Amateur draft pools and international bonus pools allotted under the latest collective bargaining agreement will rise by 1.7 percent this year, according to Jim Callis of MLB.com. As Callis notes, the Marlins have the largest bonus pool due to their 13 picks in the first 10 rounds, while the Orioles, who forfeited their first- and second-round picks to sign Ubaldo Jimenez and Nelson Cruz, have the lowest total.
Callis notes that this year's No. 1 overall pick in the draft is valued at $7,922,100 — an increase of $131,700. Below, you can look at the draft and international pools available to all 30 teams (As Callis points out, both Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales could still impact the draft pools, as their signing with new teams could create new picks/bonus money for the Red Sox and Mariners):
All bonus money directed toward a player selected in the Top 10 rounds of the draft counts against a team's bonus pool, as does any bonus money that exceeds $100K to players selected in rounds 11 through 40 (for example, a $180K bonus to a team's 11th-round pick would result in $80K being removed from its draft pool). As a reminder, the penalties for exceeding draft bonus pools are as follows:
- Exceed by 0 to 5 percent: 75 percent tax on the overage.
- Exceed by 5 to 10 percent: 75 percent tax on the overage plus the loss of a first-round pick in the following year's draft.
- Exceed by 10 to 15 percent: 100 percent tax on the overage plus the loss of a first- and second-round pick in the following year's draft.
- Exceed by more than 15 percent: 100 percent tax on the overage plus the lost of a first-round pick in the following two drafts.
Penalties for the international bonus pool are as follows (international bonus pools only apply to players who are under the age of 23 and have fewer than three years of professional experience):
- All overages are taxed at 100 percent.
- Exceed bonus pool by 5 to 10 percent: Team is not allowed to sign a player for more than $500K in the following international signing period.
- Exceed by 10 to 15 percent: Team is not allowed to sign a player for more than $300K in the following international signing period.
- Exceed by more than 15 percent: Team is not allowed to sign a player for more than $300K in the following two international signing periods.
As Callis writes, under last year's rules (which were slightly different), the Cubs and Rangers are unable to sign a player for more than $250K in the coming international signing period (July 2, 2014 through June 15, 2015) as a result of exceeding their 2013-14 bonus pools by more than 15 percent. Additionally, we've seen reports that the Yankees are planning to shatter their international bonus pool this season, meaning that they, too, could be looking at harsh penalties in the future.
Here are the team-by-team breakdowns of overall slot bonuses (click here to download an excel file to allow sorting). As the chart shows, and as one would expect, the Astros and Marlins have far and away the highest total spending allotment, landing over $18MM.
