2013-14 International Free Agency Thread

[davell]

Anraku gave up 4 in the 10th. On his final pitch, his 183rd of the day, he hit 94. He's since hit a 3 run homer in the botyom half of the inning. Oh, and for those that don't know: He's 16.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Descipable.

[Vinestal]

Anraku gave up 4 in the 10th. On his final pitch, his 183rd of the day, he hit 94. He's since hit a 3 run homer in the botyom half of the inning. Oh, and for those that don't know: He's 16.

They are going to break him.

[TruffleShuffle]

Anraku gave up 4 in the 10th. On his final pitch, his 183rd of the day, he hit 94. He's since hit a 3 run homer in the botyom half of the inning. Oh, and for those that don't know: He's 16.

They are going to break him.

 

doesn't pretty much every japanese pitcher go through this? not saying it's defensible, but they don't all break down because of prep abuse.

[davell]

Anraku gave up 4 in the 10th. On his final pitch, his 183rd of the day, he hit 94. He's since hit a 3 run homer in the botyom half of the inning. Oh, and for those that don't know: He's 16.

They are going to break him.

 

doesn't pretty much every japanese pitcher go through this? not saying it's defensible, but they don't all break down because of prep abuse.

I think its been much worse in this case than any of the others. I think Daisuke threw 200 pitches in a game or something like that. This kid threw like 600 pitches or some crazy [expletive] in a week.

[Guest]

Anraku gave up 4 in the 10th. On his final pitch, his 183rd of the day, he hit 94. He's since hit a 3 run homer in the botyom half of the inning. Oh, and for those that don't know: He's 16.

They are going to break him.

 

doesn't pretty much every japanese pitcher go through this? not saying it's defensible, but they don't all break down because of prep abuse.

 

While most of them (besides Yu Darvish) do get abused at a level that is considered ridiculous on this side of the Pacific, Tomohiro Anraku is on the extreme end of the spectrum because his HS team isn't as good as most of its competition at Koshien.

[Guest]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/cubs-rangers-leave-spending-limits-behind/

 

The Cubs may not be able to sign an international player for more than $250,000 next summer, but they’ll have a bonus pool of more than $4 million to play with. They’ll be able to trade any of their international bonus slots, with their first one likely worth more than $2 million.

 

“The way we looked at the landscape, the players we went after this year and looking at the talent class for next year made it worth it,” said Jason McLeod, Chicago’s senior vice president for scouting and player development. “We felt like putting the pedal to medal and going after it this year was worth it. We acquired as much impact upside talent as soon as we could, and we felt that was the way to go.

 

“I do think we certainly would have looked at it differently if we were talking about losing picks.”

 

...

 

If MLB and the Players Association agree on an international draft for 2015, the Cubs’ and Rangers’ excess 2014 money will be a valuable commodity. Even without an international draft, they should find suitors. Chicago’s top slot could be worth more than the total international pool of 10 or more teams.

 

In essence, the Cubs and the Rangers were able to sign what they evaluated as two years’ worth of talent in one and can somewhat skirt the penalties by trading money they won’t be able to use next summer. More teams may try to exploit that loophole until an international draft closes it.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

@BenBadler 10m

 

Japan's Masahiro Tanaka with another gem. 7 IP, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 SO. Lowers ERA to 1.15, best among NPB starters. High demand from MLB teams.

[Guest]

Sounds like IF Nelson Gomez and OF Alexander Paredes will be top Dominican prospects next year as they played in the Under Armour Game today. Of course the Cubs can't top $250,000 so I doubt those two will be on their radar.

 

Last year, Lewin Diaz (Twins, $1.4 million) and Lucas Tirado (Dodgers, $1 million) were the Dominican representatives.

[Guest]

Dodgers sign Japanese teenager Takumi Numata. Pretty rare for a Japanese teenager to sign.

 

http://minors.mlblogs.com/2013/09/18/the-latest-japanese-import-takumi-numata/

[Guest]

@BenBadler: The Cubs have the No. 4 international bonus pool, which was $3.9 million this year, but won't be able to sign a player for more than $250K.

