International Free Agency Thread 2017-2018

[davell]

 

Cubs are still in the penalty box, but are still considered the favorites to sign the number 30 prospect this upcoming season. He's out of Mexico, so the Cubs are taking advantage of the loophole again, where only the amount given to the player counts against the bonus.(25%)

 

Only 2 pitchers in the entire top 30, seems as if its been that way for a few years now. Longer list of guys names outside the top 30 too, I'd say there's a chance the Cubs could be in on some of them.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Here is their blurb on him:

 

SS Luis Verdugo

 

Hometown: La Paz, Baja California, Mexico

Position: SS Age: 16 DOB: 10/12/2000 Bats: S Throws: R Height: 5'11'' Weight: 168 lb.

 

Scouting grades: Hit: 45 | Power: 40 | Run: 45 | Arm: 60 | Field: 55

The top position prospect from Mexico, Verdugo is best known for his strong arm and defensive prowess in the middle of the diamond.

 

He's athletic with good instincts on both sides of the ball, but he is a below average runner right now. Verdugo is a contact hitter, shows a good bat path through the strike zone and puts the ball in play. However, the belief is that he could still improve on his overall hit tool and that he will once he enters a team's academy. He will also get a power boost at the plate when he adds size and strength.

 

Verdugo has been praised for his solid defensive actions and footwork. He has quick hands and makes all of the plays. Scouts also like his makeup and maturity level.

 

Verdugo is trained by Diablos Rojos del Mexico in the Mexican League. The Cubs are the favorite to sign him.

 

The 27th best prospect on that list (RHP Damian Mendoza) is also Mexican, but the Rangers are linked to him.

[CubsWin]

Bump Wills

[dfnowak]

 

Cubs are still in the penalty box, but are still considered the favorites to sign the number 30 prospect this upcoming season. He's out of Mexico, so the Cubs are taking advantage of the loophole again, where only the amount given to the player counts against the bonus.(25%)

 

Only 2 pitchers in the entire top 30, seems as if its been that way for a few years now. Longer list of guys names outside the top 30 too, I'd say there's a chance the Cubs could be in on some of them.

 

When are the Cubs out of the penalty box?

[davell]

 

Cubs are still in the penalty box, but are still considered the favorites to sign the number 30 prospect this upcoming season. He's out of Mexico, so the Cubs are taking advantage of the loophole again, where only the amount given to the player counts against the bonus.(25%)

 

Only 2 pitchers in the entire top 30, seems as if its been that way for a few years now. Longer list of guys names outside the top 30 too, I'd say there's a chance the Cubs could be in on some of them.

 

When are the Cubs out of the penalty box?

 

After this upcoming period, so 2018-2019.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Per Ben Badler, the Cubs are likely to sign another Mexican IFA. Thank goodness for the Mexican IFA bonus cap loophole, seeing as Serrano is considered one of the best pitchers in next year's class:

 

Baseball America[/url]"]Florencio Serrano, rhp, Mexico

 

The Cubs will be in their second year of the penalty of being unable to sign anyone subject to the bonus pools for more than $300,000. There is, however, an exception to that rule. For players signed out of the Mexican League, only the amount that goes to the player counts against the bonus pool.

 

Nearly every Mexican player that MLB teams is with a Mexican League team, and typically the Mexican League team keeps 75 percent of the payment. So if a team signs a Mexican League player for $400,000, only $100,000 would count against that team’s international bonus pool. MLB even allows teams under the penalty to only count the amount that goes to the player toward its $300,000 maximum bonus, so a team in the penalty box could sign a Mexican League player for up to $1.2 million.

 

That’s what it appears the Cubs will do to sign Serrano, a 17-year-old with Tijuana who used to live in Texas and is one of the better pitchers available this year. He’s 6-foot-1 with a quick arm and a fastball that parks at 88-92 mph and has reached 94. He complements his fastball with a sharp-breaking curveball that could be a future plus pitch. There’s some effort to Serrano’s delivery and some risk he ends up in the bullpen,

 

The Cardinals have jumped to the front of the bidding for Cuban reliever Hector Mendoza.

[davell]

The Cubs winding up with two highly rated prospects, while in the penalty, would be awesome. Thank God for Mexico's stupid rules and for the loophole in the CBA.

 

So glad we'll be out of the penalty box next year, but if we get those 2 guys, its like we're already out.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Q:

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

A:

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[Hrubes20]

Per Ben Badler, the Cubs are likely to sign another Mexican IFA. Thank goodness for the Mexican IFA bonus cap loophole, seeing as Serrano is considered one of the best pitchers in next year's class:

 

Baseball America[/url]"]Florencio Serrano, rhp, Mexico

 

The Cubs will be in their second year of the penalty of being unable to sign anyone subject to the bonus pools for more than $300,000. There is, however, an exception to that rule. For players signed out of the Mexican League, only the amount that goes to the player counts against the bonus pool.

