2013-14 International Free Agency Thread

[RammyFanny]

Awesome job building trust here. The new Academy is already paying off. That said, with us evidently ready to sign Tseng as well, I hope we aren't looking at IFA money as anything important to get in trades, since we're going to blow past the 15% overage as it is. As a throw in, to help lower our penalty is fine. I really, really want the 19 year old Cuban RHP(Leandro Linares) to be good enough to warrant a mill plus type bonus. He wouldn't be worth it for another team to go "all in" on, so our only competition could be Texas.

I'd like Leonardo Molina as well if we're going to take the sign everyone approach.. Encarnacion too. August 1st and 9th on those two I believe.

[Guest]

Awesome job building trust here. The new Academy is already paying off. .

 

Did anyone say that had something to do with it? I thought it was reported he just loved Sosa as a kid.

 

If Sosa was the reason he was going to sign, he could have picked the team he most likely saw Sosa play with when he was a kid (the team that probably offered $5M+) - the Rangers.

[davell]

Awesome job building trust here. The new Academy is already paying off. That said, with us evidently ready to sign Tseng as well, I hope we aren't looking at IFA money as anything important to get in trades, since we're going to blow past the 15% overage as it is. As a throw in, to help lower our penalty is fine. I really, really want the 19 year old Cuban RHP(Leandro Linares) to be good enough to warrant a mill plus type bonus. He wouldn't be worth it for another team to go "all in" on, so our only competition could be Texas.

I'd like Leonardo Molina as well if we're going to take the sign everyone approach.. Encarnacion too. August 1st and 9th on those two I believe.

I'd love it, but it seems like we changed course midstream on going all in. My guess is we upped our offer to Eloy, after Texas came in last minute with a huge offer. Encarnacion looks like he's headed to the Phils and Molina to the Yanks. But who knows, maybe we'd come in and pull a Texas with them. I would bet that we'll get a few late "pop up" types in the 500k+ range, late in the year and early into next season. By going over the max, the key is to gobble up as much as possible, since next year's restricted anyway. Hopefully another pitcher or two shows up on the radar.

[Guest]

Awesome job building trust here. The new Academy is already paying off. That said, with us evidently ready to sign Tseng as well, I hope we aren't looking at IFA money as anything important to get in trades, since we're going to blow past the 15% overage as it is. As a throw in, to help lower our penalty is fine. I really, really want the 19 year old Cuban RHP(Leandro Linares) to be good enough to warrant a mill plus type bonus. He wouldn't be worth it for another team to go "all in" on, so our only competition could be Texas.

 

Linares is close to signing with the Indians per Jesse Sanchez.

[jersey cubs fan]

Turned down $5M from another team to stay with #Cubs.

 

Wow.

 

More like holy [expletive] [expletive]!

 

More like complete lie.

 

Some 16 year old Dominican kid who was recently screwed over by new MLB rules his predecessors never dealt with isn't taking half the money because the Cubs built a park.

[Clem Fandango]

So when Jimenez enters the fold, where would he rank in our system? I'm sure it's been asked at some point in this thread but I don't feel like digging.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't put 16 year old IFAs anywhere in the top 30. Maybe if they had a crappy system, I guess. Too much depth right now.

[davell]

So when Jimenez enters the fold, where would he rank in our system? I'm sure it's been asked at some point in this thread but I don't feel like digging.

Parks said both Jimenez and Torres will get consideration for his top 15. BA will certainly have both in their top 30. Maybe somewhere in the late teens, is my guess.

[Guest]

Linares signed with the Indians for $950,000.

 

Ben Badler[/url]"]Linares, 19, has been one of the top pitching prospects on the international market who is subject to the international bonus pools. At 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, Linares pitches at 89-93 mph and tops out at 94. He has loose wrists and throws a 73-76 mph curveball that flashes as a plus pitch with good depth and helps him miss bats, although it can get loopy at times. He also mixes in a changeup that’s average at times and throws a fourth pitch that scouts have described as either a cutter or slider.

[Guest]

Jimenez' press conference is scheduled for 8/1.

[davell]

If we're trying to acquire extra IFA money to lessen our overage penalties, we just missed out on a possibility. The Angels just gave up 360,500 in space for a 22 and 23 year old that haven't played fullseason ball yet and aren't top 30 prospects.

