International Signing Period is Open

You may not know about the July 2nd opening of the International Signing period for the 2018-2019 season.  It began today at 9 a.m. and ends next year on June 15th.  You should not feel bad about not knowing about it even though every single team in baseball effectively spends millions on it, including more than a million on single players.  Typically, the only teams who do not spend a million or more on a single player are teams who are punished due to rules infractions, overspending, signing big name free agents, or the Orioles.

For decades, after a great deal of money was spent fruitlessly in the 1990s, the Orioles have operated with basic ignorance of the Latin American and Caribbean markets.  These past two years together, the Orioles have spent less than a million dollars on signing international free agents.  The biggest get last year was centerfielder Ricardo Castro, a 150k pickup from Venezuela.  Most teams would regard Castro as their sixth to eighth best pickup.  It is effectively as if the Orioles would choose to not draft anyone in the first ten rounds of the domestic drafts, leaving those players for others to take.  To think of it another way, if Castro was in the domestic draft, he would probably be signable for 30-50k.

Right now the Orioles sit with 5.5 MM in signing bonus pool money.  They can trade away all of it in 250k allotments.  They were not able to trade away those allotments until July 2nd at 9 a.m.  In the past, they dealt them out to help bolster deals to get players like Bud Norris or to stock the minors with quality organizational filler.  There is some hope that the Orioles, who have so much money and not much tied up in promised deals (teams tend to agree to contract terms before July 2nd with players even though this process is technically against the rules), with all the bonus money may be able to go after Cuban defectors like Victor Victor Mesa. V2 Mesa would be on par with a first round talent and would be ready for the high minors.  It would be a solid signing and add a player with top notch defense, speed, and potential gap power.

Other aspects of the international signing period to know:

• The part of the CBA that covers this is Attachment 46.
• Signing bonuses less than 10k do not count against the pool.
• A club may trade away all their pool allotment.
• A club may acquire up to 75% more than their original allotment (the 2019/20 period will reduce this to 60%).
• Teams cannot trade allotments for cash.
• Players who are older than 25 and played in foreign professional leagues do not count against the pool.
• MLB office identifies 150 special players as level two targets. These players undergo drug testing, MRIs, x-rays, and CT scans.
• It is against the rules to provide any favors to player's family or trainer, to promise MLB debut dates, or agreeing to sign other players in a package deal.