 

Nearly every Mexican player that MLB teams is with a Mexican League team, and typically the Mexican League team keeps 75 percent of the payment. So if a team signs a Mexican League player for $400,000, only $100,000 would count against that team’s international bonus pool. MLB even allows teams under the penalty to only count the amount that goes to the player toward its $300,000 maximum bonus, so a team in the penalty box could sign a Mexican League player for up to $1.2 million.

 

That’s what it appears the Cubs will do to sign Serrano, a 17-year-old with Tijuana who used to live in Texas and is one of the better pitchers available this year. He’s 6-foot-1 with a quick arm and a fastball that parks at 88-92 mph and has reached 94. He complements his fastball with a sharp-breaking curveball that could be a future plus pitch. There’s some effort to Serrano’s delivery and some risk he ends up in the bullpen,

 

The Cardinals have jumped to the front of the bidding for Cuban reliever Hector Mendoza.

 

I saw that about Serrano. This kid was all-state as a HS freshman in Texas, before going to Mexico. I found a blurb from his HS coach that said his changeup was his best pitch, and Badler didn't even mention it. Not to belittle Badler at all, but I can guarantee his former HS coach has seen him more than Badler or the scouts Badler talks to. The coach said he was a baseball rat as well, and was constantly doing stuff after practices and games were over with. Seems to be quite the coup to be able to bring in an IFA like him while still in the penalty box.

 

Theo and Co. are really smart, in case people didn't realize this.

[We Got The Whole 9]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-cubs-are-looking-everywhere-for-an-edge/

[davell]

If they get him AND Verdugo, its basically the haul you'd expect a normal team with no restrictions to have, from a talent standpoint. Maybe even slightly better.

[davell]

 

I see no possible way to actually get a draft to work.

[davell]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1258690380848211&id=177433228973937&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2F&_rdr

 

Baseball America has us connected to this DR OF, Alexander Ovalles, along with Verdugo and Serrano.

 

It also said, "and others" from Mexico. Which is exciting, due to only 25% of the money counting against the cap, in most cases.

 

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/213429920/luis-navarro-debuts-in-ipl-showcase/

 

This article had gotten past me, but Adrian Gonzalez' brother has opened an academy in Mexico, that evidently doesn't take the 75% fee the teams do.....

[Regular Show]

 

I see no possible way to actually get a draft to work.

 

I'm sorry, but I'm confused. The article in the link is written by B. Badler on Oct. 20th, 2016 -- so from last year before the new CBA. Is MLB still trying to implement an international draft? They already tried and failed, and international players were outraged over its inclusion before they came up with the new system. I don't like the new system either, but I guess it makes it more fair. The Dodgers can't outspend every other team in MLB like crazy anymore.

 

I am worried about teams discovering some loopholes and/or doing some shady under-the-table arrangements -- especially Preller and the Padres Front Office.

[davell]

 

I see no possible way to actually get a draft to work.

 

I'm sorry, but I'm confused. The article in the link is written by B. Badler on Oct. 20th, 2016 -- so from last year before the new CBA. Is MLB still trying to implement an international draft? They already tried and failed, and international players were outraged over its inclusion before they came up with the new system. I don't like the new system either, but I guess it makes it more fair. The Dodgers can't outspend every other team in MLB like crazy anymore.

 

I am worried about teams discovering some loopholes and/or doing some shady under-the-table arrangements -- especially Preller and the Padres Front Office.

 

Ha, all I looked at was 6-25. I figured if BA was tweeting something, it'd be new info, not something 8 months old lol. I even re-read it, not remembering 10 rounds was what they wanted to do.

 

With teams signing 20+ players a year on average, it'd be impossible to just have a set monetary limit for UDFA's....Way too easy for deals to get struck.

[Hrubes20]

Badler's top 50 IFA list came out this morning. Serrano is at 29 and Verdugo is at 47.

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/2017-top-50-international-prospects-july-2/#aVTxuSleDWJozhhc.97

[davell]

Badler's top 50 IFA list came out this morning. Serrano is at 29 and Verdugo is at 47.

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/2017-top-50-international-prospects-july-2/#aVTxuSleDWJozhhc.97

 

Its seems this is a relatively odd year for IFA's. There's more Venezuelan kids in that top 50, than there are kids from the DR. And even deeper than the top 50, as BA has more signings set as Venezuelan kids too.

 

I guess importing kids from there to showcases in the DR is really working. Or its just a very down year for the DR. There's very few teams that still have academies in Venezuela, due to how dangerous it is there......

