The Orioles have acquired left-hander Alex Katz from the White Sox in exchange for international signing bonus slots #45 and #75, the club announced (Twitter link). The total value of those slots adds up to $756.3K (from Baseball America, here is the full list of slot values for the 2016-17 signing period, which ends on June 15).
A 27th-rounder for the Sox in the 2015 draft, Katz has a 3.09 ERA, 10.1 K/9 and 2.65 K/BB rate over 102 innings in the minors, appearing as a reliever in all but one of his 62 career games. Katz has shown a propensity for keeping the ball in the park, as he has surrendered only two homers during his career. Katz has yet to pitch above the Class-A level, and the Orioles announced that the 22-year-old will be assigned to their Class-A affiliate.
This is the third trade in six weeks that has seen the O’s deal away international signing slots in exchange for players, after April deals that brought right-hander Damien Magnifico to the team from the Brewers and southpaw Paul Fry from the Mariners. The Orioles have rather notoriously spent little on international free agents in recent years (as Baseball America’s Ben Badler recently noted in a severe critique of the club’s practices), so it makes sense that the team would look at its int’l bonus slots as trade chips.
The deal is also notable from Chicago’s end, as the team just spent between $25MM-$30MM in an agreement with Cuban outfielder Luis Robert. Since the Sox had to far exceed their bonus pool limit to make the signing, they owe a 100 percent overage on every dollar spent above their pool threshold. Increasing the size of that pool by $756.3K, therefore, saves the White Sox some money.
Our minor league system is on the rise! No intl slots needed!
LMAO
Hahaha haha keep telling yourself that
The team might as well get players for those international slots if they aren’t going to use them. They are never linked to the big international free agents, and the lower tier ones they have signed have not worked out very well in recent years (Alvarez, Urrutia for example).
Yep, another smart move by the O’s front office. Picking up a guy they like and have targeted rather than the unknown guys in the slots. Smart.
Seriously? A 27th rounder?
Our minor league system is a joke.
Good call, Orioles. How many international players worth signing can there possibly be?
In 2016 931 players played in the majors. Of those 259 were foreign born and signed as international free agents. So there are many foreign born players that the O’s are missing out on because Angelos refuses to allow his team to sign any of them as prospects. The O’s do trade for some, but just not sign them when they are prospects and cheaper. Angelos is the antithesis of the Orioles way.
But, other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
Lol
So 1/4 of the league is international and 3/4 is homegrown usa? Well, idk why the Orioles get grief. Theyre picking up assets part of the 3/4 by trading assets related to the 1/4.
Idk the exact numbers but how many players do teams typically sign during IFA periods? 10-20 or so? The orioles are getting talent by trading IFA assets for regular draft assets and/or players they want.
You can rebuild a farm in 2-3 regular drafts.
The Orioles have had one of the worst farms in the league and it’s been longer than the past 2-3 drafts. And what’s wrong with rebuilding with both international and North American prospects?
I said you can rebuild a draft in 2-3 years- which assumes youre able to sign and they develop. In 2015 they were unable to sign their 2nd round pick and 2014 they didnt have a 1st or 2nd, probably cause of comp balance rules.
So 2 2nd rounders and a 1st rounder would probably boost them 1 or 2 spots at least.
There’s nothing wrong with IFA and regular drafts to get talent. Orioles choose to just go with regular draft guys. Nothing wrong with it.
Odd that Angelos refuses to allow his team to sign them as prospects since the Orioles starting 2nd baseman was signed out of Curacao as an international free agent in 2013.
This must be 2016-17 bonus slots? Fits well with the Robert signing if so…
Can’t trade the other ones until 7-2.
Are they afraid being so close to DC that Trump might deport all international players?
Or afraid theyll be freeloaders like urruita
Good to see the phony media still has it’s audience of mindless minions.