AM on Int'l spending

[Stotle]

Your post responds to four posters, including me. I'm not taking any position as to whether MacPhail is right or wrong -- I am simply stating that I wish I had more information on which to judge what he is saying. And to be clear, nobody is advocating abandoning the DR, and it is not as if the Orioles have no presence there. MacPhail states that they have increase their spending on talent, and they have invested in an academy in the last few years as well, so you are building a straw man argument to knock down. The issue at hand is whether to spend money on players who command large bonuses, without having the same quality of information that you have about a player who receives a similar bonus in the United States. One can argue that the money spent on such bonuses would be better spent (1) signing a larger number of international players to smaller bonuses, (2) signing some overslots in the U.S. amateur draft, or (3) increasing the major league payroll, or (4) on scouts, caoches or infrastructure, etc. But as as a starting point, it would be nice to know how many of the big-bonus international players pan out, and what yield you get for your spend. Do you disagree with that?

Considering the sample size you are dealing with, I don't think this is particularly useful, no. Why would you lump in kids from all different organizations, awarded bonuses based on completely different scouting systems and decision makers up top, and different relationships with the organizations and the buscones/communities/etc. It would be like only looking at Orioles 1st Round picks across the last 20 years and making a statement as to how much you should spend on a 1st round pick. You have different scouting directors, different draft classes, different baselines for bonuses, etc. I just don't see the utility. If there was a useful way to filter out the noise, I'd love it. But I really don't much care whether or not a Yankees signing in 2002 panned out. What does it have to do with the players eligible this June?

As I've said already in this thread, I think the issue is age. As a matter of evaluation it is incredibly difficult to figure out what a 16 year old is going to look like in four or five years. I can understand that as a justification for not wanting to sink tons of money into a single kid, I really can. I don't buy that spending big, in general, is bad. Lots of evaluators would have gladly ponied up a huge Int'l style bonus for Bryce Harper at 16, regardless of his HS stats against overmatched Nevada competition. He was a monster. And the returns thus far indicate that someone willing to roll the dice on Harper at 16 would have been right so far. If the right prospect is there, I think you have to be open to spending on him. The point is the process. If the process itself makes it difficult to correctly assess talent worth $X, fine. Walk away. But know that by walking away you are waiving a white flag across that cross-section. And if you do that, I would hope the focus would be on outdoing your competition in the other tiers.

Everyone confident Baltimore is jumping ahead of their AL East counterparts in the low to mid range Int'l Free Agents raise your hand.

I don't know, Frobby. I understand your and other's desire to be as pragmatic as possible. But at what point do you say "Gulp, this isn't the best set-up, but it's what we have and we need to keep up with the Joneses"? I have never contended that Mr. MacPhail doesn't run a fiscally responsible ship. I just question whether pragmatism is counterproductive to innovation. The AL East requires money or innovation -- sometimes both. I don't personally feel comfortable in Baltimore's ability to compete in either.

If you want, I'm happy to say "It's unfair to criticize Baltimore for not spending on big time International Free Agents". Maybe it is. Maybe they are right. But the larger picture shows an organization that has not figured out how to compete with their contemporaries in 1) system building, or 2) ML team building. To me, that's an issue. And at a certain point I get tired of the reasoning and justifications for inaction.

Bringing it full circle, if Baltimore were doing anything innovative on the international front I'd expect to hear about it. Not the details, but something. It's a very small world down there. So maybe they aren't ignoring the international scene altogether, but I'm doubtful they are keeping up with the rest of baseball, and certainly not the rest of the AL. Even Tampa is trying to find their own "way" down there (with Brazil as an example).

[Stotle]

So the question then becomes, why do they really even field a DSL squad, as the undertaking has been relatively fruitless thus far.

They've been down there since 1996, IIRC. Doing very little.

I'm fine with dumping it. If you don't like the scene, find one you do like. Problem spotting is a huge talent, and one that the Orioles maybe excel at in Latin America (maybe they are smarter than everyone else). But without problem solving, problem spotting is just an excuse for inaction.

Okay, you don't like expensive Int'l FA. What are we going to do to make sure we are making the most out of the opportunities out there? If we don't like the opportunities presented to us, how do we create opportunities we do like?

[Sports Guy]

What are the Orioles doing to keep up with the rest of this division?

