The top 8 prospects in baseball are international signees

[Cumberbundy]

11 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

It's crazy that they are actually scaling back spending in that area.  What is weird is that they have been fairly successful when they have pursued the market.   If I am Calvin Maduro I'm looking for a new job.  He's too good for the O's.

I'm trying to make a comparison without involving politics, we are keeganakin to flat earthers. We plan to watch the other teams fall of the side of the planet as we sit in a bunker with our canned peas. 

To give our scouts zero access to the guys who fill nearly the entire top 10 prospects & who comprise the majority of several teams top 10, & even the place where we found our 2017 all star is exacerbating. To move in opposition to common knowledge is suicide for the franchise long term. We will not compete for long. 

It's not going to be all that different from staying out of the African American market as an NBA team. We are the Jazz. ☹️

[Frobby]

12 minutes ago, Cumberbundy said:

I'm trying to make a comparison without involving politics, we are keeganakin to flat earthers. We plan to watch the other teams fall of the side of the planet as we sit in a bunker with our canned peas. 

To give our scouts zero access to the guys who fill nearly the entire top 10 prospects & who comprise the majority of several teams top 10, & even the place where we found our 2017 all star is exacerbating. To move in opposition to common knowledge is suicide for the franchise long term. We will not compete for long. 

It's not going to be all that different from staying out of the African American market as an NBA team. We are the Jazz. ☹️

We are not spending zero in Latin America.    We are spending less than we are permitted to spend.    Exactly how much less isn't clear.   

I think it's a serious issue, but I also think you're exaggerating the degree to which the top players come from Latin America.    This year, for example, 181 players have debuted in the majors.   50 of them came from outside the draft.   That's a very healthy percentage (27.6%), but it's nowhere near a majority.   In terms of WAR produced so far, only 2 of the top 10 came from outside the draft.    So if the current top 8 prospects are international signees, that's a bit of an anomoly IMO.

Again, I don't mean to minimize the issue.    

[Cumberbundy]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

We are not spending zero in Latin America.    We are spending less than we are permitted to spend.    Exactly how much less isn't clear.   

I think it's a serious issue, but I also think you're exaggerating the degree to which the top players come from Latin America.    This year, for example, 181 players have debuted in the majors.   50 of them came from outside the draft.   That's a very healthy percentage (27.6%), but it's nowhere near a majority.   In terms of WAR produced so far, only 2 of the top 10 came from outside the draft.    So if the current top 8 prospects are international signees, that's a bit of an anomoly IMO.

Again, I don't mean to minimize the issue.    

But the game is moving in a pretty clear direction and we are blissfully ignoring it while giving other teams extra resources. A majority of the NBA didn't used to be African American but a majority of its best players were. The majority of D1 college football players were white about 10 years ago but the majority in the NFL was not. Now the NFL is 70% African American with 40% of college players being white. The Latin American players play year round & the growth in investment is only going to widen the gap, it's not going to go back. Things that evolve this way continue to progress, it's going to get more pronounced not less so. 

We aren't in any division, we are in with the two biggest spenders in the game. We need to look under more rocks than they do, not fewer. 

[Cumberbundy]

I hope I'm wrong, I do not root for my opinions just the O's. 

[sportsfan8703]

57 minutes ago, Cumberbundy said:

I'm trying to make a comparison without involving politics, we are keeganakin to flat earthers. We plan to watch the other teams fall of the side of the planet as we sit in a bunker with our canned peas. 

To give our scouts zero access to the guys who fill nearly the entire top 10 prospects & who comprise the majority of several teams top 10, & even the place where we found our 2017 all star is exacerbating. To move in opposition to common knowledge is suicide for the franchise long term. We will not compete for long. 

It's not going to be all that different from staying out of the African American market as an NBA team. We are the Jazz. ☹️

No, it would be the equivalent of staying out of the international market in basketball. Using your 2nd round picks on American college guys and not doing the "draft and stash" theory. 

We were already not spending a lot on international talent. Now it appears we've scaled back to bare minimum. We got rid of out Venezuelan team a few years ago. We got rid of our 2nd Dominican league team. I think it's obvious that we are pumping every bit of money we have into the MLB team. That's the strategy. DD is just working the best at what he has. 

[Frobby]

49 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

No, it would be the equivalent of staying out of the international market in basketball. Using your 2nd round picks on American college guys and not doing the "draft and stash" theory. 

We were already not spending a lot on international talent. Now it appears we've scaled back to bare minimum. We got rid of out Venezuelan team a few years ago. We got rid of our 2nd Dominican league team. I think it's obvious that we are pumping every bit of money we have into the MLB team. That's the strategy. DD is just working the best at what he has. 

Good analogy.

[Chavez Ravine]

This is a bit off topic, but could a country like the Dominican Republic file a grievance with the WTO or GATT claiming MLB's system (and by extension the U.S. via the antitrust exemption) violated some international fair trade agreement?