Yankees Sign Ronny Rojas… What it Means for Shohei Otani

The New York Yankees are once again flashing some financial muscle on the international market but this time the team is being creative about it. In years past the Yankees have simply thrown money at their problems and for a long time it worked. Since the league has finally caught up financially the team can no longer do that due to financial and draft pick restrictions thrown down by a new set of collective bargaining agreements so New York has found a new way to get who they want on the IFA market. All large market teams get $4.75 million in IFA cap money to spend but the team can trade for an additional 75% of that $4.75 million from other teams, something the Yankees did many times this summer already. Now New York is using that new-found money to sign young players like the 16-year old shortstop Ronny Rojas they signed over the weekend but what does that mean for Shohei Otani?

First things first, Rojas. Rojas was signed to a $1 million contract and the 16-year old becomes the fourth international prospect to join the Yankees since the 2017-2018 signing period opened on July 2^nd joining Robert Chirinos, Everson Pereira and Anthony Garcia. Rojas was considered to be the 11^th best international prospect in this year’s signing period not including Otani who has yet to enter the fold as a prospect officially. The Yankees announced they would sign Rojas back in July but the team could not officially sign him until recently because Rojas was just 15-years old. The league will not allow an international prospect to sign until his 16^th birthday. What does this mean for the Yankees ability to make a run at Otani though?

In all honestly this has no bearing on the Yankees ability to make a serious run at Otani. The Yankees traded for a ton of international spending money this summer in three different trades including the Yefrey Ramirez trade to the Baltimore Orioles and the Sonny Gray trade with the Oakland Athletics. The Yankees still have somewhere in the neighborhood of $3-4 million left to make a run at Otani without going over their allotted pool of money. The problem for New York is teams like the Boston Red Sox have also traded for close to their 75% allotment as well giving the Yankees some stiff competition for the latest Japanese import.

Having Chirinos, Pereira, Garcia and Rojas is great and it gives the Yankees another wave of future reinforcements to develop and look forward to. Having those four and a shot at Otani though almost seems unfair for the rest of the league so here’s to getting greedy, officially signing Rojas and also getting Japan’s Babe Ruth. 

Why the Yankees Traded For So Much International Spending Pool Money

I have to admit that when I saw that the New York Yankees traded Double-A pitcher Yefrey Ramirez for just some international spending pool money I was a tad bit upset. I was willing and able to rant when I read it. Then I read that New York also acquired some additional money, $1.5 million to be exact, in the Sonny Gray deal with the Oakland Athletics that sent Jorge Mateo, Dustin Fowler and James Kaprielian out west which got me thinking. Why are the Yankees suddenly so caught up in acquiring international spending pool money when the team is no longer under spending restrictions in the IFA market and can spend as much as they want in 2017? So then I started doing some research and here is what I came up with so far.

There has been a change in how the international signing period works and the changes which came from the Collective Bargaining Agreement that runs from 2017-2021 begin with the 2017-2018 international signing period. I am not going to go into the very complicated and detailed reports of the entire agreement but here is the Readers Digest version of it. The new rules allows teams to trade for up to 75% of the pool that the league allots them every single signing period. This year the league gave the Yankees a bonus pool of $4.75 million to spend on international free agents so if you multiple that by 75% and carry the one the Yankees could conceivably acquire $3,562,500 from other teams giving the team a total of 8,212,500 to work with on the international market.

Now it is worth keeping in mind that the Yankees have already signed Venezuelan outfielder Everson Pereira to a $1.5 million deal while also signing Venezuelan shortstop Robert Chirinos for $900,000. The Yankees have made a few other deals as well and according to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com the Yankees have already spent $4.28 million of their IFA spending pool this signing period. That leaves the Yankees $470,000 before what the team acquired in the Gray deal, the Yefrey Ramirez deal and the Matt Wotherspoon deal with the Orioles from earlier last month. If the Yankees were to conceivably acquire the entire 75% in bonus pool money that the CBA allows the Yankees would have $3,982,500 in spending money left but who would the team spend it on?

Well at the time of this writing the #6 top rated international prospect Raimfer Salinas is available as well as #8 prospect Antonio Cabello. The Yankees could be gearing up to make a run at one or both of these top prospects to add to the pool that already includes Chirinos and Pereira. Make it happen Cashman, add all the blue chip potential prospects and talent that the league allows you to add, even if losing a player like Yefrey Ramirez did anger me a bit. There’s a plan in place, a plan that I am personally not privy to, and that plan is in action which truly just excites the hell out of me.