Manny Machado Trade Rumors: Monday
2:40pm: Outfielder Brett Phillips is one prospect who could go from the Brewers to the Orioles in a potential trade package, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). Phillips doesn’t have a clear path to playing time in an outfield mix that has Lorenzo Cain, Christian Yelich, Ryan Braun, Eric Thames and Domingo Santana, but he’s more or less big league ready and could give Baltimore a potential replacement for Adam Jones in center field. Crasnick notes that Jones, a free agent at season’s end and a trade candidate in his own right, wouldn’t stay in center field beyond 2018 even if he ultimately returned to the O’s.
Phillips, 24, is in his second season at the Triple-A level and has batted a combined .280/.359/.498 with 23 homers and 20 steals through 716 plate appearances at that level. He entered the season ranked as the game’s No. 80 overall prospect, per Baseball America.
9:34am: Morosi now tweets that in addition to Buehler and Verdugo, the Dodgers are also unlikely to include Ruiz in a trade for a rental player.
8:50am: The Manny Machado saga continues to be the focal point of Major League Baseball’s rumor mill and appeared to take a step forward over the weekend. Seven teams have reportedly made offers for Machado, with the Dodgers and Brewers now reported to be the most serious suitors. Today, MLB.com’s Jon Morosi takes a look at those top two teams and the manner in which each lines up with Baltimore as a trade partner.
Morosi echoes a prior report from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, writing that he hears Dodgers Class-A right-hander Dustin May is of particular interest to the Orioles. So, too, is Double-A catcher Keibert Ruiz, whom Baseball America recently dubbed the No. 26 prospect in all of baseball. It’s not clear how willing the Dodgers are to part with either player, though Morosi notes that L.A. would be reluctant to trade away either Walker Buehler or Alex Verdugo for a half-season of Machado (or any rental player).
The Brewers, however, appear to be a better fit in terms of the type of MLB-ready arms that they can offer, Morosi observes. Corbin Burnes and Luis Ortiz are both on the cusp of MLB readiness (to say nothing of Brandon Woodruff), and the Brewers have multiple players with MLB experience that have been back and forth between Triple-A and the Majors this season, including Orlando Arcia, Domingo Santana and Keon Broxton.
Meanwhile, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports that some of the teams who’ve approached the Orioles have expressed interest in package deals involving both Machado and one of the Orioles’ relievers — Zach Britton, Brad Brach and Mychal Givens, specifically. The Orioles are open to packaging Machado and Britton or Machado and Brach in order to enhance a potential return, per Kubatko, but the team’s preference would be to hang onto Givens, who is controlled through 2021.
It’s certainly easy to understand why the O’s would prefer to hang onto Givens, whose stock is down from last year thanks to worsened control an a half-mile-per-hour dip in his average fastball velocity. There’s no urgency to trade him as there would be with Brach or the struggling Britton, each of whom is a free agent at season’s end. If Givens is finishes the season strongly or turns things around in 2019, his value could take a substantial step forward given that remaining club control. Of course, there’s also a case to be made that the O’s should be amenable to the idea of trading virtually anyone on the roster, given the poor quality of the farm system and the sizable gap between them and the Yankees and Red Sox — not only in 2018 but over the next few seasons as Baltimore reshapes its roster.
Quick Hits: Puig, Sandoval, G. Hernandez, Indians, Mets
Congrats to all the players who were named 2018 All-Stars tonight, including 14 players who will be making their first-ever appearances at the exhibition game! The Red Sox, Astros and Indians lead the way with five All-Stars apiece, while Mike Trout, Craig Kimbrel, Chris Sale and Justin Verlander lead all players in this years cast in experience; it’s the seventh selection for each of those veterans.
The All-Star selections aren’t the only news of tonight, though. Here are a few other quick hits to take note of…
- Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig departed tonight’s game after experiencing pain in his side during an at-bat. According to J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group, the team is calling it a “right intercostal oblique strain.” It’s not clear yet how much time Puig will miss (particularly since the intercostals and obliques are completely different muscles), but he seems likely to require a DL stint. There’s no firm news yet on the teams plans, though.
