International News, Rumor and Signing Thread

BBA's Ben Badler has tweeted that, since last July 2, Dodgers have spent $90 million on international teenage free agents. In contrast, Athletics have spent $1 million.

In addtion, Dodgers have 3 of the top 36 June picks. Re-signing Howie Kendrick, of course, did not change anything in the June draft list. Better question is why sign Kendrick when they have already re-signed Utley and have Justin Turner and
 
BBA's Ben Badler has tweeted that, since last July 2, Dodgers have spent $90 million on international teenage free agents. In contrast, Athletics have spent $1 million.

In addtion, Dodgers have 3 of the top 36 June picks. Re-signing Howie Kendrick, of course, did not change anything in the June draft list. Better question is why sign Kendrick when they have already re-signed Utley and have Justin Turner and

That's just ridiculous. How MLB allows that to happen is beyond me.
 
90 million is beyond crazy. They have to address it somehow. Good teams get low picks in the draft but it don't matter bc they can out spend everybody on the international front.
 
90 million is beyond crazy. They have to address it somehow. Good teams get low picks in the draft but it don't matter bc they can out spend everybody on the international front.

Way I understand it, that was $45 million in contracts and $45 million in penalty!

A subsequent post by Badler indicates that he expects them to top $100 million before July 2 of this year.
 
Little in baseball is more confusing than the rules towards international signings. So:

Cuban signing rules explained (by Ben Badler of BBA):

For Cuban players, being at least 23 with five seasons in Serie Nacional is the sweet spot where players become exempt from the pools, which significantly enhances their earning power. Not only are their contracts not subject to any pool limitations or overage taxes, but any team can sign them, regardless of a team’s current status with regards to international amateur signing restrictions.

That means a team like the Yankees or Red Sox, who are limited to signings of no more than $300,000 for pool-eligible players after they exceeded their international bonus pools in 2014-15, have no restrictions when it comes to signing Cuban players who are exempt from the bonus pools. That freedom for top Cuban players to negotiate with all 30 clubs will take on even more importance after July 2, when at least 10 teams—including the Cubs and Dodgers—will be in the penalty box for pool-eligible signings but can still spend freely on Cuban players exempt from the pools.

And unlike players subject to the bonus pools, who are all required to sign minor league contracts, players exempt from the pools are allowed to sign major league deals, enabling teams to spread out the financial expenditure over a longer period of time.
 
Well in the current CBA, they address the possibility of an intnl draft in 2014 and have verbiage about teams going over in 2012 -2013... I don't see teams like the Yanks/Soxs and Dodgers being ok with a new CBA where teams like the Braves and Nationals blow it out on slot money, but suffer no penalties..

Those teams are the last ones that need to be complaining about fairness. I also hope the Nats arent allowed to go over their pool amount if they have not payed back that 25 million MLB shouldnt have loaned them last year. You dont subsidize teams with 160 million payrolls. Assholes probably giving them another 25 million this year.
 
Those teams are the last ones that need to be complaining about fairness. I also hope the Nats arent allowed to go over their pool amount if they have not payed back that 25 million MLB shouldnt have loaned them last year. You dont subsidize teams with 160 million payrolls. Assholes probably giving them another 25 million this year.

I think that the Nats subsidy issue could be alleviated by leveling the playing field amongst all the AL East teams. Here's my proposal:

The Nats get their bump for sharing their market with the O's.

The Mets get $25M in compensation for the fact that no matter how many times they make it to the World Series, they're still the Mets and will always be second fiddle to the Yankees.

The Marlins get a subsidy because Jeffrey Loria and that pastel puke fountain just beyond the left-center wall.

The Phillies get $25M worth of historical Ruben Amaro, Jr. reparations.

The Braves get compensation for the fact that half the people in the metro area actually root for the Cubs, Sox, Cards, or Yankees.
 
BBA's Ben Badler has tweeted that, since last July 2, Dodgers have spent $90 million on international teenage free agents. In contrast, Athletics have spent $1 million.

In addtion, Dodgers have 3 of the top 36 June picks. Re-signing Howie Kendrick, of course, did not change anything in the June draft list. Better question is why sign Kendrick when they have already re-signed Utley and have Justin Turner and

Dodgers have unlimited money, a pretty good team, and a LOADED system. Very unfair.

Regarding Kendrick, Utley has health issues and the other options are unproven. Kendrick didnt have a good market so not a bad thing to bring him back, hes a good player.
 
Sources: Braves express strong interest in Cuban teen Lazarito Armenteros. Private workout scheduled for Sat in DR m.braves.mlb.com/news/article/1…
 
Sources: Braves express strong interest in Cuban teen Lazarito Armenteros. Private workout scheduled for Sat in DR m.braves.mlb.com/news/article/1…

How does this work? I know he's eligible to sign Feb 10th but wouldn't that screw up getting the July 2nd prospects? I would guess we would have to have Lazarito wait until July 2nd to sign. But if we added Maitan, Lazarito and Gutiterrez....WOW
 
How does this work? I know he's eligible to sign Feb 10th but wouldn't that screw up getting the July 2nd prospects? But if we added Maitan, Lazarito and Gutiterrez....WOW

we can't get lazarito and Maitan, unless we do some back room handshake agreement.. but there is no way MLB would allow that.
 
Laz would have to be told that he would be well co m pen sated to wait till July. But if we did somehow set him to wait and sign him in July then that would be unbelievable
 
It said that Lazarito is signing next week. I don't see how we could sign him and Maitan since they are in different cycles.
 
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