[ctcf]

Looks like Tseng is officially a Cub at 1.6 mil

[davell]

Looks like Tseng is officially a Cub at 1.6 mil

We've now spent 5.1 of 5.5 mill. I think we can acquire around 1.3 mill more of space, but assuming Jimenez gets 2.8, we'll still hit the highest penalty.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I thought if the signings were official, it's too late to add the space?

[Guest]

I thought if the signings were official, it's too late to add the space?

 

I might be remembering it as if you have exceeded your pool, it's too late to add the space.

[davell]

Crap, I forgot about that. Kyle's right. Assuming Tseng is official, we can only add 200k now.

[KingCubsFan]

Crap, I forgot about that. Kyle's right. Assuming Tseng is official, we can only add 200k now.

Well, if we're already going to hit the maximum penalty, we might as well go all out and sign a few more guys.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Well, if we're already going to hit the maximum penalty, we might as well go all out and sign a few more guys.

I understand that thinking, but I don't think additional dollars spent are good value unless there is someone that the Cubs really want. They are paying a 100% tax at this point, so they are essentially paying double market value for anyone they sign from here on out.

[craig]

Looks like Tseng is officially a Cub at 1.6 mil

 

Wow. Wow wow wow wow. Seems so totally un-cublike to do something radical and kind of outside the normal boundaries.

 

$1.6 to Tseng, but $3.2 expense for Cubs. They obviously like him.

 

Heh, that's maybe half of what we sold Soriano for.

 

Soriano for Black, Tseng, and a PTBNL? (If we sold Soriano for $6+, maybe the other $3 can be used to buy another $1.5 international prospect?)

 

With Tseng and Jiminez, there is no way to stay within penalty, correct? I think that ship has sailed. But, I think reaching an agreement and getting it finalized with the mlb office may differ. There may still be time to add INT slots, and reduce the dollar cost.

[Guest]

                          Standard          5% Over
---------------------------------------------------
Initial bonus pool      $4,557,000       $4,784,850
From Astros            +$  784,000      +$  823,200
From Orioles           +$  388,000      +$  407,400
To Dodgers             -$  209,000      -$  219,450
===================================================
Cubs bonus pool         $5,520,000       $5,796,000
===================================================
Signings:
Gleyber Torres          $1,700,000       $1,700,000
Jen-Ho Tseng            $1,625,000       $1,625,000
Jefferson Mejia         $  850,000       $  850,000
Erling Moreno           $  650,000       $  650,000
Johan Matos             $  270,000       $  270,000
Remaining IFA Budget:   $  425,000       $  701,000

[Guest]

I thought if the signings were official, it's too late to add the space?

 

The Jimenez signing isn't official. They're over their initial pool space but not the newly acquired pool space, so I'm not sure if they can or can't make any additional trades.

 

Baseball America[/url]"]Once a team has signed enough players to spend all its international pool money, it cannot trade for additional pool space. So if a team had $1 million left in its pool on Sept. 1, then on Oct. 1 signed a player for $1.5 million, the club would not be allowed to trade for additional pool space to fit the player into its pool.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Here's a picture of Tseng, who looks 12, not 18. http://cache2.asset-cache.net/gc/162794857-jen-ho-tseng-of-team-chinese-taipei-poses-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QU0UDAaXlmKv0bMxxa8BSNp%2FxMSOkLYWDSwl9Pf240cCtotodtX3x80cRSIxPSmUjIsAhoFlucokSrIv3RtigGw%3D

[UMFan83]

So in retrospect, should we have gotten better players in the Feldman and Marmol trades, as opposed to international pool money? I get that it saves us quite a bit in penalty money, but the Cubs don't seem to be concerned with what they are spending this year in the international market.

[davell]

So in retrospect, should we have gotten better players in the Feldman and Marmol trades, as opposed to international pool money? I get that it saves us quite a bit in penalty money, but the Cubs don't seem to be concerned with what they are spending this year in the international market.

No clue why we gave the Dodgers any money. My only guess is to get back on decent terms with them after the Dempster crap from last year, but thats obviously flimsy. I DO think any IFA money we added originally was to go towards keeping us under the max penalty, but we had to scrap that and likely give Jimenez at least a bit more than we thought we'd have to. In the end, it really winds up just saving us penalty money. And anyone we sign after Jimenez is going to cost us double the bonus.

[Guest]

@JesseSanchezMLB: I'm told the Eloy Jimenez press conference tentatively scheduled for this wk is @iplbaseball_rd production & #Cubs might do something later

 

The Cubs sure seem to keep putting off making the Jimenez signing official.