Twins Acquire Two Prospects For International Bonus Money

MLB had Pearson rated #6 on the Angels prospect board and Banuelos #10 for the Mariners.  Though both are still years away, it seems like a hell of a haul, which came at essentially no cost to the Twins.  If I understand correctly, the Twins merely gave up the rights to spend $2mil, not the actual money right?  We end up getting two players who received a combined $1.3mil in bonuses just 6 months ago for nada.  If someone offered me the opportunity to either buy a $2mil home or have a $1.3mil abode for free, I think I know which option I'd choose.  

Keeping with the HomeTown prospects purchased with remaining International Money Rights

$1Mil to A's for Logan Shore

And just cause we might as well go crazy maybe...

$1Mil to A's for AJ Puk
or
$1.2Mil to Padres to put them over the top in exchange for Mackenzie Gore

  On 12/7/2017 at 3:47 AM, jsteve96 said:

I like the Pearson pick up but people are definitely over reacting. No way Pearson is in the Twins top 15 prospects. Love that they did something, though. Interested to watch Pearson play next summer.

I agree it will be tough for him to crack the top 20 IMO. He is still a pretty cool get though. Really like the potential. Speed, power combo is tough to come by.

Not a s excited about the catcher but I understand we need the depth. Not sure where he would slot. Somewhere after Rorvedt I guess.

Like the Brass of Twins FO.  They got right to work once Otani jumped.

Find a problem in Jelfrey's vision, void $3M contract, get on the Otani runway, don't get selected for the swimsuit portion, but have what Mike Sciosia in lingerie needs:  International cash.

Every team on the coast is showing us their cards.

"Who knows what Otani really wants?

Fffft. 

Never go to a fist-fight with flowers and pixie-dust. 

The Friars should jam a lot more in that long dark robe.  They ain't got a prayer. 

The Giants hoping to win with a pocket full of Posey.  Maybe Otani has eyes for Buster?

No one knows what Otani wants, but Twins know what teams pursuing Otani want.

From last summer's trip through the Texas League (one week before Hurricane Harvey) a few more worth the $1.2Mil Monopoly marker

Padres OF Franchy Cordero

Rangers LHP Yohander Mendez ChangeUp reminiscent of the other Johan

These are top 10 prospects from weaker systems. Do not have an issue with acquiring lottery tickets.

  On 12/7/2017 at 3:47 AM, jsteve96 said:

I like the Pearson pick up but people are definitely over reacting. No way Pearson is in the Twins top 15 prospects. Love that they did something, though. Interested to watch Pearson play next summer.

Are you sure about this? One of the contributors elsewhere mentioned that MLB.com is saying he ranks behind only Kiriloff in the Twins system, and ahead of both Wade and Pooker. So who knows, really, but that sounds like a decent return to me. Another source said he was lured away from LSU and might have been a late first round pick otherwise. In a cursory look, it appears that a dozen or so other catchers were mentioned before Banuelos in discussions about promising catchers in the draft class, so his 5th round selection might be an accurate reflection of his talent. Which certainly makes Garver's 9th round selection look nice.

MLB.com ranks Pearson 22 in the Twins system. The mariners prospect is not listed in our top 30

Warming up the headline edit:

Twins Acquire Two  Three Prospects For International Bonus Cash

Won't be long now.

One part of me says that this is the Twins being cheap. They traded away the ability to spend money on prospects for alright but not very good prospects (just outside the top 20).

Another part of me says that at least they were able to get something from the Marte signing fiasco. It was possible that they couldn't even use this money.

Both prospects add some decent depth to the system but aren't particularly great. Not exciting but alright moves.

As far as catchers go, yeah...I'm a little confused as to who is the better prospect in the Twins system, Rortvedt or Banuelos.  

The Otani insanity begins. Strike while the iron is hot.

More prospects = more opportunities for someone to be really good. I like this move. While they may not be top 10 prospects in the Twins system right now who knows how they will develop this next season and where they could be this time next year?

This was the type of stuff that got Cleveland and Texas so good and that the twins never have done well (that is, for example, taking advantage of the Ohtani situation to void Marte -and don't tell me they didnt- and leverage the money to sign a couple more-advanced C+/B- Prospects.) This probably isn't going to move the needle much on its own, but here and there these types of things will payoff. Sounds better than the pet projects Terry Ryan couldn't give up on after half a decade or more

Why all the kindness for the Angels and the Mariners. We got them between the rock and the hard place. They BOTH need international bonus money in the hope of signing Ohtani and the Twins, now out of that contention, have international money to burn. Why didn't we go for the throat and put the squeeze on both of them for a better return? Seems like we could have done much better. I would like to see the ppitch package prepared by the Twins for Ohtani - Could it have been better? Can we sue him for Scandahoovian Discrimination against the Twins?

Using the money (at no actual expense) versus not using it is the obviously right decision. Had to look it up to confirm but the money does not roll over so it would have been lost. The only question I have is whether they used it to acquire the right player(s).

The Angels just signed Kevin Maitan for $2.2MM of international bonus money after his contract with the Braves was voided due to the international signing scandal. He was a top 50 prospect in all of baseball. Who knows if we could have signed him if we threw more $ at him or if we tried, but that would appear on its face to be a better usage of that money than the two we got. Time will tell though and Falvine’s moves thus far in acquiring young talent have been impressive (e.g., 2017 Draft + 2017 Trades).