International Free Agent Market (January 2025)

[snoogans8056]

22 minutes ago, homer said:

For a split second I thought this was him:

He’s probably already signed.

[Ro Mueller]

 

[Ro Mueller]

18 hitters, 11 pitchers in the initial signing class. Only 3 players from outside of Venezuela or the Dominican Republic. 

[Joseph Zarr]

16 Venezuelans and 10 Dominicans. 

No Germans. Sigh. 😜

Also, Latin American scout Kenji Galavis put some real work in. Ginger Poulson is seeing these mass Galavis signings right now with a little bit of:

[nate82]

Do we know if they have discontinued their China scouting department?  I thought I read somewhere that they had set one up that year they signed a Chinese pitcher who flamed out due to TJ issues I believe?  

[Joseph Zarr]

Spencer strikes again with clips and thoughts on hitters:

 

[Madhawk23]

I see Dodgers might be interested in trading for extra IFA bonus pool money. We’ve got to have a decent amount left from our $7.5M pool, correct?

[CheeseheadInQC]

A little late to the party, but I am absolutely thrilled to read all of the praise for both the individual players and the class as a whole. It is going to be tough to match last year's group, but continuing to stack top tier classes would be huge for the organization.

[SF70]

This class hammers home just how elite our international department is. This is going to lead to an organization, later this decade, with positional talent the equal to, or even possibly surpassing the behemoth payroll teams.

Chourio was the first, but won’t be the last, to accept extension offers from this team. The young ages combined with being from poor countries should lead to more key talent getting locked up thru all of their prime performance years and give the team 8-10 years of control.

I’m in awe of what this team’s FO has been able to accomplish with their infrastructure in such a short time.

I’m expecting the team’s domestic draft department to continue to add large numbers of projectable HS arms thru the draft that the pitching development system can develop into starter arms capable of forming an elite rotation that matches our elite position talent later this decade. Just need to be patient.

[Spencer Michaelis]

10 hours ago, Madhawk23 said:

I see Dodgers might be interested in trading for extra IFA bonus pool money. We’ve got to have a decent amount left from our $7.5M pool, correct?

I had been thinking this too but...

Just based on the bonuses I've been able to find:

- Fenelon ($1.3 mil)
- Acosta ($1.1 mil)
- Antunez ($1 mil)
- Chavez ($480k)
- Payano ($400k)
- Sharlinson De La Rosa ($400k)
- Eryks Rivero ($300k)
- Leonard Rijo ($225k)
- Yeury Ramirez ($210k)
- Francis Sosa ($200k)
- Enrique Velasquez ($100k)
- Diustin Mayorquin ($100k)
- Jefer Lista ($40k)
- Cristian Montilla ($35k)

That's $5.89 million and doesn't include 15 of the players still, including Frias, Barrios and Aguayo who were noteworthy enough to get written up by Baseball America. I guess I wouldn't be shocked if they're closer to their pool than I was originally thinking. I bet they do have some left over, but they also like to keep some open to be able to bring in some other players throughout the year. 

Still wouldn't totally shock me if they have enough to make a deal with one of the Roki suitors, just maybe not as much as I was expecting before doing the math.
 

[JCREW]

10 hours ago, Madhawk23 said:

I see Dodgers might be interested in trading for extra IFA bonus pool money. We’ve got to have a decent amount left from our $7.5M pool, correct?

This is very interesting to me from the perspective of prospect valuation. How to line up a trade like this...

First of all, IFA$ has to be traded in increments of $250K, which means the Crew and other teams could only play in these waters if they have that much left over. 

For LA/SD/TOR, the chance at geting Roki comes with a huge pile of surplus value. Missing out on him might also mean missing out on key IFA kids who jumped to another team.

So the value of that $250K (or 500K or 750K or 1M) is very different for the 27 teams than it is for the three. 

[Madhawk23]

15 minutes ago, Spencer Michaelis said:

I had been thinking this too but...

