July 2, 2018 International Signing Period

[Squire]

Yhoswar Garcia is expected to get a bonus of 2.5 million. Won't be impacted by this deal. We were at like 4.9 million and will drop to 4.4 pending additional trades.

[andyb]

Trades for allocations will be more expensive now that all the 2-year penalties for exceeding the old limits are over. And even the Orioles won't spend any more. The Phillies might still trade for some allocations, but it will cost more now.

[bkox]

Ben Badler (BenBadler)

[andyb]

https://t.co/szqBmjczr9

Interesting signing, though there is a negative story as to why he is available:

Reports: Son of former A's MVP, set to sign with White Sox, tests positive for...

Hopefully we got a bargain and he stays clean.

[allentown]

Hopefully he has put on most of the bulk he needed to add and can now lay off the steroids.

[andyb]

I just have much more sympathy for the poor kid looking for a way to stand out when they are a scrawny 15-year-old than the rich kid of a major leaguer.

Now the White Sox were one of the teams in the penalty, so he was never going to get more than $300K from them. 6'1", 170. 3B most likely.

[Austinfan]

That should give us a huge advantage for as much as a decade.

Some, not all, but some people remember who stood by them in tough times, the Academy is giving people jobs, kids opportunities and the local agents some income in really tough times.

The only thing you worry about is whether you might be putting some people at risk, but it's probably mostly operated by locals, who'd be there anyway.

[fish]

That should give us a huge advantage for as much as a decade.

Some, not all, but some people remember who stood by them in tough times, the Academy is giving people jobs, kids opportunities and the local agents some income in really tough times.

The Phils have been one of 3-4 teams that stayed in VZ for quite some time. While there has to be some benefit to it, the teams that scout well and pay bonuses are still the ones who get the talent, regardless of whether they kept an academy open or not.

[Austinfan]

But most LA signings are low bonus players, so having people steer you to diamonds in the rough is a real scouting advantage. The big money guys are known to everyone, but I'll bet the Altuve's and Sanchez's fly under the radar for the most part.

[Squire]

Is there any indication what bonus Tejada Jr. was looking at from the White Sox prior to the failed drug test?

[andyb]

The White Sox were in the penalty so it could not have been more than $300K. Did not see the exact number reported.

[Squire]

Badler posted his Phillies 2018-2019 review over at BA though it seems to cover more of a calendar year 2018 approach:

Don't know whether it is behind a paywall or not.

Some tidbits:
1. We signed 64 guys total (again I think this is 1/1-12/31/2018)
2. We got Derek Escobar the Cuban 16 year old OF for 155K
3. Fernando Ortega only got 200K

[bigegypt0417]

Who is the pitcher built like a LB that hits 97?

[Squire]

Starlyn Castillo RHP

[andyb]

On the spring training thread we only had Castillo from 2018 in camp and Garcia and Betancourt (not the several other guys we signed for $500K). Victor Vargas was in GCL last year so I imagine he'll make 3 total from 2017, but it is a little distressing to me we don't have 6 or 7 players from 2017 coming over. Hopefully those rosters were a little incomplete. I know have 2 Dominican teams makes it easier to keep players there, but I also know that if they spend more than 1 year in the complexes they are rarely good prospects. Something to look for this season.

[julio]

Badler posted his Phillies 2018-2019 review over at BA though it seems to cover more of a calendar year 2018 approach:

Don't know whether it is behind a paywall or not.

Some tidbits:
1. We signed 64 guys total (again I think this is 1/1-12/31/2018)
2. We got Derek Escobar the Cuban 16 year old OF for 155K
3. Fernando Ortega only got 200K

The Badler article is paywalled. I abandoned my subscription when BA traded actual data for white space - presumably to make their site more cellphone-friendly. But the comprehensive transactions history for obscure players went away, and it was the primary reason I subscribed.

Life's tough. They made a choice, and so did I.

[allentown]

Their on-line stats have also been pretty much crap. They totally missed our 2nd GCL team all last year. They provide splits, but in some cases the splits cover less than 50% of a player's actual ABs, in other cases even the basic whole-year stats were wrong. I learned my lesson relying upon their stats, which were accurate prior to 2018. They have gone downhill quite a bit. My subscription runs through this year, but I'm not planning on renewing.

[Squire]

Phillies trade C Lenin Rodriguez to Baltimore for additional 2018-2019 international pool money. Very interesting

[Austinfan]

Helps solve a young catcher logjam, but given the timing, does this money have to be spent this year or can it be applied to signings after July?

[Squire]

Has to be spent in the cycle of the trade I'm pretty sure.