- The Giants got some good news and some bad news today regarding a pair of players who were hurt in today’s game; Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group was among those to tweet the specifics. The bad news is that Pablo Sandoval is believed to have suffered a thumb sprain. He’s set to be evaluated tomorrow in order to determine the extent. of the injury. The good news, however, is that Gorkys Hernandez‘ situation is being described as simply a “tight left calf”. The club doesn’t think it’s anything serious, so it’s likely he’ll miss little time, if any.
- Center field and right field for the Indians have been “somewhat of a mess, a revolving door without much consistency,” writes Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal. Lewis notes the injury situations of Bradley Zimmer and Lonnie Chisenhall in particular, and lists external options such as Adam Jones, Nick Castellanos, Billy Hamilton and Adam Duvall as theoretical trade targets for the Tribe. Manny Machado has also been on the club’s radar, and could theoretically push Jason Kipnis into the outfield mix, as he has some experience there.
- David Lennon of Newsday has some strongly-worded opinions about what he thinks the Mets ought to do with Jacob DeGrom and Noah Syndergaard prior to the trade deadline, writing that, “To stand pat with this group, in a market nearly devoid of reliable starters, would make the Mets guilty of criminal negligence in their efforts to put this debacle of a season behind them.” Though Lennon’s phrasing seems a bit hysterical, he does make a solid point in noting that the emergence of Zack Wheeler and Steven Matz makes it easier to part with either of their more established (and less controllable) starters.
NL Notes: Darvish, Bryant, Duensing, Bass, Hedges, Muncy
Yu Darvish has yet to resume throwing after getting a cortisone shot in his arm last week, but according to Cubs president Theo Epstein, that doesn’t mean the club is likely to go out and try to acquire a frontline starter prior to the July 31st trade deadline. Carrie Muskat of MLB.com compiled quotes from Epstein about the club’s deadline stance that leave little room for interpretation. “There’s no way we’re going to go out and acquire starters the caliber of a locked-in Kyle Hendricks or a locked-in Jose Quintana. The majority of our answers lie within, that’s for sure,” he said. Of course, he later added that the club is “still in the mode of assessing”; it’s not difficult to imagine that things could change quickly if the rotation doesn’t turn itself around. In regards to Darvish’s status, Epstein said the club doesn’t want to push him too hard in an effort to get him back on the field. ‘It’s not about rushing. Just get back out there. Get back in your routine. Get back in your work. Then, as this plays, we’ll get you back out there. Of course, we want you back sooner rather than later, but if biology’s not going to permit it, it’s not going to permit it.” Beyond Darvish, the Cubs have gotten disappointing performances from Hendricks, Quintana and offseason signee Tyler Chatwood on the year.
More from around the National League…
- In Muskat’s piece, Kris Bryant also gets a mention. The former MVP reportedly had a good day in the batting cages on Friday and is nearing a return from the DL. Bryant’s been sidelined since June 23rd with shoulder inflammation, and the Cubs have anxiously been hoping to get him healthy again and back in the lineup. P.J. Mooney of The Athletic reports on Twitter that Bryant is heading to the Cubs’ AA affiliate to begin his rehab assignment; he’ll be joined by lefty Brian Duensing. Mooney also notes that righty Anthony Bass is headed to the DL due to an illness; fellow righty James Norwood will take his place, making his first trip to the big leagues.
- The Padres still believe in the offensive potential of elite defensive backstop Austin Hedges, says AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. But they’re more than happy with the value he’s providing them with from behind the plate. Manager Andy Green had this to say on the subject: “We’re patient on the offensive side, because we see the value on the defensive side.” Hedges was right at the Mendoza line on the season with a .200 average entering play today, and his OPS sat south of .600 as well.
- Breakout Dodgers slugger Max Muncy has been tearing it up this season, with an ISO of .347 to go with an 18.9% walk rate. But he almost didn’t play baseball at all this year, as Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports chronicles. Following his release by the A’s last season, Muncy was looking into how many classes it would take to complete his business degree. “You start experiencing failure and you don’t know if you’re as good as you thought you were. Mentally I wasn’t doing as good as I should have been. And then, last year was a chance for me to regroup and recover and focus on myself,” Muncy said. “I could just focus on baseball, remembering how much I love the game and how much I liked playing it. For me, that was the biggest thing.” Now, of course, things have turned around to an extraordinary level, and Muncy is practically a lock for his first All-Star selection.