Just based on the bonuses I've been able to find:

- Fenelon ($1.3 mil)
- Acosta ($1.1 mil)
- Antunez ($1 mil)
- Chavez ($480k)
- Payano ($400k)
- Sharlinson De La Rosa ($400k)
- Eryks Rivero ($300k)
- Leonard Rijo ($225k)
- Yeury Ramirez ($210k)
- Francis Sosa ($200k)
- Enrique Velasquez ($100k)
- Diustin Mayorquin ($100k)
- Jefer Lista ($40k)
- Cristian Montilla ($35k)

That's $5.89 million and doesn't include 15 of the players still, including Frias, Barrios and Aguayo who were noteworthy enough to get written up by Baseball America. I guess I wouldn't be shocked if they're closer to their pool than I was originally thinking. I bet they do have some left over, but they also like to keep some open to be able to bring in some other players throughout the year. 

Still wouldn't totally shock me if they have enough to make a deal with one of the Roki suitors, just maybe not as much as I was expecting before doing the math.
 

Thanks for the breakdown here.  Yeah, I guess we probably don't have as much leftover as I thought we might. And, as you pointed out - we might want to hold onto whatever remaining pool $$ we have to potentially bring in additional guys throughout the year.  

Was hoping we might have enough left over to make a trade with either LA or SD (sounds like they are considering this too now), and maybe we could get them in desperation mode here where we could actually get a good prospect in return for say $1 million in IFA $. 

[snoogans8056]

33 minutes ago, Spencer Michaelis said:

I had been thinking this too but...

Just based on the bonuses I've been able to find:

- Fenelon ($1.3 mil)
- Acosta ($1.1 mil)
- Antunez ($1 mil)
- Chavez ($480k)
- Payano ($400k)
- Sharlinson De La Rosa ($400k)
- Eryks Rivero ($300k)
- Leonard Rijo ($225k)
- Yeury Ramirez ($210k)
- Francis Sosa ($200k)
- Enrique Velasquez ($100k)
- Diustin Mayorquin ($100k)
- Jefer Lista ($40k)
- Cristian Montilla ($35k)

That's $5.89 million and doesn't include 15 of the players still, including Frias, Barrios and Aguayo who were noteworthy enough to get written up by Baseball America. I guess I wouldn't be shocked if they're closer to their pool than I was originally thinking. I bet they do have some left over, but they also like to keep some open to be able to bring in some other players throughout the year. 

Still wouldn't totally shock me if they have enough to make a deal with one of the Roki suitors, just maybe not as much as I was expecting before doing the math.
 

It still blows my mind how competent we are when it comes to the IFAs.

The Sasaki stuff drawing attention to this dumb system is not good for us.

 

[Spencer Michaelis]

9 minutes ago, Madhawk23 said:

Thanks for the breakdown here.  Yeah, I guess we probably don't have as much leftover as I thought we might. And, as you pointed out - we might want to hold onto whatever remaining pool $$ we have to potentially bring in additional guys throughout the year.  

Was hoping we might have enough left over to make a trade with either LA or SD (sounds like they are considering this too now), and maybe we could get them in desperation mode here where we could actually get a good prospect in return for say $1 million in IFA $. 

It's possible they'd still have a decent chunk honestly. Completely guessing here, but Barrios and Frias would seem like $250k-ish signings to me. Aguayo likely in the $100-150k range. That would still only put them around $6.5 mil. Not sure how many of the remaining would fall into the >$50k pool, and anyone $10k or less doesn't count toward the pool at all. I'd imagine they're at least exploring making a trade with *some* of the pool money. I'd imagine most of the in-season signings get closer to $10k.

Interestingly, there are a decent chunk of names that I had found throughout the year that didn't sign. Some of the players that were in Curt Hogg's article from December also didn't sign. Not really sure what to make of that.

[biedergb]

1 hour ago, Spencer Michaelis said:

Some of the players that were in Curt Hogg's article from December also didn't sign. Not really sure what to make of that.

Missed that article, do you have a link, or list of the names?

I assume these are just names, and not necessarily highly ranked players.

And now I'm just lazy - does anyone recall how many additional signings we made last year after the January date?