[Hank Scorpio]

I'm fine with dumping it. If you don't like the scene, find one you do like. Problem spotting is a huge talent, and one that the Orioles maybe excel at in Latin America (maybe they are smarter than everyone else). But without problem solving, problem spotting is just an excuse for inaction.

Okay, you don't like expensive Int'l FA. What are we going to do to make sure we are making the most out of the opportunities out there? If we don't like the opportunities presented to us, how do we create opportunities we do like?

I agree that they're not doing enough.

It's the one area of player acquisition where the playing field is relatively level and they're not doing anything outside the typical scope of business.

[Frobby]

I don't know, Frobby. I understand your and other's desire to be as pragmatic as possible. But at what point do you say "Gulp, this isn't the best set-up, but it's what we have and we need to keep up with the Joneses"? I have never contended that Mr. MacPhail doesn't run a fiscally responsible ship. I just question whether pragmatism is counterproductive to innovation. The AL East requires money or innovation -- sometimes both. I don't personally feel comfortable in Baltimore's ability to compete in either.

If you want, I'm happy to say "It's unfair to criticize Baltimore for not spending on big time International Free Agents". Maybe it is. Maybe they are right. But the larger picture shows an organization that has not figured out how to compete with their contemporaries in 1) system building, or 2) ML team building. To me, that's an issue. And at a certain point I get tired of the reasoning and justifications for inaction.

Bringing it full circle, if Baltimore were doing anything innovative on the international front I'd expect to hear about it. Not the details, but something. It's a very small world down there. So maybe they aren't ignoring the international scene altogether, but I'm doubtful they are keeping up with the rest of baseball, and certainly not the rest of the AL. Even Tampa is trying to find their own "way" down there (with Brazil as an example).

I find it very hard, in fact, impossible, to outright defend what the Orioles are doing, because they have stunk for 14 years and their minor league system current rates below average. Very clearly, they are doing a lot of things wrong. But that doesn't mean that every single thing they do is wrong. Is their decision about how to handle Latin America wrong? It probably is, considering their miserable record down there, but I find it hard to say for sure due to the lack of information.

By the way, I have the impression -- please tell me if this is correct -- that the current "buscone" system, and the degree to which scouts are limited to seeing the players in a "showcase" atmosphere, is a relatively new phenomenon. I mean, there have always been buscones, but the degree to which they control access to the players seems to have increased drastically in the last 5-7 years. Is that a fair statement, or am I off base?

I disagree with you that the information about how the big-bonus guys have panned out is not useful. There were 26 players last year who got a bonus of $500k or more. Take the top 25 bonuses paid for the last 10 years, and to me, that is not a small sample (though about half of those players would still be too young to have reached the majors). Sure it's a cross section of different organizations, etc., but that's also true of the draft. I think it would be very interesting to look at all the players who received a bonus of, say, $500k - $999 k in the Dominican and see what percentage were succesful compared to a group of American-born players who received bonuses in that range.

[NewMarketSean]

What are the Orioles doing to keep up with the rest of this division?

Like you say, they need to become a top 5 MLB team to do this. Other than a freakish good year where everything comes together, this team will not be able to succeed in this division.

[Flosman]

Ok I had nothing to do until the O's played so I went and did my poor Drungo imitation. I found a 2009 article that listed the 31 largest international signings ever and did a where are they now exercise. Here it goes:

Michael Ynoa, 16, RHP, 2008, Athletics, D.R., $4,250,000 18 YO ARI P with 9 IP 11Ks 1.111 Whip

Miguel Sano, 16, SS, 2009, Twins, D.R., $3,150,000 18 SS already splitting time at 3b APPY 626 OPS Ks 32% of the time.

Gary Sanchez, 16, C, 2009, Yankees, D.R., $3,000,000 18 YO C SALLY 749 OPS coming off big year last year

Rafael Rodriguez, 16, OF, 2008, Giants, D.R., $2,550,000 18 YO OF SALLY 609 OPS

Yorman Rodriguez, 16, OF, 2008, Reds, VZA, $2,500,000 18 YO OF Midwest 661 OPS

Wily Mo Peña, 17, OF, 1999, Yankees, D.R., $2,440,000 8 season 2.2 WAR Career

Joel Guzman, 16, SS, 2001, Dodgers, D.R., $2,255,000 2 season -.5 WAR ML career was decent for Bowie last season (MiL depth to trade from SG talks about, LOL)

Angel Villalona, 16, 3B, 2006, Giants, D.R., $2,100,00 Career derailed by murder charge does not seem to have made it back to baseball after 09 Charges

Juan Duran, 16, OF, 2008, Reds, D.R., $2,000,000 19 YO COF Midwest 761 OPS best season thus far

Adys Portillo, 16, RHP, 2008, Padres, VZA, $2,000,000 19 YO P Midwest 11 k/9 6.4 BB/9 8.01 ERA

Guillermo Pimental, 16, CF, 2009, Mariners, D.R., $2,000,000 No numbers yet

Jose Vincio, 16, SS, 2009, Red Sox, D.R., $1,950,000 No numbers yet

Miguel Cabrera, 16, IF, 1999, Marlins, VZA, $1,800,000 37 WAR 9 year MLB career probable HOFer

Jesus Montero, 16, C, 2006, Yankees, VZA, $1,650,000 Number 3 rated prospect coming into 2011 but is having a bad year by his standards.

Jackson Melian, 16, OF, 1996, Yankees, VZA, $1,600,000 13 year minor leaguer was in Indy baseball 2010

Jurickson Profar, 16, SS, 2009, Rangers, Curaçao, $1,550,000 18 SS in TX league 875 OPS

Ricardo Aramboles, 16, RHP, 1998, Yankees, D.R., $1,520,000 Out of baseball at 22 guess arm fell off or he aged 10 years after 9/11

Luis Sardinas, 16, SS, 2009, Rangers, VZA, 1,500,000 18 YO repeating ARI Rk SS with 710 OPS

Michael Almanzar, 16, SS, 2007, Red Sox, D.R., $1,500,000 20 YO in Carolina CINF with a 469 OPS but to be fair he has a 610 career OPS

Esmailyn Gonzalez, 16, SS, 2006, Nationals, D.R., $1,400,000 Rapid Dominican Aging syndrome, PED suspension and 560 career OPS

Fernando Martinez, 16, OF, 2005, Mets, D.R., $1,400,000 Decent Mi numbers 22 YO up and down with minors this season

Willy Aybar, 16, IF, 2000, Dodgers, D.R., $1,400,000 5 year ML UTL 3.2 WAR additional 2.7 M sal

Carlos Triunfel, 16, SS, 2006, Mariners, D.R., $1,300,000 21 YO bad defensive SS 760 ops repeating southern league second time

Luis Domoromo, 16, OF, 2008, Padres, VZA, $1,250,000 19 YO OF Midwest 844 OPS

Juan Urbina, 16, LHP, 2009, Mets, VZA, $1,250,000 18 YO P in APPY Career ERA 5.68

Chesler Cuthbert, 16, 3B, 2009, Royals, Nicaragua, $1,200,000 19 YO 3b in Midwest 836 OPS

Roberto De la Cruz, 16, 3B, 2008, Cardinals, D.R., $1,100,000 19 YO 3b in APPY career 652 OPS

Julio Morban, 16, OF, 2008, Mariners, D.R., $1,100,000 20 YO OF in MIDWEST w/640 OPS

Kelvin De Leon, 16, OF, 2007, Yankees, D.R., $1,100,000 20 OF in SAL with a 648 OPS

Alvaro Aristy, 17, SS, 2008, Padres, D.R., $1,000,000 Suspended for PEDs seems to have become a different person 2 years older named Jorge Guzman

Jharmidy De Jesus, 17, SS, 2007, Mariners, D.R., $1,000,000 Has not played since 2009

So the way I see it the top 31 signings yielded 43.1 WAR maybe five other guys that look like they are progressing for a cool $55,815,000. We have several guys that ended up being different people, a guy fighting Murder charges and several guys that where just not good at all. These where the best of the best by Dollars. Almost all of the WAR is from MCab. I really think this is what AM is talking about big money signings are not where the guys that make it come from.

[xKHx]

Wow that list is telling rep to you. I also find it people want us to spend like the Pirates yet the Pirates are still the Pirates.

[Stotle]

I find it very hard, in fact, impossible, to outright defend what the Orioles are doing, because they have stunk for 14 years and their minor league system current rates below average. Very clearly, they are doing a lot of things wrong. But that doesn't mean that every single thing they do is wrong. Is their decision about how to handle Latin America wrong? It probably is, considering their miserable record down there, but I find it hard to say for sure due to the lack of information.

