2013 International signings

TheCrew07 · April 9, 2013

Penalties For Exceeding Pools Depend On International Draft

International Bonus Pools For 2013-14

narwhalattack · April 9, 2013

Is there going to be an international draft anytime soon?

TheCrew07 · April 9, 2013

Rumor has it that the international draft is being negotiated, it was a link on the MLB forum a while back.

docduany · April 9, 2013

When the Brewers signed Klye Loshe, and dashed our hopes of a brighter tomorrow, Kiki Diaz suggested that perhaps the Brewers could make up for the lose of the first round pick by spending more in the international scene. Being big spenders in the international market would be a relative change for the Brewers. If I'm remembering correctly $500,000 - $750,000 has been the ceiling on what the Brewers have spent on any one player and even those figures may be high. If the Brewers were to go that direction how would this news effect that strategy?

TheCrew07 · April 9, 2013

Now that I'm home I went looking for BA's take on the international draft and stumbled across this:

International Reviews: Milwaukee Brewers

Ben Badler did a real nice job summing up what I was going to say:

After the 2012 season, the Brewers dismissed Arango, who is now with the Cardinals as a southeast crosschecker. The Brewers promoted Batista to Latin American scouting director and named Eduardo Brizuela, who had been the team’s coordinator of administration for Latin American operations the past three seasons, as the team’s new director of Latin American operations/scouting.

As a result, the Brewers brought in very few international players last year and only one six-figure signing, Venezuelan righthander Yosmer Leal for $375,000 on July 2

I just don't see the Brewers ever going over the pool cap and getting taxed and/or giving up draft picks to do so. The Brewers have never been big players in Latin America and I wouldn't expect signing Lohse to change that one way or the other, especially with the new bonus cap rules in place. From a talent perspective it would be nice if they would hit on 1 guy per season out of Latin America but thus far only Escobar and Peralta have made it to MLB, though I'm high on Orlando Arcia who's playing for the T-Rats as well.

Colby will likely have more insight into the rumor mill regarding the international draft and what the Brewers might do than I would... historically they haven't done much though.

nate82 · April 10, 2013

Now that I'm home I went looking for BA's take on the international draft and stumbled across this:

International Reviews: Milwaukee Brewers

Ben Badler did a real nice job summing up what I was going to say:
After the 2012 season, the Brewers dismissed Arango, who is now with the Cardinals as a southeast crosschecker. The Brewers promoted Batista to Latin American scouting director and named Eduardo Brizuela, who had been the team’s coordinator of administration for Latin American operations the past three seasons, as the team’s new director of Latin American operations/scouting.

As a result, the Brewers brought in very few international players last year and only one six-figure signing, Venezuelan righthander Yosmer Leal for $375,000 on July 2

I just don't see the Brewers ever going over the pool cap and getting taxed and/or giving up draft picks to do so. The Brewers have never been big players in Latin America and I wouldn't expect signing Lohse to change that one way or the other, especially with the new bonus cap rules in place. From a talent perspective it would be nice if they would hit on 1 guy per season out of Latin America but thus far only Escobar and Peralta have made it to MLB, though I'm high on Orlando Arcia who's playing for the T-Rats as well.

Colby will likely have more insight into the rumor mill regarding the international draft and what the Brewers might do than I would... historically they haven't done much though.

What makes me sad is that the Brewers signed Lohse for $33m they could have had Soler, Cespedes, or Chapman for around that much money. All of these players come at a higher risk but I would take any one of these three over Lohse and for about $7m more the Brewers could have gotten Puig. I still don't get why the Brewers have not gone after someone like Cespedes or Chapman.

colbyjack · April 10, 2013

MLB seems hell-bent to conduct an international draft, but I just don't think the logistics make much sense. For instance, I think it will be next to impossible to make it truly worldwide, as how do you include the Japanese players? I can almost guarantee that would squash that entire process, as the money will be much more limited, making it much less appealing for Japanese players to come play in the states.

Keep in mind, when Puerto Rican players were subjected to the draft, meaning they couldn't get the same ridiculous payday like a Dominican or Venezuelan player, it almost destroyed the dedicated baseball talent pool on the island and most don't believe that is just a coincidence. It's only been the past couple of years that we're seeing new life from Puerto Rico (and Carlos Correa going No. 1 overall last year should help that given his $4.8 million payday).

I would like to see MLB be creative with these signing pools. As TheCrew07 noted, despite the Brewers increased attention in Latin America, they don't have many (or any) big money signings. That's fine, as long as you're doing your job state-side. I'll be curious how these teams use their allotted pools to sign players, as I think there will be a much greater disparity between this process and how teams use their allotted pools for the MLB Draft.

What I'd like to see is a combined draft pool for both the domestic draft and international free agent signings (which wouldn't include the likes of Aoki, Darvish, etc.). Meaning, instead of having $3 million for the MLB draft and $3 million for international players (just pulling up approximate numbers), give the Brewers $6 million to sign all such players.

One thing is for sure, the worst teams definitely have an obvious advantage to improve the talent in their system with this process. I'm curious if the Astros will use all of the money they have allotted towards them. They should given their MLB payroll.