2013-14 International Free Agency Thread

[Hrubes20]

Thinking strategically, if we do get Torres......Lets say he costs 2.2 mill. Early estimates had us with an IFA budget of 4.7 mill. How would you go about using tge rest? Do you sign a pair of million dollar bonus types? Do you spread it out much, much more than that? I'm really talking myself into hoping we go after Perez. He's obviously got the size to be a potential beast. And it actually seems that recently, the true high end Central American arms have found immediate success in the US. Heredia, Sanchez, and Osuna coming to mind, off the top of my head. That said, I wouldn't dare shoot the rest of our wad on one guy, but if he could be had for 1.5, it'd give us a mill to spread around over 5-6 other guys. Same theory applies for me with Ho as well.

 

Given what seems to be an almost guaranteed international draft in 2014, I completely ignore MLB's assigned IFA budget for the #2 pick. I sign everybody I want, for as much money as I feel is a good investment.

 

 

Actually, I asked Ben Badler what was there to stop a team from going all out this year with a draft likely next year and he said there would probably be some sort of penalty similar to penalties for overspending in the Rule 4 draft. I wouldn't give up a potential top 10 pick in next year's IFA draft, especially when next year's class appears much stronger.

 

And if that is the case, then it obviously changes things. But if MLB doesn't have its poop in a group by the start of the 2013 IFA period, and has not given notice of any penalties that would apply to a 2014 international draft by overspending in 2013, I proceed as I stated above. You can't be penalized under a rule that wasn't in place when the infraction occurred.

[Guest]

Apparently Phil Rogers pays attention to Kiley McDaniel.

 

http://my.chicagotribune.com/#story/chi-cubs-venezuelan-shortstop-20130327/

[Guest]

Ridiculous: http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/tomohiro-anraku-16-year-old-japanese-phenom-throws-232-pitches-in-tournament-game/

 

And something to keep in mind whenever the Cubs go sniffing around Asia. Obviously Japanese players never sign out of HS but Koreans also have a rep for taxing the arms of their high school kids (Dae-Eun Rhee as a prime example).

[Guest]

Ben Badler's top 10 prospects from the WBC:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/world-baseball-classic-top-10-prospects-2/

 

1. Masahiro Tanaka, RHP, Japan - age 24 - not as good as Darvish, scouts who are most bullish think he can be a #2 starter; he wants to pitch in MLB so there's a good chance he gets posted soon

2. Jose Fernandez, 2B, Cuba - age 25

3. Yulieski Gourriel, 3B, Cuba - age 28 - family is friendly with the Cuban regime so he's unlikely to ever defect

4. Jose Abreu, 1B, Cuba - age 26

5. Alfredo Despaigne, OF, Cuba - age 26

6. Yasmany Torres, OF, Cuba - age 22 - lots of potential but Soler is a better prospect

7. Kenta Maeda, RHP, Japan - age 24

8. Guillermo Heredia, CF, Cuba - age 22

9. Frederich Cepeda, OF, Cuba - age 33

10. Erisbel Arrurbsrruena, SS, Cuba - age 23

 

Badler didn't considered high ceiling young players like IF Andy Ibanez (Cuba, age 19) and RHP Jen-Ho Tseng (South Korea, age 18) because they only played sparingly in the WBC.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/international-bonus-pools-for-2013-14/

 

Cubs pool is $4,557,200.

[Hrubes20]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/international-bonus-pools-for-2013-14/

 

Cubs pool is $4,557,200.

 

Nice. $4,785,059 if you include the 5% overage. If Torres does, indeed, garner a $2 million bonus, that still leaves well over $2 million.

[davell]

I had been under the impression that we were going to have 100k increments separating each team. This is better. I'd love to find a way to add money though. If we pay Telles over 2 mill, it makes it really hard to outbid teams, if we want Perez or Ho, for instance.

[davell]

By the way, does anyone have a list of how much teams had been spending in recent years? Which teams typically don't spend in IFA? Obviously, they'd be targets for us to try and up our budget.

[Guest]

By the way, does anyone have a list of how much teams had been spending in recent years? Which teams typically don't spend in IFA? Obviously, they'd be targets for us to try and up our budget.

 

The Marlins and White Sox are the most obvious.

 

The Rays can't sign a player worth more than $250,000 from July 2013 - June 2014, so they might be a good trade match.

[Guest]

Also, there's this:

 

Major League Baseball must inform the MLB Players’ Association by June 1 if the league intends to implement an international draft, after which the union has the option to veto the draft for the 2014 season by providing a written notice of its objection to MLB by June 15.

 

So by July 2, teams will know the penalties they face if they exceed their 2013-14 pool space, one if international players are included in the draft, another if the status quo remains.

