Will we trade our international slots?

[Preacher]

Since we are blowing past our limits anyway.... wouldn't it make a ton of sense to trade our international slots away to teams who don't want to pay the penalties? Would be an easy way to pick up another 2-4 quality prospects, maybe package a couple slots and get a high-upside arm thats coming off injury or a near-ready reliever? Makes too much sense.

Will they be willing to spend the extra money to do it?

[CJ9]

It makes a lot of sense because we'll be blowing past our pool. It was brought up in Keith Law's chat last week and he mentioned the Dodgers doing this last year.

I think it makes even more sense in a trade for a draft pick as something extra to sweeten the pot in a deal.

[striker42]

Depends. There's talk of an international draft being part of the next collective bargaining agreement which, IIRC, should occur this year. That would mean there's a possibility of an international draft next year. You can bet teams are clued in on the likelihood of this. If it looks like there's going to be a draft next year, bonus pool slots will be worthless this year.

[nsacpi]

I think we will have to keep a close eye on where the investigation of the Red Sox's attempts to evade some of the penalties associated with going over international limits goes. It the techniques used by the Red Sox and others are deemed improper it might make sense for us to trade away some of our funds if restrictions apply.

[clvclv]

Depends. There's talk of an international draft being part of the next collective bargaining agreement which, IIRC, should occur this year. That would mean there's a possibility of an international draft next year. You can bet teams are clued in on the likelihood of this. If it looks like there's going to be a draft next year, bonus pool slots will be worthless this year.

This. I actually still believe we'd like to add more for this season. Think about it this way - we're still trying to add money to our draft pool by taking on bad contracts (Matusz) and simply eating them. Every international slot we add doesn't simply save money, it acts like double coupons since we'll be paying 100% penalties for many of the players - the Maitan signing alone may well eat up our entire allotment. I just think that the penny-pinching ways will pop up somewhere - someone on the money end is going to want to try to recoup as much of the money blown as possible when we've released Bourn/Swisher/Stubbs/Matusz/anyone else. Not saying I blame them - that's their job.

[mqt]

I think we will have to keep a close eye on where the investigation of the Red Sox's attempts to evade some of the penalties associated with going over international limits goes. It the techniques used by the Red Sox and others are deemed improper it might make sense for us to trade away some of our funds if restrictions apply.


The Red Sox are being investigated for circumventing the penalties, not for overspending. They were using package deals to sign prospects for the maximum amount they were able to spend after blowing out their pool. This is a common practice as well, but still illegal. It would have nothing to do with our plan.

[CJ9]

This. I actually still believe we'd like to add more for this season. Think about it this way - we're still trying to add money to our draft pool by taking on bad contracts (Matusz) and simply eating them. Every international slot we add doesn't simply save money, it acts like double coupons since we'll be paying 100% penalties for many of the players - the Maitan signing alone may well eat up our entire allotment. I just think that the penny-pinching ways will pop up somewhere - someone on the money end is going to want to try to recoup as much of the money blown as possible when we've released Bourn/Swisher/Stubbs/Matusz/anyone else. Not saying I blame them - that's their job.

I hope our talent evaluators have more say than that. If we're trying to be cautious of the cost, then we're doing this rebuild wrong. Trading these slots is another important way to add value of the franchise and gain assets. We traded a second-round pick to Tampa for some of their international money last year. I know Fulenchek isn't a star by any means, but that's another asset that can help a rebuilding franchise. I sure hope we don't try to save money when we're already blowing past our pool anyway.

[nsacpi]

The Red Sox are being investigated for circumventing the penalties, not for overspending. They were using package deals to sign prospects for the maximum amount they were able to spend after blowing out their pool. This is a common practice as well, but still illegal. It would have nothing to do with our plan.

Ok. I was talking about something else. Which would be to trade away some of our slot money next year if we have to operate under restrictions due to overspending this year.

[Preacher]

I hope our talent evaluators have more say than that. If we're trying to be cautious of the cost, then we're doing this rebuild wrong. Trading these slots is another important way to add value of the franchise and gain assets. We traded a second-round pick to Tampa for some of their international money last year. I know Fulenchek isn't a star by any means, but that's another asset that can help a rebuilding franchise. I sure hope we don't try to save money when we're already blowing past our pool anyway.

Exactly, I'm not going to act like money doesn't matter -- especially when talking about the Braves/Liberty -- but we have a great opportunity here to legally game the system. We are blowing past our limits anyway - if we can package some of our slots and grab a couple more intriguing arms/bats from a team that doesn't want to pay penalties, it would be a shame not to do that.

[clvclv]

I hope our talent evaluators have more say than that. If we're trying to be cautious of the cost, then we're doing this rebuild wrong. Trading these slots is another important way to add value of the franchise and gain assets. We traded a second-round pick to Tampa for some of their international money last year. I know Fulenchek isn't a star by any means, but that's another asset that can help a rebuilding franchise. I sure hope we don't try to save money when we're already blowing past our pool anyway.

I'm not questioning the idea at all. My question is "When have our evaluators EVER come out on top when it comes to money?"