Major League Baseball released the 2018-19 international bonus pools for all 30 club earlier this week and there was an increase to the amount the Pittsburgh Pirates are able to spend starting on July 2nd.
Beginning with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement during the 2017-18 signing period, which is still ongoing until June 15th, the Pirates saw a large increase to their international bonus pool. They received the highest total (tied with a few other clubs) handed out by MLB at $5,750,000 to spend. According to the CBA, having the highest total last year, meant that the Pirates would drop down to the $5.25M for 2018-19.
The international bonus pool is tied into the Competitive Balance picks in the amateur draft and the Pirates received the highest Competitive Balance pick this year, so they received the second tier for the international bonuses. Last year their CB pick was after the second round, so they received the higher international pool total.
According to the newly released MLB figures, the Pirates are one of eight teams that will receive a bonus pool of $5,504,500 for the upcoming international signing period. While it is a modest increase of $254,500 under the new hard cap system, teams also have the ability to add up to 75% of their bonus pool in trades to increase that hard cap. That could get the Pirates as high as $9,269,500. In case you check the math, you can only trade for money in $250,000 increments, so that final number is slightly lower than 75% more added on.
The Pirates will have some advantages over other teams for one more season. The Reds and A’s have bonus pools of $6,025,000, but neither can spend more than $300,000 on any player. The Cardinals and Padres have the same pool as the Pirates, but they too are under penalties for overspending in 2016-17, so they are capped at $300,000 per player. There are also four teams in the lower tier that can’t surpass $300,000 per player, so that eliminates eight teams from the competition for any top player.
This will be the first full international signing period under a new Latin American Scouting Director Junior Vizcaino, who took over for Rene Gayo in December. Vizcaino has been responsible for 32 international players signed since he took over, but he had a limited pool to work with when he started. Now he will have approximately $3M more to work with starting on July 2nd, which is the day when we should hear about many of the biggest signings.
