Headlines

  • Rays, Padres Agree To Tommy Pham-Hunter Renfroe Trade
  • Yankees Reportedly Prioritizing Gerrit Cole
  • Twins To Re-Sign Michael Pineda
  • Rangers Sign Kyle Gibson
  • SK Wyverns Posts Lefty Kwang-hyun Kim
  • Reds Sign Mike Moustakas
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Indians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2019-20 Top 50 MLB Free Agents With Predictions
    • 2019-20 MLB Free Agent Tracker
    • 2019-20 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2020-21 MLB Free Agent List
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2020
    • Arbitration Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • Last 100 Comments
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

The Orioles Are Officially In The Game In Latin America

By Jeff Todd | July 3, 2019 at 8:22am CDT

Every team in baseball — except the all-but-banned Braves — splashed money around yesterday with the official onset of the 2019-20 international amateur market. That statement is unremarkable in general, but it’s significant for an Orioles franchise that has largely watched from the sidelines in recent years in Latin America.

The rest of the industry has dropped over $150MM annually on youthful, unproven, uber-talented ballplayers from North America’s neighbors to the south. Meanwhile, the Baltimore organization has typically traded away its allotted international spending capacity to its rivals in exchange for generally less interesting but more advanced prospects.

It has been known for some time that the new Baltimore regime, led by GM Mike Elias, would be reentering the Latin American market. But it’s notable nevertheless to see the club finally do so with gusto, particularly since its initial efforts in the prior signing period didn’t shake out quite as hoped.

Baltimore didn’t chase after the biggest names of this year’s class, many of whom had long since agreed to big bonuses with other clubs that possess much-more-established scouting and developmental networks. The three players highlighted in the club’s press release — outfielder Luis Gonzalez, lefty Luis Ortiz, and shortstop Leonel Sanchez — were note cited as elite prospects by Baseball America (scouting links), MLB.com, or Fangraphs. Gonzalez and Ortiz each received sub-$500K bonuses, per MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez, on Twitter.

Instead, the O’s went for volume, inking 27 new players yesterday alone — most from the Dominican Republic, but also including eight Venezuelans and one apiece from Aruba, the Bahamas, and Colombia. As Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper points out on Twitter, that haul handily exceeded the team’s total international signings in each of the past five years.

In their announcement, the O’s made clear this is just the tip of the iceberg. In a prepared statement, Elias said:

“This July 2 is a big day for our franchise. These young players from all parts of Latin America will bolster our burgeoning farm system and jumpstart the continual flow of talent we are building. Today is only the beginning of our efforts, as we will continue to sign more players throughout the 2019-20 signing period. Our International Scouting staff has already begun laying the groundwork for future classes.”

That international scouting staff is led by Koby Perez, who is now introducing his first class just six months after taking the helm. He chatted recently with Dan Connolly of The Athletic (subscription link), explaining that he’s overseeing a “smaller staff” than he has been involved with in other clubs. While Perez didn’t have much time to lay groundwork, he notes that he and Elias already had quite a lot of knowledge about this year’s class. The group “just got right to work with trying to make the best decisions” this year, jumping on uncommitted players they had their eyes on along with “some late bloomers.”

While the Orioles didn’t secure any “big fish,” Perez says that approach could be available in the future. The club anticipates signing more than ten players to $100K+ bonuses — as note above, a reflection of the reality of the timing of the O’s entry onto the market. Perez says the organization has also held some of its spending availability in reserve, with something in the realm of thirty to forty percent of the $6,481,200 initial bonus pool still left to utilize on “some players that may or may not come out later, and also for the late bloomers.” There’s plenty more insight available in the interview, which is essential reading for O’s fans and close followers of the international market.

Plenty of work remains for the Baltimore organization. Getting into the Latin American amateur market hardly ensures success; making efficient use of it will require further investment in facilities and human resources. But even as they work to develop a sound, long-term decisionmaking process, the Orioles have already opened a valuable new talent pipeline.

Share 0 Retweet 5 Send via email0

2019-20 International Prospects Baltimore Orioles

Mike Rizzo On Nats’ Extension Talks With Anthony Rendon
Main
Criminal Charges Against Odubel Herrera Dropped
23 comments
newest oldest

Comments

  1. Pickle_Britches

    5 months ago

    The Giants also kind of went by this approach, I believe they signed 25 players. Which is good because you never know what these kids could end up as. Definitely a good gamble.

    Like
    Reply
  2. Briffle

    5 months ago

    I wonder if the Orioles thought they were smart by in the past not dipping into international signings.

    Like
    Reply
    • RunDMCRunDMC

      5 months ago

      The Braves are trying this approach now…lol

      Like
      Reply
      • Sirsleepit

        5 months ago

        More like the braves are forced into this approach..

        Like
        Reply
        • todd76

          5 months ago

          Don’t worry the Braves are going to be just fine.

