02 July 2012

2012 International Signings -- Day 1

Ben Badler at Baseball America will be updating the BA Prospect Blog with news on signings today -- the first day that eligible international free agents can sign with MLB clubs (this is the "new" crop of eligibles, each of whom are 16-years old).

Click here to follow updates from Ben, one of the better providers of international coverage on the baseball front.

We'll have some thoughts this evening in a Day 1 summary post.  I have not scouted the vast majority of these players, and accordingly will not be offering thoughts on the particulars.  As a reminder, Camden Depot has only recommended two signings of high profile international players.

The first was Miguel Sano (for whom we set a $3.5 MM price tag and would have gone up to $4 MM).  Sano received $3.15 MM from the twins and likely would be in the Camden Depot "Shadow System" considering how much more we would have offered.

The second was Ronald Guzman (for whom we set a $3.0 MM price tag and would have gone up to $3.5 MM).  Guzman signed with the Rangers for $3.45 MM and likely would not be in the Camden Depot "Shadow System" considering the almost identical sum of money and the preferential landing spot in Texas's system, which is flush with Latin talent.

We did not recommend any players for signature this year, though the new soft-cap system strongly encourages teams like Baltimore to jump in the game with some level of cost certainty (each team can spend up to $3.2 MM without penalty if they play the game correctly, per Jeff Passan at Yahoo).  2012 will strictly be an analytical year from the sidelines for the Depot and our Shadow System; hopefully the real Orioles will have something more exciting up their sleeve.

UPDATE -- Courtesy of Badler and Baseball America, here is a running scorecard of AL East high profile signings today. Please click on this link and peruse their blog for details on these players and their signing bonuses (Baseball America does the lifting, they should get the page hits).

Blue Jays
Franklin Barreto, ss/cf, Venezuela (BA Rank #1)
Luis Castro, ss, Venezuela (BA Rank #9)

Rays
Jose Mujica, rhp, Venezuela (BA Rank #3)
David Rodriguez, c, Venezuela (BA Rank #14)

Yankees
Luis Torrens, c, Venezuela (BA Rank #2)
Alexander Palma, of, Venezuela (BA Rank #4)

Red Sox
Jose Almonte, rhp, Dominican Republic (BA Rank #17)

Orioles
None

UPDATE -- The original entry was updated to correct the description of the pool allotments for this year.

No comments: