The Rangers have acquired international bonus pool money in a swap with the Royals, per an announcement from the Texas organization. Righty Domingo Pena is heading to Kansas City in return.
While the precise value of the spending capacity being exchanged isn’t clear from the announcement, it seems likely to be $250K. That’s how much the Rangers could still add after last week’s similar trade, and is also the baseline increment that funds can be dealt in.
All indications are that these funds are ticketed for Cuban prospect Julio Pablo Martinez, who is said to be working on a deal with the Rangers that will be finalized once he’s formally eligible to sign. There’s nothing new on that front, though Baseball America’s Ben Badler did recently report that Martinez faces an unusual $100K fine for providing incorrect information to MLB.
Pena, 19, has played in the Rangers’ system for the past three years. He first came stateside last year and has yet to pitch beyond the Rookie level. In thirty total frames in 2017, Pena pitched to a 2.70 ERA with 10.8 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9.
Win-win. Royals have had success with Latin talent (Ace, Sal, Kelvy) and he is a young arm for the rebuild.
Texas’ issue has always been trading away their pitching prospects before they’ve fully developed in the minors, for one reason or another, only to see them turn into a quality arm for their new team. Hope that isn’t the case again with these last 2 trades they’ve made for Intl $.
I think I’d rather have Pena than Martinez lol
Jon needs to be forbidden to trade any pitcher given his history.
Ha! I concur
Who’s not excited about Leonys Martín 2.0
I wonder who the first prospect to be traded for international bonus pool money to actually pan out as a MLB regular will be?
While I get that fans think “we traded this guy and then he became good, what a terrible front office”, most of the time it’s the change of scenery that turns the player. The new coach, new ideas, new approach, new climate, new way of running a team, some guys need specific situations to fully develop. Chances are if the rangers didn’t trade away pitching prospects, those prospects would never of developed into what they are today.