The White Sox announced that they’ve acquired minor league right-hander Ryan Burr from the Diamondbacks for international signing bonus pool money.
The 23-year-old Burr had been with the Diamondbacks since they used a fifth-round pick on him in 2015. At the time, Baseball America (subscription required and recommended) lauded the ex-Arizona State closer’s “very live fastball,” though it was unimpressed with his offspeed pitches. Since then, Burr hasn’t ascended beyond the Single-A level, nor did he rank among Arizona’s top 30 prospects, per MLB.com. He has generated excellent minor league results, however, including a .72 ERA with 10.44 K/9, 2.16 BB/9 and an absurd 73.1 percent ground-ball rate in 25 High-A innings this season.
In picking up Burr, the White Sox have subtracted from their remaining $4.75MM in international money. However, they’re barred from spending more than $300K on an individual player because of the signing of Luis Robert during the previous international period. The Diamondbacks had $5.75MM to work with as of July 2, tying them with a slew of other teams at the top, and immediately made several signings. Their most expensive acquisition has been $2.5MM outfielder Kristian Robinson, a 16-year-old from the Bahamas.
Hey, why not. The Sox won’t be able to do much with that money anyway. Sounds like the kids got room to grow.
I’m confused, why do the White Sox have any bonus pool money after the Luis Robert signing?
Robert was last signing period, the 2016-2017 period. We are in the 17-18 period now.
Right, but isn’t there a penalty in the following period for far exceeding the pool in the prior?
They can’t spend more than $300k on one player. They still get an allotment.
its a flawed system, good on them for turning assets they can’t use into lotto ticket players like burr and yrizzari
This. They can still sign as many guys as they want up until they reach their allotment, but those guys have to sign for under $300k.
They signed Ryan Burr?
“Your Honor, Mr. Burger’s line of questioning is incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial.”
This Burr guy seems like a….. gunslinger.
*slow clap*