          1 Like
          Reply
    • mstrchef13

      5 months ago

      There are two primary reasons that the Orioles avoided international signings in the past, and both are tied to Peter Angelos. First, Angelos is a lawyer, someone who is risk-averse and desires as much control as possible. As such, he watched as other teams spent tens of millions of dollars on 16, 17, 18 year olds who never panned out (think Alex Guerrero) and didn’t think that his team could afford to make that gamble. Remember that despite having a top 3 payroll twenty years ago, Baltimore has always been at best a mid-market team. Secondly, but perhaps more importantly, Angelos the lawyer could not reconcile having to do business in the shady and sometimes illegal world of the buscones. He felt that the system was (and likely will always be) corrupt and wanted as little to do with it as possible. I think that his sons, who are now in charge, understand that this is a cost of doing business if you want the best chance to make your organization successful.

      2 Like
      Reply
      • Wi O’s Fan

        5 months ago

        3. The real reason is allegedly one of the Angelos boys got into some trouble in the Dominican in the last 90’s and Peter swore off recruiting in Latin America because of the “legal issues”.

        Like
        Reply
      • brooke9805

        5 months ago

        Mstrchef13 You do not know what you’re talkin about.

        Like
        Reply
    • dimitrios in la

      5 months ago

      I believe they thought they were being smart (and I thought then it was good outside-the-box thinking) but it was not.

      Like
      Reply
  3. nats3256

    5 months ago

    The O’s should literally be in everywhere, trying to do anything to fix it.

    3 Like
    Reply
    • dimitrios in la

      5 months ago

      They’re doing just that.

      Like
      Reply
  4. bucketbrew35

    5 months ago

    “The Orioles Are Officially In The Game In Latin America.”

    Here’s a cookie.

    1 Like
    Reply
    • jleve618

      5 months ago

      I thought there was going to be like another Puerto Rico game somewhere and that the O’s would be in it…

      1 Like
      Reply
  5. bucketbrew35

    5 months ago

    “I thought there was going to be like another Puerto Rico game somewhere and that the O’s would be in it.”

    Puerto Rico could finally have a a minor league baseball team.

    Like
    Reply
    • jbigz12

      5 months ago

      “Puerto Rico could finally have a minor league team” Yeah, I’m sure minor league teams will start flying to Puerto Rico to play. They’ll drive that team bus straight to Puerto Rico from Myrtle Beach…..

      1 Like
      Reply
  6. FutureMiLBWife

    5 months ago

    When i read the title my only thought was…at least they are in the game somewhere

    Like
    Reply
  7. TrimReaper

    5 months ago

    In other words, they took the cheaper route. We’ll see if that works out.

    In seven years.

    Like
    Reply
    • jbigz12

      5 months ago

      They took the we have no pipeline and very few relationships down there route. Even if the orioles could’ve signed 2 big ticket guys and used up 90% of the intl money in that regard that doesn’t build a pipeline. The goal was to build up an international system and that takes quantity at this stage. All the Jasson Dominguez’s and Paulson’s were accounted for long before Elias ever came into power.

      They might have gotten nothing or they might’ve found a couple useful pieces somewhere down the line. This is how you have to start though.

      1 Like
      Reply
      • TrimReaper

        5 months ago

        In other words, you’re saying they took the cheap route. I already said it.

        I’m well aware of the rationale. Also well aware of the strategy. No need to get defensive over the obvious.

        Like
        Reply
        • DarkSide830

          5 months ago

          signing 30 international guys over 2 such guys usually ends up being more beneficial. a lot of the bigger ticket guys end up flaming out, where guys like Altuve, Sixto, etc were lower value signings. quantity over quality any day when it comes to the 16 year old players.

          Like
          Reply
        • brooke9805

          5 months ago

          No right now the Orioles need quantity over quality.

          Like
          Reply
  8. Lary Lapczynski

    5 months ago

    Welcome to the party…. only what is it 20, 30, 40 years too late.

    Like
    Reply
  9. mjc71

    5 months ago

    Peter Angelos needs to sell the team to someone competent.

    1 Like
    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Rays, Padres Agree To Tommy Pham-Hunter Renfroe Trade

    Yankees Reportedly Prioritizing Gerrit Cole

    Twins To Re-Sign Michael Pineda

    Rangers Sign Kyle Gibson

    SK Wyverns Posts Lefty Kwang-hyun Kim

    Reds Sign Mike Moustakas

    Brewers Acquire Omar Narvaez

    Mets Acquire Jake Marisnick

    Steve Cohen In Talks To Increase Investment In Mets

    Angels Acquire Dylan Bundy

    Recent

    Rays, Padres Agree To Tommy Pham-Hunter Renfroe Trade

    Angels Have Met With Stephen Strasburg

    Tigers Interested In Addison Russell

    Dodgers Notes: Treinen, Greinke, Free Agents

    Padres Finalize Coaching Staff

    Yankees Reportedly Prioritizing Gerrit Cole

    Twins To Re-Sign Michael Pineda

    Seibu Lions Sign Cory Spangenberg, Sean Nolin

    A’s Notes: Treinen, Middle INF, Barreto, Mateo

    Rangers Sign Kyle Gibson

    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • 2019-20 MLB Free Agent Tracker
    • 2019-20 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2020 Arbitration Tracker
    • Free Agent Contest Leaderboard
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2020
    • 2020-21 MLB Free Agent List
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Indians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version