7 Teams Have Made Offers For Manny Machado
SUNDAY: The Dodgers and Brewers are at the forefront of the Machado derby, and the Indians are also “in the mix,” Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets.
SATURDAY: It’s possible Manny Machado‘s tenure with the Orioles will come to an end as early as this weekend, according to the Baltimore Sun’s Eduardo A. Encina, who reports that seven teams have made offers for the soon-to-be free agent. The Dodgers have put forth the most enticing proposal, Encina hears, with the Diamondbacks, Brewers, Phillies, Braves, Indians and Cubs (in that order) coming in behind them. But the offers are “very close” in value, per Encina, so any of those other six clubs could leapfrog Los Angeles to land Machado prior to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com passes along slightly different information than Encina, suggesting the Indians are currently in last place among the previously mentioned seven teams in the race for Machado. Cleveland has made an offer, Kubatko reports, but a source tells him other clubs are “more active” in the sweepstakes. Interest in Machado goes beyond the seven teams mentioned, Kubatko adds, as several others have at least “checked in” on him.
It “seems unlikely” Baltimore will deal Machado this weekend, Encina writes, but it’s all but guaranteed to happen sometime this month. After all, the Orioles (24-64) own the majors’ worst record, and they’ll either have to trade the 26-year-old Machado in the next three-plus weeks or watch him leave for draft-pick compensation in free agency. The superstar shortstop/third baseman is sure to reel in one of the richest contracts in the history of the sport once he hits the open market, and he has helped his future earning power by batting a healthy .310/.381/.560 with 21 home runs and nearly as many walks (40) as strikeouts (50) in 375 plate appearances this season.
If the Dodgers are the team that upgrades at short with Machado this summer, it may come at the expense of either outfield prospect Alex Verdugo or young pitcher Yadier Alvarez. The Orioles have shown interest in both of those farmhands – two of the finest talents in the minors – though the Dodgers’ offers so far have not included either player, Encina relays, and Kubatko writes that LA has not made Verdugo available. Considering their wealth of offensive talent, it’s arguable the Dodgers won’t even need Machado as they seek a sixth straight National League West title and a second consecutive NL pennant. But acquiring him would still be a boon to them and a blow to the rival Diamondbacks, who lead LA by one game in the NL West and haven’t gotten high-end production from their shortstops this year.
Like the D-backs, none of the Brewers, Phillies or Braves have fared well at short. The Indians and Cubs have, on the other hand. But Machado could be a third base solution for the Indians, who have the great Francisco Lindor at short and would be able to shift fellow superstar Jose Ramirez from the hot corner to second base to make room for Machado. In doing so, the Tribe would presumably relegate struggling second baseman Jason Kipnis to a bench role. The Cubs, meanwhile, have an impressive-looking setup at second (Javier Baez), short (Addison Russell) and third (the currently injured Kris Bryant), so it’s unclear where Machado would fit, though there has long been speculation about Russell going to Baltimore in a deal. However, Russell is under affordable control through 2020 and would be a lot to give up for a rental player – albeit one who’d serve as an upgrade for a Chicago team which trails NL Central-leading Milwaukee by 1 1/2 games.
Dodgers’ First-Round Pick J.T. Ginn Will Not Sign
Dodgers first-round pick J.T. Ginn, the No. 30 overall selection in last month’s draft, announced tonight (via Instagram) that he will not sign. Rather, the young right-hander will honor his commitment to Mississippi State. Writes Ginn:
After being drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first round, I had a lot to think about over the last month. My ultimate goal is to one day play in the Major Leagues, and the draft provided one path to that goal. College baseball offered another path. I am grateful for both opportunities, and after giving it a lot of thought I have decided to pursue my lifelong dream of playing college baseball for the Mississippi State Bulldogs!!!
Fancred’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter) that the Dodgers offered Ginn around $2.4MM, which would’ve topped his No. 30 slot value of $2,275,800 by roughly $125K. That, however, didn’t prove to be incentive enough to steer Ginn away from pursuing a collegiate career. Ginn entered the draft generally ranked in the 30-50 range, placing 33rd on MLB.com’s rankings, 39th at Baseball America and 47th at Fangraphs. As Jim Callis of MLB.com notes, he’ll be eligible to enter the draft again after his sophomore season, when he’ll be 21 years of age in 2020.
