Mets Get High Marks On International Free Agents

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• Metsie May 1, 2012 at 2:10 pm

  The only losers here I see is the IFAs themselves.
  The results of the CBA will be to sign fewer and to less than before.

  I don’t see why we paid as much as we have in the past for players who show promise but are hardly proven!

  If they really wanted to fix it though better wold have been to force every player through the draft proccess where everyone has a shot at them.
  No reason why there should be a way around the draft for one set of players.

  You enter the draft, if you make it through THEN you get to sign an a Free Agent jst like they do in Football.
• Donal May 1, 2012 at 4:12 pm

  “Major League Baseball’s new labor agreement has capped the amount of dollars an organization can spend on international free agents. Effective this season, any team that spends more than $3 million dollars annually, will now face a heavy tax that could include a loss of draft picks in addition to the high financial levies.”

  Also, teams are required to register anyone they are scouting with MLB and that list will be public.

  That means finding hidden gems like Reyes and Fernando Martinez (no seriously the signing was good) will become either impossible or pointless.

  The new CBA is pretty awful for teams that actually did work on amateur players.
• jerseymet May 1, 2012 at 4:41 pm

  Sounds like management wants to keep costs down.
• stick May 1, 2012 at 4:54 pm

  should spread the talent around better. But, if teams were finding cheap guys that no one else spotted, that shouldn’t change.

  will really only impact the handful that got big $$ bonuses (usually from the Yankees!).

  but, for the majority of these guys, they are still signing. Not like US HS kids that will just go to college instead, if you are from a poor coundtry with no other prospects, you’ll take 40K instead of 140k if that is what is offered.

  seems like it could impact the handful of big name Japanese guys the most (they are covered under this, right?) So no more Darvish deals?
  • Donal May 1, 2012 at 5:36 pm

    “should spread the talent around better.”

    No, it will drive talented athletes to other sports. The NBA has no such rule. Neither does the EPL.

    “But, if teams were finding cheap guys that no one else spotted, that shouldn’t change.”

    Except they have to tell the whole league when they spot one of those guys.

    “will really only impact the handful that got big $$ bonuses (usually from the Yankees!). ”

    No. That is nothing like what actually happens. While the Yankees did spend well in the IFA market, so did plenty of teams like the Braves, Royals, and Cardinals. Big market vs small market plays no role in this.
    • XtreemIcon May 2, 2012 at 8:57 am

      I don’t know, Donal. Look at that list. How can you say there was no benefit to the big markets?
      • Donal May 2, 2012 at 9:32 am

        1 and 2 are midmarket teams and 7,8,9 are small market. And this is just a ist of guys who are working out well for their teams. That can change year to year.

        There is no mention to how how much each of those guys signed for or how they were in fact acquired. Some guys can come voer iin trades or the Rule 5 draft etc etc
        • XtreemIcon May 2, 2012 at 9:42 am

          I disagree. The Brewers, Cardinals, Braves, D-Backs……….those are mid-market teams. I definitely think the Rangers and Tigers are large markets. We’re looking at a list of seven large market teams against three small-markets, and those three come in near the very bottom. I think the reason those teams do so well in the International market is because they’re aware of their inability to compete in free-agency and allot more of their budget to IFAs than the teams who know they can be players for the Pujolses and Fielders that declare each year.

          I think case in point is the A’s blowing everyone out of the water for Cespedes.
          • Donal May 2, 2012 at 10:15 am

            Well, we could quibble about what makes a small or large or mid market team, but thats not really my point.

            My point is that

            1) the list really doesn’t tell us much about how IFAs are distributed

            2) IFA market doesn’t seem to be affected at all by a team being small or large market. It is about doing the grunt work to find these guys and then develop them.
            • XtreemIcon May 2, 2012 at 10:18 am

              Fair enough.
• Fonzie13 May 1, 2012 at 5:24 pm

  I don’t think it’s fair that Darvish is listed a an amatuer international free agent. He’s a professional and got paid like one. This new CBA is both good and bad. Bad for the actual players themselves but good in that team like the Yankees ca’nt blow every IFA out of the water. Eventually I’d like to see an international draft and have Puerto Rico a part of the International draft instead of the US amatuer draft.
  • Donal May 1, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    “good in that team like the Yankees ca’nt blow every IFA out of the water.”

