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Atlanta Braves Morning Chop – International Gold

By Alan Carpenter |
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Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Julio Teheran (49) throws during spring training workouts at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

2015-16 MLB International Bonus Pools

BEN BADLER / BASEBALL AMERICA.COM

Teams have received their international bonus pools for the upcoming 2015-16 signing period, which begins on July 2. The pools are up slightly from a year ago, with the top pool getting an extra $378,500 and the bottom pool getting an additional $102,300.

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The bonus pools are determined based on reverse order of winning percentage from the 2014 major league season, which means the Diamondbacks have the largest bonus pool, while the Angels have the smallest. However, the Diamondbacks will be unable to sign any pool-eligible player for more than $300,000 during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 signing periods as a penalty for going more than 15 percent over their current 2014-15 pool, mainly

to sign Cuban righthander Yoan Lopez

.

The Angels, Rays, Red Sox and Yankees will also be unable to sign any pool-eligible players for more than $300,000 during the 2015-16 signing period. They do still keep their entire bonus pool, however, and are free to trade the individual slot values that comprise their pool.

  • (1) DBACKS – $5,393,900
  • (15) BRAVES – $2,458,400
  • (30) ANGELS – $1,968,600

[ Ed note:  implications?  Several:

  • We’ve already seen the Braves make a big splash, albeit belated, in the 2014-15 international market.  We’ll review that on the next page.
  • The Braves were not only aggressive this off-season internationally in their own right (which included beefing up their international scouting), they used other teams’ woes to their advantage.  Atlanta nabbed 3 bonus pool slots from the Cubs in the Tommy La Stella trade.
  • You may continue to see aggressive moves to obtain international slot monies – particularly with the teams noted above that can’t spend their pools thanks to penalties.  Especially hard hit are the Diamondbacks, who stupidly wasted their #1 position to obtain Yasmany Tomas in an ultimate ‘mortgaging the future’ move.

]

Zoilo Almonte (24) rounds the bases on his home run during the third inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Braves’ 2014-15 International Signings

COMPILED FROM BRAVES MLB TRANSACTIONS PAGE

  • FEB 13 – RANDY VENTURA, OF.  age 17, Dominican Republic (DR),  5’9″ 165.
  • FEB 11 – ALI PANTOJA, RHP.  age 18, Venezuela,  6’4″, 180.
  • FEB 10 – WILLIAM CONTRERAS, C.  age 17, VEN.,  6’0″, 180.
  • FEB 10 – LUIS MEJIA, SS.  age 17, D.R., 5’10”, 160.
  • FEB 10 – CARLOS LOPEZ, RHP.  age 17, Mexico.,  6’4″, 175.
  • FEB 10 – OMAR CAMILO, LHP. age 18, D.R., 5’11”, 170.
  • DEC 31 – ISRANEL WILSON, SS. age 16, ST. MARTIN, 6’3″, 185.
  • DEC 12 – LEUDYS BAEZ, CF.  age 18, D.R., 6’0″, 160.
  • DEC 11 – JHONNY DIAZ, LHP.  age 18, VEN., 6’0″, 180.
  • DEC 2 – ODALVI JAVIER, RHP.  age 18, D.R., 6’0″, 180.
  • DEC 2 – BLADIMIR MATOS, RHP.  age 21, D.R., 6’0″, 190.
  • NOV 28 – CASRLOS CENTENO, C.  age 17, VEN., 5’9″, 180.
  • NOV 21 – KELVIN RODRIGUEZ, LHP.  age 21, D.R., 6’5″, 195.
  • NOV 19 – JHONIEL SEPULVEDA, RHP.  age 17, D.R., 6’2″, 175.
  • NOV 19 – ALONSO GERMAN, 2B.  age 19, D.R., 5’10”, 165.
  • OCT 2 – ALEX AQUINO, SS.  age 18, D.R., 6’2″, 165.

Sixteen International players have been signed since the end of the last season.  The big news has been about the overhaul of the farm system at the upper levels over the past 4 months.  But what’s been happening under the radar is that Atlanta has been very busy internationally as well.

As you can certainly judge from the ages of the talent listed above, it will be quite a while before you see any of these kids rising out of the Dominican Summer League and making their way to Rome and levels above (save for perhaps Kelvin Rodriguez and Bladimir Matos, given their ages).  Furthermore, we simply don’t know a lot about the skills of these players at this point.

Nonetheless, you can be assured that most – if not all – of these kids were on Gordon Blakeley’s radar while he was with the Yankees.  The Yankees signed most of the “best” rated players, but certainly they would not have room in their own farm system for everybody that Blakeley scouted… so now Atlanta very likely has the best of the rest.

Finally…

This is just awesome.  And if you don’t get the joke, then you aren’t on twitter.

Have a great weekend:  games start on Wednesday next week!!

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