Because the Dodgers won’t be signing Ginn, they’ll receive a compensatory pick at No. 31 overall in next year’s draft. For the time being, they’ll lose the $2,275,800 from their overall draft pool. Callis points out that despite the loss of that sum, they’ll likely have enough money to offer around $300K above slot to second-rounder Michael Grove, who has also yet to sign. The deadline for 2018 draftees to sign is tomorrow afternoon at 5pm ET.
Dodgers Acquire Dylan Floro, Zach Neal From Reds; Designate Daniel Corcino
The Dodgers have acquired right-handers Dylan Floro and Zach Neal from the Reds, as per a team press release. Los Angeles will also receive some international bonus pool space from Cincinnati in the trade, and right-hander Daniel Corcino has been designated for assignment to create a 40-man roster spot. The Reds will receive minor league right-handers Aneurys Zabala and James Marinan in the trade.
After signing a minor league deal with Cincy over the winter, Floro emerged as a solid bullpen piece for the Reds, posting a 2.72 ERA, 2.25 K/BB rate, and a 6.7 K/9 over 36 1/3 innings this season. While he doesn’t miss many bats, Floro has consistently been able to keep the ball on the ground over his seven-year pro career, including a 56.8% grounder rate in 2018. He has also done a good job of limiting contact, as his .282 xwOBA is notably lower than his .307 wOBA.
Floro’s skillset makes him a logical fit in a Dodgers bullpen that has had some issues keeping the ball in the park, as the L.A. relief corps ranks in the bottom half of all bullpens in HR/9. Dodgers relievers generally rank around the middle of the pack in most categories, and the team was known to have been looking around (particularly at the Marlins) for some bullpen help to bolster a unit that has been thinned by injuries. It wouldn’t be surprising if the Dodgers weren’t done with their relief shopping prior to the deadline, as while Floro has been effective this year, he isn’t a proven commodity with only 61 career Major League innings under his belt.
This is actually the second time Floro has been in the Dodgers’ system, as the club selected him off waivers from the Cubs last summer before letting him go as a free agent after the season. Neal is another former Dodger, who was dealt to the Reds back in April as part of a three-player trade. The 29-year-old Neal saw lot of action (70 innings) right out of the gate in his 2016 rookie season as a member of the A’s, though he has since tossed just 15 2/3 big league frames. He’ll likely continue to pitch in Triple-A, potentially replacing Corcino as minor league relief and swingman depth if Corcino is lost on DFA waivers.
Corcino tossed four innings for L.A. this season, which marked his first bit of MLB action since 18 2/3 innings for the Reds back in 2014. The 27-year-old has a 4.06 ERA, 8.2 K/9, and 2.05 K/BB rate over 838 1/3 minor league innings in the farm systems of the Reds, Cubs, and Dodgers.
This is the Reds’ second trade of international bonus pool space in the last three days. Cincinnati can’t spend more than $300K on any single international prospect in this year’s July 2 class due to past overages (under the old int’l signing rules), and with a large pool of $6,025,400 to work with, it isn’t surprising that the Reds have unloaded some of that cash to the Red Sox and now the Dodgers to obtain some other young talent. It isn’t known how much Cincy is sending to Los Angeles, though international pool funds can only be dealt in $250K increments.
Marinan is the most notable prospect name in the trade, with MLB.com ranking him 21st amongst Dodgers farmhands (Baseball America had Marinan 24th in their preseason ranking of Los Angeles’ top 30 minor leaguers). A fourth-round pick in the 2017 draft, Marinan is still just 19 years old, and he has a 1.95 ERA over 27 2/3 innings at the rookie ball level, albeit with a troubling 5.9 BB/9. MLB.com’s scouting report lists the young righty at 6’5″ and 220 pounds, and describes him as possessing a fastball in the 92-96mph range, a slider, and “an upper-70s curveball that features good depth when he stays on top of it.”