    Except that has never happened. The Yankees really don’t blow amateur talent acquisition out of the water. Why do you think teams like Kansas City can build up a farm system like they do?

    “Eventually I’d like to see an international draft and have Puerto Rico a part of the International draft instead of the US amatuer draft.”

    David Stern and Roger Goodell like your thinking.

    An international draft would be horrible. It would destroy any advantage MLB has over the other pro sports leagues in Latin America.
    • Fonzie13 May 1, 2012 at 7:56 pm

      Yankees during their run were scoffing up pretty much anything they could, some didn’t work out but nobody had a chance with guys like El Duque, Contreras, Irabu, Matsui,etc…

      I wouldn’t say it’s never happened. Sox with Dice-K, Texas with Darvish. They should be part of a draft, giving all teams a shot.

      How would an international draft destroy any advantage over other pro sports leagues in Latin America?
      • XtreemIcon May 2, 2012 at 9:46 am

        Fonzie, the problem with that when it comes to Japanese players is that they’re already pros making a lot of money. Why would they subject themselves to a draft? You know what would happen if Japanese pros entered the draft? The same thing that happens with the amateur draft, but on a larger scale. The small-market teams would get scared off by signability issues and Dante Bichette will fall to the Yankees, anyway.

        If Darvish was in the draft, you think the Pirates, Royals, A’s, Padres, etc. would have drafted him knowing full well they can’t meet his demands and he’ll just go back to Japan? No, they’ll draft college kids and when the teams who can commit $100 mil to Darvish draft, he’ll go there anyway.
        • Donal May 2, 2012 at 10:03 am

          That is another good point. You still have to negotiate with draftees. What happens when a team doesn’t sign an international draftee?

          Does he just come back next year? That wouldn’t be fair to the American born players who have to wait up to 3 years before re-entering (yes, I know if you jump through crazy hoops, that changes).

          Do you make thos kids wait a few years again? The difference now between a 16 year old IFA and a 19 year old IFA can be millions of dollars in favor of the younger player. In a draft, you’d be handcuffing those players to take whatever the team gives him or taking a huge hit in value.
      • Donal May 2, 2012 at 9:56 am

        “.
        Yankees during their run were scoffing up pretty much anything they could, some didn’t work out but nobody had a chance with guys like El Duque, Contreras, Irabu, Matsui,etc… ”

        And how many worked out? 2? Were the Yankees the only ones signing IFA (and I agree with your other point, guys liek darvish shouldn’t be on the list).

        “I wouldn’t say it’s never happened. Sox with Dice-K, Texas with Darvish.”

        Oakland with Cespedes. There is a big market team (Boston) and mid amrket team (Texas) and a small market team (Oakland) all getting big time IFAs.

        “They should be part of a draft, giving all teams a shot.”

        A draft is the exact opposite. In a draft, you sit an wait your turn until you are allowed to pick from what is left.

        All teams have an equal shot now. Just because some teams choose not to do the leg work and scout and build relationships in Latin America (looking at you, White Sox) does not mean that the playing field is not level.

        People are reacting to the words “free agent” thinking it is just like how it works in The Show. It isn’t.

        “How would an international draft destroy any advantage over other pro sports leagues in Latin America?”

        Simple: fewer jobs and less money to go around. Also, the Asian teams that own the rights to guys like Darvish would have no reason at all to negotiate posting fees and such. They’ll just keep their players for their best years and let them go when they are all i ntheir 30s.

        So, kids have less motivation to focus on baseball and all of those baseball academies in Latin America stop being profitable.

        Want to see how that will end up? How is baseball doing in Puerto Rico these days? Kinda getting blown out of the water by basketball.
        • XtreemIcon May 2, 2012 at 10:17 am

          “Also, the Asian teams that own the rights to guys like Darvish would have no reason at all to negotiate posting fees and such. They’ll just keep their players for their best years and let them go when they are all i ntheir 30s.”

          Great point. The posting process is more fair than the draft is, inasmuch as when a player is posted, 30 teams have a shot to get him. During a draft, like you said, you wait your turn until you get to choose from what’s left. The only players all 30 teams have a shot at are the players drafted 30th and below.