By the way, I have the impression -- please tell me if this is correct -- that the current "buscone" system, and the degree to which scouts are limited to seeing the players in a "showcase" atmosphere, is a relatively new phenomenon. I mean, there have always been buscones, but the degree to which they control access to the players seems to have increased drastically in the last 5-7 years. Is that a fair statement, or am I off base?

I disagree with you that the information about how the big-bonus guys have panned out is not useful. There were 26 players last year who got a bonus of $500k or more. Take the top 25 bonuses paid for the last 10 years, and to me, that is not a small sample (though about half of those players would still be too young to have reached the majors). Sure it's a cross section of different organizations, etc., but that's also true of the draft. I think it would be very interesting to look at all the players who received a bonus of, say, $500k - $999 k in the Dominican and see what percentage were succesful compared to a group of American-born players who received bonuses in that range.

I think, like anything else involving big money, the system has certainly evolved. I honestly do not know enough to say whether or not it is "fair" or "right" to have the buscones so involved. They are obviously getting paid, and are incentivized to try and get as much money out of the ML clubs as they can. To the extent the kid is disadvantaged due to their guidance, I think it's inappropriate to the point of MLB being correct to refuse to deal with them. If the only party truly getting hurt is the ML team signing these players, I consider it part of the game and each MLB team's job to figure out how to work within the framework (or design a new framework).

Regarding the remainder, the US kids are ALWAYS going to be of greater value because they are not availed a free market in which to shop their wares. I think 250 in a vacuum is a lot of players. But consider how many US players signed for greater than $500K, comparatively, in that ten year period? If you want to adjust for open vs closed market, consider how many US kids signed for $300K or more. We are talking about thousands of players. Even then, I'd want to know more than bonuses. I'd want to know which org, scouting director drafted them. I'd want to know their age and profile, including physical features, athleticsim in various areas, lineage, current skill set, projected skill set by drafting team, other factors potentially affecting signabilty (including college opportunities) and the like.

Every second rounder is not necessarily comparable just like every $400K player is not necessarily comparable. I could be very, very wrong. I know for a fact that some teams, including my org, boil down talent to a dollar figure when valuing them for draft purposes. A number of factors can affect that number outside of pure tool grades. This year we drafted in mid-single digit rounds a talent we submitted as worthy of second round money. He didn't get second round money when he signed. Even though we consider him a second round talent, he'd be excluded from your study. The draft is filled with players like that, just like it's filled with players valued by many orgs well outside the first 3 or 4 rounds, but get tabbed early for a variety of reasons. I just think there is too much noise for such a broad look to be particularly useful. Again, maybe I'm way off -- wouldn't be the first time.

[Stotle]

Ok I had nothing to do until the O's played so I went and did my poor Drungo imitation. I found a 2009 article that listed the 31 largest international signings ever and did a where are they now exercise. Here it goes:

Michael Ynoa, 16, RHP, 2008, Athletics, D.R., $4,250,000 18 YO ARI P with 9 IP 11Ks 1.111 Whip

Miguel Sano, 16, SS, 2009, Twins, D.R., $3,150,000 18 SS already splitting time at 3b APPY 626 OPS Ks 32% of the time.

Gary Sanchez, 16, C, 2009, Yankees, D.R., $3,000,000 18 YO C SALLY 749 OPS coming off big year last year

Rafael Rodriguez, 16, OF, 2008, Giants, D.R., $2,550,000 18 YO OF SALLY 609 OPS

Yorman Rodriguez, 16, OF, 2008, Reds, VZA, $2,500,000 18 YO OF Midwest 661 OPS

Wily Mo Peña, 17, OF, 1999, Yankees, D.R., $2,440,000 8 season 2.2 WAR Career

Joel Guzman, 16, SS, 2001, Dodgers, D.R., $2,255,000 2 season -.5 WAR ML career was decent for Bowie last season (ML depth to trade from SG talks about, LOL)

Angel Villalona, 16, 3B, 2006, Giants, D.R., $2,100,00 Career derailed by murder charge does not seen to have made it back to baseball after 09 Charges

Juan Duran, 16, OF, 2008, Reds, D.R., $2,000,000 19 YO COF Midwest 761 OPS best season thus far

Adys Portillo, 16, RHP, 2008, Padres, VZA, $2,000,000 19 YO P Midwest 11 k/9 6.4 BB/9 8.01 ERA

Guillermo Pimental, 16, CF, 2009, Mariners, D.R., $2,000,000 No numbers yet

Jose Vincio, 16, SS, 2009, Red Sox, D.R., $1,950,000 No numbers yet

Miguel Cabrera, 16, IF, 1999, Marlins, VZA, $1,800,000 37 WAR 9 year MLB career probable HOFer

Jesus Montero, 16, C, 2006, Yankees, VZA, $1,650,000 Number 3 rated prospect coming into 2011 but is having a bad year by his standards.