Zabala is another young arm joining the Reds’ farm system, a 21-year-old signed out of the Dominican Republic who is in his fifth season of pro ball. Zabala has worked exclusively as a reliever since 2015, and he has a career 5.05 ERA, 7.5 K/9, and 1.26 K/BB over 164 innings.
Manny Machado Trade Talks Have Reportedly Accelerated
Though there’s still four weeks until the 2018 non-waiver trade deadline, trade talks surrounding Manny Machado have “accelerated” in recent days, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link). The Orioles, according to Rosenthal, would prefer to move Machado “sooner rather than later,” as they can extract more in a trade if the acquiring team controls Machado for three months as opposed to two months.
To this point in the summer, the teams most connected to Machado have been the Dodgers, Phillies, Diamondbacks and Indians. The Brewers and Cubs have been more loosely tied to Machado on the rumor mill, though Rosenthal reports that while Milwaukee is doing its due diligence, the team is unlikely to meet Baltimore’s asking price.
That, it seems, could be true of the Phillies as well. MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports that the Phillies should be considered “longshots” in the Machado trade sweepstakes. Zolecki writes that while the Phillies “love” Machado and plan to make a serious run at him in the offseason, the team doesn’t feel itself to be one piece away from a World Series. That, of course, makes it considerably more difficult to meet what is likely a rather lofty asking price from the O’s.
Rosenthal suggests that the D-backs and Indians could be the “most motivated” teams in the Machado market, and Zolecki, too, specifically lists the D-backs as a club likelier to acquire Machado than the Phillies.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, meanwhile, tweets that the Dodgers continue to “aggressively” pursue Machado, adding that the Orioles have been scouting L.A.’s system heavily and are particularly interested in Class-A Advanced right-hander Dustin May. There’d obviously be more at play than a mere one-for-one swap, but May, a third-round pick in 2016, is generally considered to be among the Dodgers’ more promising young arms. He’s off to a strong start in 2018 as well, having pitched to a 3.18 ERA with 9.1 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 and a 54.1 percent ground-ball rate through 65 innings (12 starts).
Of course, there could still be other organizations involved in discussions. Jim Bowden of The Athletic tweets that eight teams have had at least some engagement with the O’s regarding Machado within the past ten days. That would suggest that there are at least a few mystery teams hanging around the periphery of talks.
Dodgers Interested In Michael Fulmer
The Dodgers have been oft-linked to Manny Machado in recent weeks, but Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets that the team is also “aggressively” pursuing Tigers right-hander Michael Fulmer. Just how receptive the Tigers are to trade offers for their top starter remains unclear.
Certainly, Detroit will have to at least entertain offers on virtually any player on the roster, as the organization’s rebuild is still in its early stages. But the Tigers are in a more difficult spot with Fulmer, whose 2017 season ended due to ulnar nerve transposition surgery in his right arm. Thus far in 2018, Fulmer hasn’t been nearly as good as he was in his 2016 Rookie of the Year season or for the vast majority of the 2017 season before a series of awful starts leading up to that surgical procedure.
Through 94 1/3 innings in 2018, Fulmer is sitting on a 4.20 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, 1.05 HR/9 and a 46.3 percent ground-ball rate. More troubling than his bottom-line numbers, though, is the quality of contact he’s allowed. Both Fangraphs and Statcast indicate that Fulmer’s hard-contact rate has soared by 10 percent this season. The average exit velocity of a ball put in play against Fulmer has leaped from 85.6 mph in 2017 to 88.8 mph in 2018.
There are certainly positives surrounding Fulmer’s season as well, of course. His average fastball velocity of 95.8 mph is right in line with his pre-surgery levels. His strikeout percentage (20.4), swinging-strike rate (10.3 percent) and chase rate (34.2 percent) are all either at or above his career-high levels. Fulmer looks to be in good health, and if he can sharpen his pitch location a bit, there’s reason to believe he can take some significant strides forward.
For the Tigers, though, that all boils down to the fact that Fulmer’s value simply isn’t at its peak at the moment. And given that he’s under club control for another four and a half seasons, there’s no need to rush into a trade unless the Dodgers (or any other club) bowl them over with a package from which they can’t walk away. Conversely, it’s tougher for an interested party to make that type of offer when there’s some uncertainty surrounding the pitcher’s current performance level.