 

Penalties for going over 2013-14 Pools

 

If there's a draft next year, teams forfeit their first rounder for going more than 5% over their pool. If no draft, teams won't be allowed to sign players for more than $500,000 next year if they go over this year's pool by more than 5%.

 

If you go 15% over the pool (as the Rays did in 2012-13), teams forfeit their first rounder in 2014 AND 2015 if there's an international draft. If there isn't, teams won't be allowed to sign players over $250,000 (this is the Rays' penalty).

[davell]

By the way, does anyone have a list of how much teams had been spending in recent years? Which teams typically don't spend in IFA? Obviously, they'd be targets for us to try and up our budget.

 

The Marlins and White Sox are the most obvious.

 

The Rays can't sign a player worth more than $250,000 from July 2013 - June 2014, so they might be a good trade match.

It'd be great if the Marlins, after selling a rebuild, didn't spen their IFA money. I suspect Hahn will begin to spend more though.

[Guest]

By the way, does anyone have a list of how much teams had been spending in recent years? Which teams typically don't spend in IFA? Obviously, they'd be targets for us to try and up our budget.

 

The Marlins and White Sox are the most obvious.

 

The Rays can't sign a player worth more than $250,000 from July 2013 - June 2014, so they might be a good trade match.

It'd be great if the Marlins, after selling a rebuild, didn't spen their IFA money. I suspect Hahn will begin to spend more though.

 

In 2012, the teams that spent the least were the Orioles, Rays (hah, how that changed in 2012-13), White Sox, Marlins, Nationals, Diamondbacks and Dodgers (obviously that's changed too).

 

Also, it's been suggested that teams like the Astros who don't normally spend as much will be more likely to spend more because of their bonus pool advantage. The Astros have been linked to some of the bigger names this year, which I have never noticed before.

[Hrubes20]

By the way, does anyone have a list of how much teams had been spending in recent years? Which teams typically don't spend in IFA? Obviously, they'd be targets for us to try and up our budget.

 

The Marlins and White Sox are the most obvious.

 

The Rays can't sign a player worth more than $250,000 from July 2013 - June 2014, so they might be a good trade match.

It'd be great if the Marlins, after selling a rebuild, didn't spen their IFA money. I suspect Hahn will begin to spend more though.

 

In 2012, the teams that spent the least were the Orioles, Rays (hah, how that changed in 2012-13), White Sox, Marlins, Nationals, Diamondbacks and Dodgers (obviously that's changed too).

 

Also, it's been suggested that teams like the Astros who don't normally spend as much will be more likely to spend more because of their bonus pool advantage. The Astros have been linked to some of the bigger names this year, which I have never noticed before.

 

They were linked early on to Ariel Ovando in 2011, weren't they?

[davell]

So, I guess an IFA draft is well on its way. We now have 4 slot values attached to our IFA money. At 2, its 2.873,000. At 32, its 462,300. At 62, its 312,200. And at 92, its 209,700. We(every other team as well) also has 700,000 to spend thats not included in these allotments. Badler will have more on how IFA money can be dealt, at a later time. My guess is AZPhil was correct, just the amounts aren't equal.

[Guest]

So, I guess an IFA draft is well on its way. We now have 4 slot values attached to our IFA money. At 2, its 2.873,000. At 32, its 462,300. At 62, its 312,200. And at 92, its 209,700. We(every other team as well) also has 700,000 to spend thats not included in these allotments. Badler will have more on how IFA money can be dealt, at a later time. My guess is AZPhil was correct, just the amounts aren't equal.

 

Link to what davell is talking about: http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/2013-2014-international-bonus-slots/

[Guest]

Ben Badler on how trading international cap space will work: Two takeaways, trading can't start till July 2nd and you can only trade slot values, not random amounts of cap space.

[Guest]

Ben Badler on teams most likely to trade away or trade for international bonus pools:

 

Sellers:

• Marlins
  
• Rockies
  
• Astros
  
• Rays
  
• Twins
  
• Indians

 

Buyers:

• Rangers
  
• Yankees
  
• Dodgers
  
• Blue Jays
  
• Cubs

 

Cubs (Pool: $4,557,200)

 

The Cubs are in a similar starting position as the Astros. They could keep their top slot, trade away their bottom three slots and still have a $3.573 million pool. Or if they wanted to just stand pat, they could spend $4.56 million and have the second-highest pool space of any team in the league. When Theo Epstein was general manager of the Red Sox, Boston spent liberally on Latin American amateur free agents like Jose Vinicio, Michael Almanzar, Oscar Perez, Engel Beltre and Oscar Tejeda, along with big bonuses for Jose Igelsias, Adalberto Ibarra and Juan Carlos Linares in the Cuban market. For the most part, it doesn’t look like the Red Sox are going to get much return on those investments (although Xander Bogaerts has so far been a smashing success), but the desire to spend heavily on international free agents will likely continue in Chicago. Based on certain market indications, the Cubs might be willing to trade for additional pool space—they could get up to $6,835,800 in pool space—to spend on what they feel are the best players on the market.