 

I WAS thinking we'd be pretty involved in Venezuela this year, but seeing so many signings there, I honestly doubt there's much left. Even in the 300,000 and under area. I'm sure we'll get a guy or two from there, but I was thinking that area would be a big mine for us THIS year, with Mexico.

 

Its not even going to be easy USING all of our 4.5 mill. Especially when the most Serrano and Verdugo count against our cap is 600,000, even if we spend 2.4 mill on them. The article I read did mention "and others" from Mexico too.....It'd be very, very cool to see us hand out an extra few bonuses there in the 600,000-1.2M range. Because we can do THAT, then still technically be able to trade off 2-3 mill of our budget lol.

 

I'm sure we'll sign a large class by the numbers, but its legitimately going to be hard to spend 4.5 mill against the budget, when our 2 main guys, who normally cost over half of it, will cost us so little.

 

My hope is a few more kids from Mexico, plus a decent amount of 200-300k kids from everywhere else. With quantity lower signings too, then still have 1.5-2 mill left over to throw into mid season trades.....

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Badler's top 50 IFA list came out this morning. Serrano is at 29 and Verdugo is at 47.

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/2017-top-50-international-prospects-july-2/#aVTxuSleDWJozhhc.97

 

More details:

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Ben Badler's NL Central preview

 

Chicago Cubs ($4.75 million):

 

Florencio Serrano, RHP, Mexico

Luis Verdugo, SS, Mexico

Fabian Pertuz, SS, Colombia

Alexander Ovalles, OF, Dominican Republic

 

And the Cubs are likely to sign others from Mexico as well.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

It's July 2nd!

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

Ben Badler says the Cubs have also signed the other three guys linked to them in recent articles:

 

Florencio Serrano, rhp, Mexico

Fabian Pertuz, ss, Colombia, $300,000.

Alexander Ovalles, of, Dominican Republic

[CaliforniaRaisin]

BA's #10 and 15 prospects, Raimfer Salinas and Antonio Cabello likely won't sign today or during this period, according to Ben Badler.

 

Here's Eric Longenhagen on why:

 

FanGraphs[/url]"]]There are a few players who will be eligible to sign Sunday who are contemplating whether or not to sign during the 2017-18 period. Sources I to whom I’ve spoken speculated two potential reasons for this. First, it’s possible that the player in question had a verbal agreement with a club before the new CBA was ratified and, because of the hard cap, will now be unable to receive agreed-upon figure. Second, it’s possible that the finite amount of funds available to players under the new CBA is forcing prospects to consider if there’s an optimal time for them to sign.

 

Regarding that second point: the international community (including trainers/agents) identifies players early and already has an idea of who the top players for the next class or two will be. That could allow a player and his trainer to realize that the player is, say, about the 25th-best player in the current class but would be closer to the 10th-best player in a weak class the next year, thus allowing that player to enter the following year with more earning power. Of course, many of these prospects come from places of poverty and don’t have the luxury to wait that long.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Looks like we won't get the official details on Serrano today:

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[CaliforniaRaisin]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Arizona Phil[/url]"]The Cubs have signed 20-year old Cuban catcher Alexander Guerra (link is external) to a minor league contract. He will report to Minor League Camp in Mesa in 2018, and he possibly could receive an NRI to Spring Training (TBD).

 

Guerra played for Granma in Serie Nacional (the Cuban major league) in 2015 and 2016 before defecting, hitting 267/375/465 with six HR in 33 games (123 PA) for los Alamandas in 2016.

 

The link also lists all 25 IFAs the Cubs have signed this year.

[davell]

There's an extremely noticeable strategy they employed this year.....Out of the 10 Pitchers they signed, 7 of them are 17 years old. Only 2 are 16.(an 18 year old rounds it out)

 

With these kids being signed at 16, the ones that aren't signed, are kind of glossed over after that. The thing is though, its dumb. A year later, you actually know more about these kids anyway. Now, we were restricted monetarily and this certainly played into things somewhat. But, its very intriguing to know we were scouring the "also-rans". Because these kids could easily have big velo jumps, grown a few inches, or whatever, to make themselves much better prospects than they had been a year earlier. And the teams that had money to spend had committed it a year or two earlier. My honest guess is we'll hear something early on about one or two of this group being a potential steal. Love this strategy.

 

We got 5 16 year old position players, 7 17 year olds, 2 18 year olds, and the 20 year old. Same theory obviously. But, I'm more intrigued by the pitchers personally.

 

And if the Cuban C is good enough to warrant a NRI, that's extremely impressive in his own right too.

 

Serrano and Verdugo being signed, while being top 30 type guys, while we were in the penalty box made this class super interesting by themselves. But, this approach is great and I'll bet it shows some very some results.