Dodgers, Red Sox, Indians Among Teams Eyeing Marlins’ Bullpen
July 2, 9:14pm: The Marlins are placing an “extremely high” ask on Barraclough, in particular, per MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. Indeed, he hears that the Miami organization is “basically looking for another club’s top prospect, or among their top prospects” in any swap involving the young hurler. The report suggests that Conley is the “most realistic” candidate to be moved among the three hurlers discussed below.
Unsurprisingly, multiple teams are poking around on the Marlins’ relievers. The Indians are among the contenders with some interest, per Jon Heyman of Fancred (via Twitter).
1:22pm: The Red Sox have also been in contact with the Marlins about their late-inning relievers, Morosi writes today. While Boston is set to at last welcome Tyler Thornburg to its bullpen, the team is nonetheless exploring contingency options, per the report. More generally, it stands to reason that the majority of contenders will at least explore the possibility of adding an arm such as Barraclough, Steckenrider or (to a lesser extent, given the shorter track record in the ‘pen) Conley.
Any from that group would be an upgrade over virtually any team’s seventh- or eighth-best reliever at the very least, and deep bullpens are paramount to success in postseason play.
July 1: The Dodgers have “had preliminary dialogue” with the Marlins about some of Miami’s top bullpen arms, says Jon Paul Morosi of MLB.com. That list of relievers includes Kyle Barraclough, Drew Steckenrider and Adam Conley.
While Morosi’s sources have been careful to note that no deal is close at this time, there’s certainly a good fit between the two clubs. The Dodgers’ bullpen actually ranks fourth in MLB with a combined WPA of 26.06, but has recently seen Tony Cingrani, Pedro Baez and Josh Fields hit the disabled list (as Morosi himself notes).The bridge to closer Kenley Jansen appears particularly weak, with Erik Goeddel and Scott Alexander currently working in setup roles. The Dodgers are certainly contenders for the NL Pennant, sitting just 3.5 games back of the division-leading Diamondbacks. And of course, the Marlins aren’t serious competitors for a spot in the playoffs this season.
There’s certainly no rush for the Marlins to trade any of the above players, as all three have yet to even qualify for arbitration eligibility. Conley and Barraclough will remain under club control through 2021, while Steckenrider is controllable for another two seasons beyond that. At the same time, though, the Marlins aren’t seen as likely to do much winning over the next three or four years; they’re mired in a full teardown that began this offseason with trades of Dee Gordon, Giancarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna. Trading Barraclough and Conley in particular could make a lot of sense if they’re able to net some young talent who could contribute during their next contending season.
Of the aforementioned hurlers, Barraclough seems likely to bring back the most hefty return. The righty has been a revelation this season, pitching to a sub-1.00 ERA with a typically high 4.21 BB/9 and a K/9 of 9.66. Since stepping into the closer role for the Marlins earlier this year, he’s converted all seven save opportunities and has yet to allow a run. Barraclough (along with Steckenrider) has already been connected to the Indians this offseason.
For what it’s worth, the Dodgers have one of the best farm systems in baseball, with MLB.com ranking them tenth out of 30 MLB teams. While it seems unlikely that they’d part with top prospects Alex Verdugo or Keibert Ruiz in a trade for one of the aforementioned Marlins arms, it’s worth noting that elite prospects have changed hands in recent years when a top-flight reliever becomes available, and the sheer amount of team control left on the contracts of Barraclough, Steckenrider and Conley could prove an enticing reason to consider all possible angles.
Notable International Prospect Signings
With the 2018-19 international signing period kicking off today, there will be dozens of six- and seven-figure bonuses handed out to teenage prospects, primarily out of Latin America, filtering in throughout the day today. Many of these have been in the works for quite some time, as is reflected by the fact that most of the top players’ destinations and signing bonuses have been previously reported/projected (and by the fact that the top agreements will all be reported in one swift avalanche today).
We’ll keep track of the notable National League signings here and the notable American League signings in a separate post. Note that you can read up on each of these players with the dedicated international coverage available from Ben Badler of Baseball America (subscription required), Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com and Kiley McDaniel & Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs, each of whom has scouting info on the top echelon of international amateurs. Badler is also tracking the all of the signings from all 30 teams.
Onto some of the more notable signings…