[Guest]

Top 50 IFA plus others to watch from Sickels' blog: http://www.minorleagueball.com/2013/4/24/4259466/2013-international-free-agents

 

Gleyber Torres, the guy everyone seems to think the Cubs will sign, comes in at #3.

 

3) Gleyber Torres, SS, 5'11" 184lbs, R/R, Venezuela

 

Trainer: Ciro Barrios

Age: 16.6 years

Considered the top Venezuelan prospect in the 2013 class, Torres is a product of the Ciro Barrios camp that also trained last year's top prospect Franklin Barreto (Blue Jays). While Torres does not have Barretto's level of international success and experience on his resume, some scouts consider him to be the better overall prospect, due to his power and greater likelihood of remaining at short. Torres is a polished player with a high floor, and though he doesn't offer much projection, what he is right now is already pretty good. A smooth defender with above average arm strength and innate natural instincts on the infield, Torres is exactly what you would want in a shortstop prospect. Offensively, he has a clean swing and shows patience and a good approach at the plate. Scouts see Torres as being the type of hitter who could hit for average while adding 15-20 homeruns a year. Torres only below-average tool is his lack of pure footspeed (7.02), but he has much better range than one would expect from a player with that kind of 60-time. The Cubs are said to be the team most aggressive on him, offering a bonus as high as 2mm.

 

Comparison: John Valentin

[davell]

Kudos to Sickels for getting an extremely nice list together. Sucks there's so little pitching on it, I'd love to come away with Torres and one of Perez, Diplan, or Tseng though.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Is that pronounced Glay-bear?

[Cubswin11]

Is that pronounced Glay-bear?

My guess is Hi-Bear or Hey-Bear

[Guest]

Is that pronounced Glay-bear?

My guess is Hi-Bear or Hey-Bear

 

I suppose it could be, but that wouldn't make any sense.

[Cubswin11]

Is that pronounced Glay-bear?

My guess is Hi-Bear or Hey-Bear

 

I suppose it could be, but that wouldn't make any sense.

I haven't taken a Spanish class since HS, but can't GL sometimes be pronounced as an H sound? So I guess it could also be pronounced Hley-Bear

[Brickhouse]

Kudos to Sickels for getting an extremely nice list together. Sucks there's so little pitching on it, I'd love to come away with Torres and one of Perez, Diplan, or Tseng though.

All of those pitchers are reportedly asking for over a million dollars with Tseng rumored to be over two million. If the Cubs can't land one of those guys, going only off of what I read in their descriptions, I'd love for the Cubs to get one or more of OF Leonardo Molina, OF Luis Asuncion and/or 3B Bryan Lizardo.

 

Molina won't come cheap either. He's a potential five-tool guy who is one of the youngest in the pool and has blazing speed. Asuncion was compared to Jorge Soler, I'm guessing slightly less athletic, who has good plate discipline and raw power. It sounded like he was one of the few on the list to "have an idea" at the plate. Lizardo sounds like a guy the Cubs would really like. He was "by far" the best defender on the list and has a good lefty handed bat. It said he likely would be the best defender at a number of positions. Currently a switch-hitter, but much weaker from the right side, and also one of the youngest in the pool. Can't sign until July 26th.

[Guest]

From a Ben Badler BA chat:

 

Norm Chouinard (Connecticut): What are your thoughts on the International Draft format and new rules? Your thoughts on its fairness and who will benefit and/or who will not.

 

Ben Badler: It’s hard to comment without knowing the details of how it’s going to be implemented, although based on the “slot values” (of course, why would you have slots in a year where there’s no draft) that presumably would carry over to 2014, it looks like the bonuses will be big for the players at the top, then drop off very quickly. I know everyone wants to scream and be outraged about an international draft, but it’s incredibly complex when you’re talking about things on the international side, both from a baseball perspective and in terms of dealing with the corruption that’s unfortunately involved.

 

TPX2 (Taiwan): What are your thoughts on Masahiro Tanaka in MLB?

 

Ben Badler: He’s a potential No. 2 starter from the stuff I saw in person in the WBC and from talking to scouts who’ve seen him more frequently in the past. The fastball’s more hittable than you’d think just from looking at the radar gun because it comes in on a flatter plane, but he’s got a couple of plus or better secondary pitches, so he’s got the stuff to put away hitters at the big league level.