So... the international bonus pools have been released. The Astros will have $4,248,800 to spend on foreign amateurs. I'll go out on a limb and say that 65% of that gets spent.
The Astros spent approximately $5.42 million in the 2014 international signing period, which was the 4th-highest figure. Only the Yankees, who were hell-bent on signing all of Latin America, the Rays, and the Red Sox spent more.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The Astros signed 50 international players, 3 of the top 30 prospects and a $62,500 sleeper with breakout potential: <a href="http://t.co/eVSDkldnVO">http://t.co/eVSDkldnVO</a></p>— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenBadler/status/586187850569261056">April 9, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> The 50 players signed in this period was the 2nd-most in the Majors, behind the Yankees. Ronny Rafael, a Dominican OF, received the largest bonus at $1.5 million. Venezuelan SS Miguelangel Sierra and Venezuelan P Franklin Perez got $1 million apiece. Sierra: Perez: Other six-figure signings OF Hector Martinez (DR), $300K C Brandon Benavente (Venezuela), $262,500 LHP Javier Navas (Venezuela), $175K C Ihan Bernal (Panama), $155K (signed during 2013-14 IFA period) SS Juan Pineda (Panama), $100K Players who signed for less than $100K mentioned All of these players signed during the 2013-14 IFA period. OF Vicente Sanchez (DR), $62,500 OF Andy Pineda (DR), $30,000 SS Marcos Almonte (DR), $35,000 C Gabriel Bracamonte (Venezuela), $7500
I tweeted Oz Ocampo about this... he says they're not related. Also, I just realized that I typed in Javier instead of Gabriel.
Kiley McDaniel: The International Signing Market, Part 1 Astros linked to Dominican RF Gilberto Celestino. Video: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QyYaz8gJrxc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Ranked number 8 on MLBs list and if I remember correctly, they were correct on every player last year. He is the only guy that list has the Astros linked to.
Posted in the Minor League thread, but the Astros acquired 2 international bonus slots from the Orioles for LHP Chris Lee, who was at Quad Cities. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The international slot values the Astros got from Baltimore are worth $655,800. They don't get the money, just space in their current pool.</p>— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenBadler/status/600426808199270400">May 18, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> The Astros will now have $4,904,600 in their bonus pool for 2015-16, so they may be aiming for another premium prospect besides Gilberto Celestino. But, that's just my line of thinking.
Who said for the 2015-16 period? What an idiot. I have Ortiz blocked on Twitter, anyway. Maybe the Astros might've found some late-bloomer they liked.
Gilberto Celestino was rated as the best defensive outfielder for this upcoming July 2 class, which opens... this Thursday. Catch: This feature ($$) was limited to just the high-profile players.
In most of the recent J2 features I've seen, the Dodgers project to sign seemingly every big prospect. Can anybody explain how they're able to do that? Aren't there caps on J2 spending?
There are caps but the penalties for going over are usually forfeiture of being able to participate in next years pool. So if you are a team with really deep pockets and have a better read on the current group of prospects versus what's coming, you are advantaged to strike now and just take the penalty. Hopefully they tweak the system more for all amateur signings in the next CBA.
It's pretty convoluted, and I wish they'd just go to a draft system. Teams are allotted a pool of bonus money to sign players. The pool of money is broken down into slot values, #1 (3.3ish M) to #120 (130ish K). Teams can trade for up to 50% of their pool by acquiring "slots" from other teams. Teams that go over their pool amount are subject to the following penalties: - 100 percent tax on all overages - 5 to 10 percent over: Team cannot sign a player for more than $500K the next year - 10 to 15 percent: Cannot sign a player for more than $300K the next year - More than 15 percent: Cannot sign a player for more than $300K the next two years Players that are at least 23 and have 5 years of pro experience (mostly the Cubans), do not count against the pool of the team that signs them. I'm sure I'm leaving something out.
Thanks, both of you. Definitely seems like the model for a big club would be to sign as much as possible every other year. Systems like this make it frustrating to support a team in a league where the "haves" are able to gain a significant advantage solely through spending money.
Baseball America: What to expect from the Astros in this July 2 period Celestino is ranked #17 on BA's top 30 for July 2.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> agree to a $2.5M deal with OF Gilberto Celestino, #7 on <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB">@MLB</a> Top 30 Int’l Prospects list <a href="http://t.co/YduPYJGNy2">http://t.co/YduPYJGNy2</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MLBPipeline">@MLBPipeline</a></p>— Jesse Sanchez (@JesseSanchezMLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/JesseSanchezMLB/status/616596210900537345">July 2, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>