International Free Agency Thread 2017-2018

[davell]

Weird. I wonder if they’ll resign him at a later date?

 

I doubt it. That signing period is over. And we've got our money committed to this one already. If he failed a physical, got caught with PED's, or whatever else, renegotiating would have made much more sense to have kept him in the same year that we had money to use on him.

 

Be interesting to see where he does wind up now and for what amount though.

[Hrubes20]

Dammit. Hate losing a guy that well thought of by the scouting community. Especially when it was one of the "coups" while in the penalty box.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Badler has the details on Serrano: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/how-the-cubs-lost-their-top-2017-international-prospect/

 

The summary: Most Mexican teams only give 25% of the signing bonus to the players but they're not limited to that. Tijuana actually gave Serrano 50% because he was a bigger name player. Since the Cubs were in the penalty box, they couldn't give a bonus at that amount (they were capped at $300k; Serrano signed for $1.2 million). MLB never approved Serrano's deal. The Cubs were not disciplined because they had no idea Tijuana gave Serrano $600k. In fact, MLB added $300k to the Cubs' pool for 2018-19 because of this. MLB found that Tijuana wasn't the only team that gave players more than was reported and that's why no Mexican League players aren't allowed to sign right now. Once Mexican League players are able to sign, the Cubs will still be eligible to sign Serrano if they so desire.

[craig]

...In fact, MLB added $300k to the Cubs' pool for 2018-19 because of this....

 

You guys have probably already detailed this, but have the Cubs already spent this, and everything else? Or based on your tracking of the big-ticket spendings, does this $300K plus some other unspent $$ perhaps give the Cubs some discretionary cash to still get some guy(s), whether serrano himself or somebody else?

 

Also, what has been the timing on all of this? I assume BA is reporting it now, but mlb and the Cubs knew about this before July, so that the Cubs had already factored the $300K into signings they have already made?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

...In fact, MLB added $300k to the Cubs' pool for 2018-19 because of this....

 

You guys have probably already detailed this, but have the Cubs already spent this, and everything else? Or based on your tracking of the big-ticket spendings, does this $300K plus some other unspent $$ perhaps give the Cubs some discretionary cash to still get some guy(s), whether serrano himself or somebody else?

 

Also, what has been the timing on all of this? I assume BA is reporting it now, but mlb and the Cubs knew about this before July, so that the Cubs had already factored the $300K into signings they have already made?

 

I'm guessing the Cubs knew about this a while ago because Arizona Phil reported it on June 19th.

 

Based on the 5 names and bonuses that have been reported, the Cubs still have $683,500 unspent (this includes the rollover $300k).

[craig]

Based on the 5 names and bonuses that have been reported, the Cubs still have $683,500 unspent (this includes the rollover $300k).

 

thanks, cal. And anything over $10K, counts. I'd guess the $683 would get spent out on a dozen $50K type guys or something like that, more or less? Or perhaps already has?

 

But, I could also imagine the Cubs feeling like they had scouted and wanted Serrano, and had a good relationship; **if** their info is at all indicative that the Mexican thing might get resolved, I could see them maybe wanting to hold $300K (or more) and still resign Serrano.

 

It occurs to me that the new fixed-cap-without-penalty-box probably isn't that optimal for a lot of the guys who used to be picking up $300K deals. There were always a handful of penalty teams with a bunch of millions who were looking to sign a dozen $300K guys each. But now with nobody capped to $300, I wonder if most teams will focus on a handful of big tickets, and other guys will be looking at ≤$100K deals?