All 30 teams have received notification about the size of their bonus pools for the 2018-19 international signing period, Baseball America’s Ben Badler reports. This is the second year that the current international signing system will be in place, which sets a hard cap on how much teams can spend on international prospects who are under 25 years old and have played six seasons or less in an international professional league (such as Cuba’s Serie Nacional). Teams are allotted into their respective pools based on revenues and market size.
$6,025,400 bonus pool: Athletics, Brewers, Marlins, Rays, Reds, Twins
$5,504,500 bonus pool: Diamondbacks, Indians, Orioles, Padres, Pirates, Rockies, Royals
$5,004,500 bonus pool: Cardinals
$4,983,500 bonus pool: Angels, Astros, Blue Jays, Braves, Cubs, Dodgers, Giants, Mariners, Mets, Nationals, Rangers, Red Sox, Tigers, White Sox, Yankees
$3,949,000 bonus pool: Phillies
The Phillies and Cardinals each lost money from the draft pools for signing free agents (Carlos Santana and Jake Arrieta for Philly, Greg Holland for St. Louis) who rejected qualifying offers from their former teams. The Phils and Cards were two of nine teams who didn’t receive revenue-sharing money but also didn’t exceed the luxury tax last season, and thus they had to give up draft picks and $500K in international pool money for each QO free agent signed.
Under the previous CBA’s signing system, teams were penalized for going over their pool limits by being limited to signing players for no more than $300K. Eight teams (the Astros, A’s, Braves, Cardinals, Nationals, Padres, Reds, and White Sox) are still under this penalty for the 2018-19 international pool, though seven of them will be able to exceed the $300K once the 2019-20 int’l signing period opens on July 2, 2019. The Braves are the exception, as they still face future penalties based on their punishment for past international signing violations.
Given the $300K signing limit, we could very easily see the Braves and the other seven clubs choose to trade some of their excess pool money for prospects. Bonus pool money can be traded in $250K increments, and teams can increase their pool by as much as 75 percent of its original size. Such trades of international bonus pool funds have become increasingly common within the game, with some teams trying to add money to sign a particular international prospect (such as Shohei Ohtani) to teams like the Orioles who freely trade their bonus pool funds since they don’t prioritize the international market.
Houston We Have A Solution
Breaking news. Orioles trade all their international money for former draft picks immediately.
Stay tuned to mlbtraderumors for updates as this story develops.
Kayrall
Nice
tim815
They have to wait until the new international cycle kicks in.
By the way, which teams have how much money left?
Draven_X_23
I wish they would use it on real picks. Hell spend the $5.5 mil on one really good guy. better than dealing it for guys not even good enough to be AAA depth…
tim815
On the other hand, under sanctions, the Cubs have signed 36 players this cycle.
biasisrelitive
have these # taken the money spent on the braves guys into account
cygnus2112
Between the 5 picks in the first 59 overall and the international money available to spend, this June’s draft will determine a lot moving forward for the next half decade (at least) as far as the Royals are concerned…
sportsjunkie24
Orioles should really use the money this time
lord vincent
Agreed!
hiflew
They do use the money. They get players with that money. They just don’t use it in a way deemed popular to fans.
Joeypower
Can someone tell Baltimore that pitching is part of baseball!
creacher20
Why give the Orioles Int money. Angelos is an idiot and does not utilize the international market. Maybe that changes this year with Machado not resigning, all I hope is he does use the money actually
jdgoat
I wish they’d make a rule that you can’t trade the money
RunDMC
If they do, please don’t enforce until ATL has unloaded all of their’s. Please. Give us something.
tim815
It won’t be changed this cycle.
23 of 30 owners like it this way.
creacher20
Orioles… smh. Angelos start spending that dough now, machado is out the door soon and you have to utilize every penny
stymeedone
Tigers come in dead last and twelve teams are given more $ than them?! How exactly is the pool money doled out? Doesn’t seem correct that the first place Indians get more $ than the last place Tigers.
stymeedone
So if your team has a small market size and therefore low revenue, you get an advantage for signing foreign players, but if you want to sign an American player of talent, your team has to tank/suck. Some system they have. Foreign players are quite talented, but Americans will relate better to American players, so an American player will generate more revenue.
tim815
Or, your team can scout better. Plenty of talent is on the board after the first day.
Zach725
Braves could very well trade some money, but keep in mind they signed Acuna for 100K. Not saying they will get someone like him, but sometimes lottery ticket signings work out.
biasisrelitive
exactly you never know with 16 year olds
MafiaBass
I’m a little confused. The Phillies and Cardinals didn’t exceed the salary cap and didn’t receive revenue sharing funds, but they get penalized for signing QO-rejecting free agents? It seems to me like they did what they’re supposed to do but got penalized anyway
tim815
If you sign a QO rejecting free agent, you lose international money.
23 of 30 owners signed off on that.
carlos15
Agreed, they seem to be penalized for doing it the right way.
VampWeekAtBern
Considering the $300k cap, I’d like to see the Reds trade all their pool for players like Nick Longhi, Randy Ventura, and Miguel Medrano.