t spend on the draft this season because they’ve lost their top three picks (and the slot money that accompanies each), making them a more reasonable team to sign a high-risk commodity like Robert.
The Cards were also already over their bonus pool by enough to penalize them for the next two signing periods. The White Sox were not, which increases the risk from Chicago’s end.
How can people be so one sided and not see the point Law is trying to make?
dude, it’s the internet…
It makes perfect sense if you just read what he wrote.
Well, I could see Preller making a decent offer for him. SS is definitely our weakness, though we do have a lot of young talent in Tatis and last year’s J2’s. I just think Tatis is going to outgrow the position and have to move to 3B. He’s only 18 and is 6’3″
Hmmm Cuban Players aren’t great? Well, ask the A’s when they signed Céspedes… Sure, he was not discipline enough at the plate – they seem to believe in free-swinging style in Cuba -and well Billy Beane ended trading him to the BoSox but Céspedes was fun to watch, definitely…
Ok good point, but what about Yasmany Tomas? Rusney Castillo? Alex Guerrero? Dayan Viciedo? Erisbel Arruebarrena? Hector Olivera? You can argue Yasiel Puig if you want to if you throw out is one good year. Just not a good track record of Cuban players coming over.
I think Yasmany Tomas is hitting fairly well. But yes the others look bad. Puig has still shown enough to see why he was signed.
Keith Law is giving the opinions of scouts he trusts but admittedly has never seen Robert. Jesse Sanchez, from Baseball America, was afraid he was overselling the kid by comparing him to Trout or Griffey Jr , and he has seen the kid live. Take it for what it is. The kid is 19. He’s a tremendous prospect. Good enough for me.
I’m curious, regarding the teams that have gone over there allotment and are restricted from signing an international prospect above $300k for a 2-year period. Could they simply sign a player for the $300k and then immediately sign them to some sort of extension? Is that against the rules?
I believe that is against the rules.
I don’t know whether it’s expressly forbidden, but no team would do it. Most of these kids are 16 years old. To sign him to that extension, you’d have to put the kid on your 40-man roster at 16 years of age, thus wasting a precious 40-man spot for the next three years while he develops. Then, at that point, he’d be out of minor league options, so they’d have to promote him to the Majors at 19 around the time he’d normally be in A-ball.
It’d be different with an older prospect (e.g. Shohei Otani — who knows what’ll happen there just yet), but for the July 2 kids, there’s no way the team could make that arrangement work.
Yes. Both Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert would have been “tweeners” as 19-year olds who signed as international free agents, making their deals somewhat more feasible in that scenario. Each had also played in Cuba’s highest league at that point and their arrival on a MLB roster would have been more predictable.
Moncada actually did make his debut, albeit prematurely, as a 21-year old with the Red Sox last September and will be 22 when he arrives in Chicago this summer. Many pundits have Robert pegged for his MLB debut as soon as 2019.
So Robert went from highly coveted prospect to overrated over night when the White Sox signed him. Makes a lot of sense–if you’re news columnist from NY, Boston or LA.
No team from Chicago ever gets any coverage!
Curses! The Cubs have gotten ample national coverage, be it breaking their long run of futility by winning the World Series last season or as the “loveable losers” up until that championship.
Once Luis Robert is officially signed by the White Sox the club will also be in their first penalty year joining the A’s, Astros, Braves, Cardinals, Nationals, Padres and Reds. They will also have an asterisk (*) denoted next to their $4.75MM slot for the 2017-18 international signing period that opens on July 2.
Read more at baseballamerica.com/international/2017-18-internat…
The asterisk means they can’t spend more than $300k on any individual player. They can still spend or trade the entire amount.
Yes. That was expressly stated in the article also. Thanks for clarifying that point to MLBtraderumor readers.
it is not suprising that Keith law would down any whitesox signing
Don’t worry Baseball Fans! If John Mozalek of the Cardinals is doing the bidding against your team for a star player or prospect, your favorite team is guaranteed to win the bidding. The Cardinals just want to finish second in major bidding so it would appear to their fans that the organization is trying. The only problem is, they’ve done it so much over the last 3-4 years that Cardinal Nation are on to them this year.
ITT most people have terrible reading comprehension.
Cuban bust rates are pretty much in line with stateside bust numbers. The common thought is that they are overpaid at the same time – however, the truth is that stateside prospects are incredibly underpaid. This is a result of the significant suppression of money available to those with no or limited service time – something negotiated by a players association, before these prospects are even represented by said association.
Keith Law is an idiot. Just let it go. The White Sox are stock piling talent and this is just another very highly rated prospect. The White Sox know every prospect they have is a potential bust. That is why they stockpile as many prospects as possible. The fact that the Cards have a different situation has zero relevance. The Law dude is not capable of intelligent thinking. He takes what some scout says and turns it into nonsense.
pretty funny how the cards should take the risk but the white sox shouldn’t have… the white sox were in the top 3 in most farm system rankings.. this probably puts them in the top spot or 2nd. The kid has an incredibly high ceiling.. like Moncada… Robert is 19 and in a few years we will see if he is going to be the phenom many think he will become. It isn’t too often you have a teen that is labeled a future phenom by experienced scouts.. It fits with the white sox building the best farm system they can to contend in 2-3 years time consistently if not sooner. plus they have the payroll to do it. This makes much better sense for the sox who are trying to become a top team for years to come by acquiring top talent and spending when they feel they are ready to contend. In all honesty it makes sense for any team to spend for a future potential phenom. He has the tools and the white sox have a history with cuban players all except viciedo who have worked out. You look at this kids talent level vs viciedo and you can see why this kid is praised by soo many at such an early age. It will be exciting to see these guys grow… Moncada looks every bit an all star mlb player as he was hyped to be from the beginning.. He has only gotten better….we will see how Robert pans out…. for white sox fans hopes hanging on these guys and the rest of the farm it is going to be very exciting to watch… Pretty sure any team would trade farm systems with the white sox right now.. it is going to be very fun to watch these guys grow!!