Jackson Melian, 16, OF, 1996, Yankees, VZA, $1,600,000 13 year minor leaguer was in Indy baseball 2010

Jurickson Profar, 16, SS, 2009, Rangers, Curaçao, $1,550,000 18 SS in TX league 875 OPS

Ricardo Aramboles, 16, RHP, 1998, Yankees, D.R., $1,520,000 Out of baseball at 22 guess arm fell off or he aged 10 years after 9/11

Luis Sardinas, 16, SS, 2009, Rangers, VZA, 1,500,000 18 YO repeating ARI Rk SS with 710 OPS

Michael Almanzar, 16, SS, 2007, Red Sox, D.R., $1,500,000 20 YO in Carolina CINF with a 469 OPS but to be fair he has a 610 career OPS

Esmailyn Gonzalez, 16, SS, 2006, Nationals, D.R., $1,400,000 Rapid Dominican Aging syndrome, PED suspension and 560 career OPS

Fernando Martinez, 16, OF, 2005, Mets, D.R., $1,400,000 Decent Mi numbers 22 YO up and down with minors this season

Willy Aybar, 16, IF, 2000, Dodgers, D.R., $1,400,000 5 year ML UTL 3.2 WAR additional 2.7 M sal

Carlos Triunfel, 16, SS, 2006, Mariners, D.R., $1,300,000 21 YO bad defensive SS 760 ops repeating southern league second time

Luis Domoromo, 16, OF, 2008, Padres, VZA, $1,250,000 19 YO OF Midwest 844 OPS

Juan Urbina, 16, LHP, 2009, Mets, VZA, $1,250,000 18 YO P in APPY Career ERA 5.68

Chesler Cuthbert, 16, 3B, 2009, Royals, Nicaragua, $1,200,000 19 YO 3b in Midwest 836 OPS

Roberto De la Cruz, 16, 3B, 2008, Cardinals, D.R., $1,100,000 19 YO 3b in APPY career 652 OPS

Julio Morban, 16, OF, 2008, Mariners, D.R., $1,100,000 20 YO OF in MIDWEST w/640 OPS

Kelvin De Leon, 16, OF, 2007, Yankees, D.R., $1,100,000 20 OF in SAL with a 648 OPS

Alvaro Aristy, 17, SS, 2008, Padres, D.R., $1,000,000 Suspended for PEDs seems to have become a different person 2 years older named Jorge Guzman

Jharmidy De Jesus, 17, SS, 2007, Mariners, D.R., $1,000,000 Has not played since 2009

So the way I see it the top 31 signings yielded 43.1 WAR maybe five other guys that look like they are progressing for a cool $55,815,000. We have several guys that ended up being different people, a guy fighting Murder charges and several guys that where just not good at all. These where the best of the best by Dollars. Almost all of the WAR is from MCab. I really think this is what AM is talking about big money signings are not where the guys that make it come from.

Except, doesn't that actually show that the top 31 are worth it? Around $55 million for 43.1 WAR is a steal. Even if you add in developmental cost.

Now, I am not certain whether that WAR includes years outside of the initial control of the team (which affects the analysis). But I don't see this as a compelling argument in and of itself against big spending. The numbers are also skewed when you include the $ for players signed in the last couple years that have no realistic avenue whatsoever to have earned any WAR. I've bolded some of the names that are performing well or are highly thought of in the minors.

[Can_of_corn]

Wow that list is telling rep to you. I also find it people want us to spend like the Pirates yet the Pirates are still the Pirates.

The season ain't over yet but the Pirates are currently not the Pirates. They are over .500 (39-38) and in fourth place. Of course if they finish the season over .500 and the O's don't, then the O's assume the mantle of franchise with most consecutive seasons with a losing record.

