Orioles 2010 Expenditures in International Free Agency

Baseball America reported their figures on what each team spent on international amateur talent during the 2010 fiscal year.  I have expressed it as a graph below.

Click on the graph to see it larger.  I have color-coded the teams in the AL East and provided a green line to mark the average amount spent on international talent.  The Orioles minor spending on this avenue of talent jives with what Andy MacPhail has said before during his University of Baltimore chat and in a conversation with Ken Rosenthal.  Based on those conversations and the Orioles habits procuring talent from international markets . . . it is fairly obvious that what resources the Orioles do have, they are not being spent on premier amateur talent.  Instead, their academy is being used to collect lower rung talent and bank on being successful at that rung.

Edit: It is also important to note that Cuban signings are not included in these figures.  Otherwise, you would see several teams jumping up by a few million (e.g. Red Sox) and the Orioles staying in place.