The Rays have acquired an international signing slot from the Mariners in exchange for minor-league righty Bryan Bonnell, per an announcement from the M’s. While the announcement doesn’t specify, it seems that the international money will be for the current season.
Tampa Bay will pick up the 71st international pool slot, which gives the team $321,100 in added bonus money. The Rays are sitting in the penalty box this year after loading up on the 2014-15 draft class, so the team is capped at $300K in spending on any given player. But the organization has still moved aggressively, as Ben Badler of Baseball America writes (subscription required and recommended), with 36 players already under contract.
As for the Mariners, the club evidently didn’t see the merit in utilizing that cash before the close of the current signing period on June 15th. Instead, they’ll pick up the 23-year-old Bonnell, who came to the Rays as a 36th-round draft pick in 2015. Bonnell has worked as a reliever in the minors, opening the current season at High-A. Through 11 frames this year, he has allowed five earned runs on 11 hits while compiling 10 strikeouts against just one walk.
This must mean the Rays are freeing up IFA money to sign Robert.
They are stull not allowed to spend more than 300k on any individual player so they have no chance of getting Robert.
Interesting that AT&T Park is pictured here. Someone let the interns write this story
was curious about that as well
It’s about the flags on the field.
Amazing what a difference one little letter can make in this headline; e.g., substituting “u” for the “o” in “slot”…..
I’m confused.. from everything Ive read, they are in line to sign Wander Franco. Under the new CBA they have 5.25M budget that can go up to 9.1M
From DRAY bay
The other teams that have no current restrictions and the budget to compete with the Rays are: Diamondbacks, Orioles, Rockies and Pirates with $5.75M; and Marlins, Brewers, and Twins with $5.25M.