Some notes from the Ben Badler chat today:
Bernie (Beach): Do you think any of the high profile Cuban players are in play for the Braves?
Ben Badler: Not immediately on July 2, but as the signing period goes on, the Braves are going to be one of the few teams that can still spend money. The people handling some of these Cuban players are, I think/hope, eventually going to realize they can't just coerce teams into meeting some of their outrageous asking prices and will come back to reality.
Bryan (New York): Delvin Perez and Kevin Maitan. Right now who is the better prospect and who would you rather have?
Ben Badler: I'd rather have Maitan.
Dave (DC): If Maitan is advanced as they say and shows well this Fall, any chance he gets sent to LoA next year for his age 17 season?
Ben Badler: I don't think so. Even if he does sign with the Braves, who are now one of the most aggressive teams in terms of first-year assignments for their Latin American signings, that would be super super aggressive. The Blue Jays skipped Vladimir Guerrero Jr. over the GCL and put him in the Appy League this year, and I could see something like that for Maitan if someone really wanted to push him. But what's the rush?
Andrew (Chicago): Any idea as to how the international signing period is going to change? The current system just seems to lead to rotating teams not being able to sign players.
Ben Badler: I've asked a bunch of different people who would know about whether we're getting a draft or sticking with the bonus pools, and the information is very mixed. But what's obvious is a.) the owners want a system that controls their costs, and b.) the union is willing, maybe even eager, to sell out the rights of international players (or draft picks, minor leaguers... really anyone not on the 40-man roster) to get something back from MLB in the negotiation. So even if there's no international draft, I would expect a stricter system where either you aren't allowed to go over your bonus pool period or where the penalties are so outrageous that teams won't go over any more.
Jay (GA): Thoughts on Randy Ventura?
Ben Badler: He can fly. He's probably even faster than Derian Cruz. He's just really, really small. Want to see him do more beyond the DSL first.
Neal (Houston): Does it seem like the Braves farm system has massively underperformed this year when you consider the top guys like Albies, Ruiz, Riley, Sims, Swanson, Davidson, Newcomb,Toussaint, Fried, etc., have all ranged from average to terrible. Maybe the Braves system is overranked?
Ben Badler: I wouldn't put Albies or Swanson in that class. Albies skipped a level, was excellent in Double-A and got to Triple-A as a teenager. Swanson was excellent in High-A and is in Double-A his first year out of the draft, and he's easily one of the top 15-20 prospects in baseball, being conservative. We've talked plenty about how much risk is in that system because of all the high-risk arms they have, and that's certainly shown this year, but that's still one of the better farm systems in the game.
dave (grayson, ga): Any idea if teams going over their bonus pools are going to trade away their bonus slots?
Ben Badler: It makes sense to be open to it if you can get something useful in return. The problem is the trade value of the international slots is low to start with, then you have a reduced trade market this year with 10 teams under the penalty and five going over who won't need to trade for slot values either (unless they're worried about softening the overage tax), so it's going to be tough to get much back if you do want to trade them away.
