The Rangers have officially picked up $350K in international slot money from the Reds, as Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer first reported on Twitter. Righty Miguel Medrano is heading to the Reds in return.
This move will further pad the Rangers’ international purse for the current signing period, which was already rather full in the wake of the team’s unsuccessful bid for Shohei Ohtani. It seems that Texas is lining up to chase top young Cuban outfielder Julio Pablo Martinez, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter) and Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Twitter link) suggest. Ben Badler of Baseball America has long cited the Rangers as a top pursuer of Martinez.
Martinez was officially cleared to sign recently. MLBTR’s Steve Adams broke down the Texas pool situation in that post. It’s worth noting, as Adams points out on Twitter, that the Reds have likely now parted with all of their remaining pool money. (The rules only permit $250K increments to be dealt unless it’s a trade that moves all the remaining funds from a team’s pool.) Texas could still acquire another $250K before being capped, BA’s Matt Eddy notes on Twitter. (The CBA stipulates that a team may acquire no more than 75 percent of the value of its initial pool in trades.)
All that’s known at this point, though, is that the 20-year-old Medrano will head to the Cincinnati organization. He has pitched exclusively with the organization’s Dominican Summer League outfit to this point in his professional career. Medrano certainly produced some interesting numbers there last year, working to a 2.59 ERA in 59 innings over ten starts and two relief appearances and racking up 9.3 K/9 against just 1.1 BB/9.
Is Martinez a CF or corner OF?
mostly CF….speed guy that covers alot of ground
His stats aren’t impresive at all for that level.
Martinez hit .333/.469/.498 in 264 plate appearances with 52 walks, 30 strikeouts, six home runs and 24 stolen bases in 29 attempts
Looks impressive to me
Last season in Serie Nacional, Cuba’s top league
I think he’s referring to medrano
But his numbers aren’t exactly unimpressive either
Am I the only one who doesn’t understand the IBP system? There should be one draft system for all with perhaps separation divisions based on age.
You’re not the only one.
A team has “an amount” they can spend. They can trade for more, up to another limit.
Reds get a nice wild card for nothing.
I like it.
Good luck in signing the kid, we are limited to 350K, so not chance.
If they weren’t fixing to sign anyone else, then, yeah.
The Cubs are in the same penalty box the Reds are in, and have signed 30 international free agents, and don’t seem to be done yet.