Y2Jimmy0

Oscar Colas for $2.7 million, Erick Hernandez for $1 million and Angel Cruz for $400K. That leaves about $1 million in total funds left. I'm sure they have other signings.

I know this is just a tired joke at this point but they aren't allowed to trade money in this period.

RHP Angel Cruz bonus is reportedly $400K

It's still pretty significant. I reported on it this week on twitter. He's getting $2.7 million. If he comes to the U.S., he pays taxes in both countries and it'd be a minimum of $950K. That's a pretty big dent. Sounds like it might not matter though which is good for his career and good for the club.

I don’t know specifically. The Sox are giving him $2.7 million. He has residency in the DR but not the US. Since he’s signing in January, he’ll spend the year in the DR so he receives the majority of his bonus. If they brought him right over, he wouldn’t. Same thing happened with Vera, Yolbert, Robert, etc. I don’t have specifics as to why though. Anyone work in tax law?

Yeah I’ll never understand their strategy

I have no idea what they're doing with the rest of their money. I've heard that they like Cesar Prieto but I don't think they have enough $$ for that. I'm assuming they have multiple $400-$600K signings that I don't know about

I think he just started to feel uncomfortable with the subjectivity of the whole thing and he hasn't seen a lot of these guys since they were like 14-15 so he doesn't want to be super wrong if they suddenly grew like 6 inches or something. Also, the situation in Venezuela is really bad and it's actually dangerous to say that "Venezuelan shortstop X will soon have $5 million" etc because it's a legit danger to their family potentially.

We published the group of catchers today. It's a weak spot in the system but I've heard good things about Adam Hackenberg and Baseball America will rank him in their top 30 when the handbook is released.

FWIW: Baseball America's big board ranks players by signing bonus now instead of as a true talent ranking.

Does he stay at third base?

This week at FutureSox, we're releasing our lists of top 5-10 prospects at each position in the organization. I will post all of them here as they drop. Middle Infielders by @Sleepy Harold : https://www.futuresox.com/2022/01/03/top-white-sox-positional-prospects-2022-middle-infielders/ Corner Infielders by James Fox: https://www.futuresox.com/2022/01/04/top-white-sox-positional-prospects-2022-corner-infield/ Right Handed Relievers by Jasper Roos: https://www.futuresox.com/2022/01/05/top-white-sox-positional-prospects-2022-right-handed-relievers/ Left Handed Relievers by Jasper Roos: https://www.futuresox.com/2022/01/06/top-white-sox-positional-prospects-2022-left-handed-relievers/ Catchers by Ken Sawilchick: https://www.futuresox.com/2022/01/07/top-white-sox-prospects-by-position-catchers-3/ Starting Pitchers by James Fox: https://www.futuresox.com/2022/01/10/top-white-sox-positional-prospects-2022-starting-pitchers/ Outfielders by Sean Williams: https://www.futuresox.com/2022/01/12/top-white-sox-positional-prospects-2022-outfielders/

Juan Soto only signed for $1.5 million. Tatis got $700K

I don't think there's any way a salary floor is going in. 23 owners will never agree to something like that. The players want less revenue sharing for the small markets which has been a non-starter so far. They should aim for the number at the top end to go higher so the big market clubs can spend more and they should be pushing to significantly raise the major league minimum salary. They just have given up too much in previous negotiations to win very much back here unless they're willing to miss a season and history says that they aren't willing to do that. I'm not a fan of this. Something needs to be done (no top five in successive years, lottery, etc) but this is too far. A team like the Diamondbacks wasn't taking last year. They're just bad. They deserve the #2 overall pick.

Plus-plus runner with potential for plus power and he's the best defensive CF in the class already. He's going very, very high.

Leury Garcia starting at second base isn't the plan.

Or he chose the Mets instead. I have no idea.

The Athletic was under the impression that the White Sox were closing in on a deal with Eduardo Escobar prior to him signing with the Mets. He told us that on the FutureSox podcast.

Cespedes was stateside because he had established US residency (in Florida) when he signed. If Oscar Colas is living in the DR, he likely needs to stay there for much of 2022 in order to receive a tax free bonus.

Yeah my bad. I don’t think Prieto would sign for that personally. I bet the Sox have multiple $400-$600K signings that I couldn’t find.

Yeah it’s really dirty. Being an international scout is a pretty tough job. Not only are you trying to project 13-14 year olds, you’re dealing with trainers, handlers etc and everyone wants a piece of the pie.

Yeah it’s sucks. It’s US tax law though. The biggest issue appears to be that the contract is signed in January at the beginning of the calendar year. If it were July, it wouldn’t be much if an issue IMO

I might not have been clear enough. It’s tough and don’t take this the wrong way because I don’t mean any offense but when you understand this crazy market, it’s sometimes hard to write about it while explaining it to most people who aren’t as Informed about how weird it is.

I fear that he’ll be in the Dominican Republic because he hasn’t established residency in the US. It’s not a big deal when signing in July but signing in January is brutal obviously. You basically have to stay there for entire season. Yeah for sure. He’s had some success of late too. Quezada was very promising in DSL and Wilfred Veras was good in AZL. Multiple mid tier bonus guys showing up of late.

We don’t know that they have a pool of money uncommitted. They very likely have multiple $400K and $500K signings that I just don’t know about. Guys similar to Quezada, Guariman and Borrero from last year.