Finally - we should be in line to try to sign a prospect or two who get left out by the Dodgers or Padres once one of them finalize the Sasaki signing, assuming we don't trade some money (and presumable get a player in return)

[Spencer Michaelis]

1 hour ago, biedergb said:

Missed that article, do you have a link, or list of the names?

I assume these are just names, and not necessarily highly ranked players.

And now I'm just lazy - does anyone recall how many additional signings we made last year after the January date?

Finally - we should be in line to try to sign a prospect or two who get left out by the Dodgers or Padres once one of them finalize the Sasaki signing, assuming we don't trade some money (and presumable get a player in return)

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/mlb/brewers/2024/12/02/brewers-2025-international-signing-class-players-to-know/76549655007/

There's the article. Leander Matos and Frankller Mayora were both listed, but the article was updated, and they're now expected to sign in the 2026 class. Imagine that may be what happened with some of the guys I had found as well.

[Ro Mueller]

17 hours ago, biedergb said:

And now I'm just lazy - does anyone recall how many additional signings we made last year after the January date?

By my records, we signed 35 international free agents on the main signing date in January 2024, then added 8 more signings (all pitchers) throughout the year (M. Mercedes, C. Carra, J. Lugo, F. Reyes, R. Saldana, E. Urena, J. Ramirez, J. Arias).

As we only announced 29 signings this time, I guess we should expect 8-14 more international free agent signings over the rest of the year.

[brewmann04]

27 of the 29 officially added 

[snoogans8056]

I believe there was an anonymous GM MLB.com poll about the minors a week or so ago where it had the Dodgers, Padres, and Brewers as by far the best in the IFA market.

Would be cool if this Sasaki stuff soured some trainers on the Dodgers and Padres and we are the big dogs.

[jay87shot]

 

4 minutes ago, snoogans8056 said:

I believe there was an anonymous GM MLB.com poll about the minors a week or so ago where it had the Dodgers, Padres, and Brewers as by far the best in the IFA market.

Would be cool if this Sasaki stuff soured some trainers on the Dodgers and Padres and we are the big dogs.

The Blue Jays just took Myles Straw from the Guardians for 2 million international bonus, that would seem like a get Roki style move. Maybe we can just swoop in and take some of the Blue Jays (or Dodgers) previously signed players and find a Quero who signs for a smaller amount.

[snoogans8056]

4 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

 

The Blue Jays just took Myles Straw from the Guardians for 2 million international bonus, that would seem like a get Roki style move. Maybe we can just swoop in and take some of the Blue Jays (or Dodgers) previously signed players and find a Quero who signs for a smaller amount.

Any relationship damage is probably already done by just delaying the signing of years old deals 

[Joseph Zarr]

RHP Luis Aguayo formally announced and assigned to the DSL Cerveceros Dos.

That leaves us with one signing announcement remaining, yes?

[Jim Goulart]

On 10/11/2024 at 3:16 PM, Spencer Michaelis said:

Nicolas Barrios -- Appears to be related to Gregory Barrios (traded to TB in the Civale deal), his IG shows he's a left hitter, but no video that I can find.

The 16-year-old outfielder (turns 17 on April 25th) is Gregory Barrios' brother, as per the Media Guide just released.

[Joseph Zarr]

I see we have potentially moved from the Cerveceros Uno y Dos to the Cerveceros Azules y de Oro. Muy interesante.

(Not really...but will be a minor pain when trying to be cheeky with word play as the season and game-to-game write-ups have gone on for weeks in the upcoming DSL reports)

[Joseph Zarr]

2 hours ago, Jim Goulart said:

The 16-year-old outfielder (turns 17 on April 25th) is Gregory Barrios' brother, as per the Media Guide just released.

Of Note in the linked 2025 Media Guide?

Ginger Poulson's Roster:

• Luke Adams
• Josh Adamczewski
• Joey Broughton
• Ethan Dorchies
• Bishop Letson
• Nate Peterson
• Griffin Tobias 
• Cameron Wagoner