[CSB Jack]

Considering the sample size you are dealing with, I don't think this is particularly useful, no. Why would you lump in kids from all different organizations, awarded bonuses based on completely different scouting systems and decision makers up top, and different relationships with the organizations and the buscones/communities/etc. It would be like only looking at Orioles 1st Round picks across the last 20 years and making a statement as to how much you should spend on a 1st round pick. You have different scouting directors, different draft classes, different baselines for bonuses, etc. I just don't see the utility. If there was a useful way to filter out the noise, I'd love it. But I really don't much care whether or not a Yankees signing in 2002 panned out. What does it have to do with the players eligible this June?

This is exactly what I want to do. My questions earlier were serious, and so far nobody has actually answered them, though you have come the closest by essentially saying "See my previous comments." I have accepted the premise that what the Orioles are doing is inadequate. What I want to know is what is the best way to correct this for the future.

While past performance is no guarantee of future results, as Buck likes to point out there is such a thing as a track record. I want to examine the track records of all the players. In this case the players are the organizations and their effectiveness at scouting, signing, and developing international talent. To a large extent this means Latin America, and particularly the Dominican Republic, but I am not trying to limit the scope of the discussion.

I think some people want to have more international players in the organization just so they can say the Orioles have a strong international presence. I don't care a whit where the players come from, I just want talented ballplayers that make the Orioles a winning franchise. If they can do that by signing 100 guys from the state of Utah I really don't care. It just makes sense to try to broaden your pool beyond a narrow geographic area, hence the value of having strong operations that successfully identify talent outside the US borders and get it into a good player development system.

To your point of being difficult to project toolsy prospects at 16 years of age, that would support the general approach of not signing unproven guys to large bonuses. That is what MacPhail has said he is unwilling to do, not that he has no plans to sign Latin prospects. I am disappointed that he has not apparently placed greater emphasis on building international operations because the reality is that a large percentage of current MLB rosters comes from outside the US, and by not being a player in this arena the Orioles are missing out on a potentially viable way of obtaining prospects that can be developed less expensively than simply buying free agents to stock the ML roster.

What I want to know from an evaluation of the past is where and how is the best way to go about allocating resources? If you want to be best in class, one way to start is to identify the current market leaders, find out what differentiates them from the others, and also look at what has been done before that does NOT work. Then you can at least emulate the ones that are successful. That approach is not as good as being truly innovative, but there is very little chance of getting that out of someone as risk averse as MacPhail. Absent being innovative, what I want to know is what is working for other teams right now, and what is not working. Seriously, if the answer is, "It's a total crapshoot, you just have to spend the money, sign the players, and do your best to develop them", then that's the way it is. But that doesn't really make a compelling argument. You should be able to show that by by spending the money on that crapshoot you are ahead of the game compared to those who don't do that.

[Frobby]

Ok I had nothing to do until the O's played so I went and did my poor Drungo imitation. I found a 2009 article that listed the 31 largest international signings ever and did a where are they now exercise. Here it goes...

So the way I see it the top 31 signings yielded 43.1 WAR maybe five other guys that look like they are progressing for a cool $55,815,000. We have several guys that ended up being different people, a guy fighting Murder charges and several guys that where just not good at all. These where the best of the best by Dollars. Almost all of the WAR is from MCab. I really think this is what AM is talking about big money signings are not where the guys that make it come from.

First of all, major rep to you for doing this.

Second, what's striking to me is that most of these guys are still pretty young, so it's really premature to say that only 5 guys are progressing. Probably we need to revisit this list in about 3-4 years.

[xKHx]

I like to play devils advocate on this because people think if we spend we are going to find Premium Talent when in fact the top players besides Mcab, and Hram most all come from the draft. Albert Puljols, Arod, Agon, Tbag, ManRam, Prince, R. Braun. The list of PREMIUM talent runs through your local draft. I'd say Japan has more talent then the DR as well. I may be in the minority but I think we need better scouts, developers, and a whole minor league system rehaul before we can draft these guys and develop them properly.

[Frobby]

Except, doesn't that actually show that the top 31 are worth it? Around $55 million for 43.1 WAR is a steal. Even if you add in developmental cost.

A steal compared to what? Eyeballing that list, it looks like the range of salaries is roughly equivalent to what the 1st 30 picks in the MLB draft would have gotten as of a few years ago, no?

I can't really draw any conclusions about this until all of the DR players are at an age where you can make a fair assessment.