[UMFan83]

@BenBadler: The Cubs have the No. 4 international bonus pool, which was $3.9 million this year, but won't be able to sign a player for more than $250K.

 

I can't remember, do they have any restrictions for trading their bonus pool, other than the normal ones every team has?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

@BenBadler: The Cubs have the No. 4 international bonus pool, which was $3.9 million this year, but won't be able to sign a player for more than $250K.

 

I can't remember, do they have any restrictions for trading their bonus pool, other than the normal ones every team has?

 

It doesn't appear so, although MLB has been known to either not mention rules or make them up as they go.

[BeerHere]

@BenBadler: The Cubs have the No. 4 international bonus pool, which was $3.9 million this year, but won't be able to sign a player for more than $250K.

 

I can't remember, do they have any restrictions for trading their bonus pool, other than the normal ones every team has?

 

It doesn't appear so, although MLB has been known to either not mention rules or make them up as they go.

 

Since we observed a trade of a minor league player for pool space, clearly that is ok. A trade of a major league player for pool space would seem unlikely, but I wonder if that is allowed. Does anyone know if they can trade pool space for actual cash?

 

Please correct me here, but the plausible options seem like:

1. Eat the pool space, effectively doing nothing

2. Trade pool space for MiLB player(s)

3. Spread the pool over a large number of lower ceiling players

4. Some combination of the above

[davell]

Nope, players have to be involved. No straight up buying of space. Although there are ways around it. Sending a 26 year old in A ball being a legit way, which happened this past year.

[BeerHere]

Can they trade for future pool money?

 

Example: Cubs trade $1M of 2014 pool money and a player for $1.5 of 2015 pool money?

[Guest]

Can they trade for future pool money?

 

Example: Cubs trade $1M of 2014 pool money and a player for $1.5 of 2015 pool money?

I don't think so. The pool actually gets carved into specific pieces that can be traded. You have to know how much is in your pool to do the math. Since that gets set based on your finish in a given year, I doubt you could trade from a future pool.

[mul21]

Can they trade for future pool money?

 

Example: Cubs trade $1M of 2014 pool money and a player for $1.5 of 2015 pool money?

 

Nope. Pool money is only tradeable for the IFA calendar year currently going on. Pool money wasn't tradeable until after July 2 this year for July 2, 2013 through July 1, 2014.

[davell]

Yeah, with the money split into 4 pods, which aren't known until season is over-impossible to trade for future space.

[SouthSideRyan]

I wonder if there are specific provisions regarding this when trading for "future considerations"

[Guest]

The Dominican Republic has decided that undocumented Haitians in the DR (even if born in the DR) are no longer DR citizens: http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/63501436/

 

This will cause a mess for paperwork, citizenship and identity docs for baseball players signed out of the Dominican of Haitian heritage and the ramifications are unknown. Looks like Miguel Sano (who had a tough time getting approved by MLB before he signed with the Twins) is the most famous Dominican minor leaguer of Haitian heritage.

[Guest]

Some slight changes are coming to the limits on international spending next year.

 

For the current signing period (2013-14) that began on July 2 and the previous one (2012-13), teams have been assigned signing bonus pools. However, each team also is allowed six signings of up to $50,000 that are exempt from the bonus pools.

 

When the 2014-15 signing period begins on July 2, those six exemptions will no longer exist. The rule, as outlined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement and reminded to teams today at a meeting for international scouts, essentially eliminates $300,000 from what each team can spend without being penalized.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

That would make pool money, which the Cubs are presumably going to be sellers of, more valuable.

[davell]

I'm still hoping for a few pop up signings for this year. Surely we'll sell off a decent amount of space next year though. Although the strength in numbers approach could work out well.

[Guest]

I'm still hoping for a few pop up signings for this year. Surely we'll sell off a decent amount of space next year though. Although the strength in numbers approach could work out well.

 

I'm not sure it isn't a better approach to IFA anyway.