St. Louis Cardinals: International Signings UPDATE

July 2 was a busy day for the St. Louis Cardinals: nine (maybe ten) international commitments AND a win over the Brewers (and some rain too).

Early yesterday, July 2, I wrote about the St. Louis Cardinals being linked to six players during the international signing period.  As is the case in baseball, much changes in few hours.  To that tune, the news being released today links the Redbirds to a higher number of signings.

According to Baseball America and MLB.com, the St. Louis Cardinals are now reported to hold commitments from nine players through the international pool.  Of interest here is the fact that the St. Louis Cardinals organization decided to go full-in (not all-in) this year blowing past the signing bonus and into penalty territory.

As was discussed yesterday, the international signing pool is slated to change in the new collective bargaining agreement which might completely change or eliminate the signing penalties, etc.  With that said, this was the year for the St. Louis Cardinals to dive head-first into the shallow end (or some other hackneyed phrase).

For more on potential penalties, read Steven’s earlier post.

Let’s a quick look/review/update of the nine names having committed to the St. Louis Cardinals:

• Victor Garcia: Venezuelan, outfield, ranked number ten in Baseball America’s top fifty
  • Reported to have signed a $1.5 million agreement
  • Carlos Soler: Dominican, outfield, ranked number thirty-five in Baseball America’s top fifty
    • Reported to have signed a $600,000 deal
    • Jonathan Machado: Cuban, outfield, ranked number ten in MLB.com’s top prospects
      • Reported to have signed a $2.3 million signing bonus
      • Johan Oviedo: Cuban, right-handed pitcher
        • Reported to have signed a $1.9 million agreement
        • Diomedes Del Rio: Venezuelan, outfield
        • Carlos Soto: Mexican, catcher
          • Reported to have signed a $400,000 deal
          • Franklyn Soto: Dominican, infield
            • Reported to have signed a deal worth $555,000
            • Roy Garcia: Dominican, right-handed pitcher
            • Emmanuel Solano: Dominican, right-handed pitcher

            Our sister sites, Viva El Birdos and The Cardinals Nation have deeper information on many of these names.  Visit my post from yesterday and visit them should you wish to read more.

            More from St Louis Cardinals News

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            • Cardinals: The insane asking price the Athletics had for Sean Murphy
            • St. Louis Cardinals: Ask me anything with Josh Jacobs – 12/8

            According to reports, these nine signings account for roughly seven million dollars.  The St. Louis Cardinals’ allotted bonus pool going into this signing period was $2,027,300.  If the reports are right, this means the Cardinals will face penalties due to their exceeding their allotment.

            Late Saturday night, despite already exceeding the bonus pool, the St. Louis Cardinals were linked to a tenth player through the international pool:

            • Samuel Alexander: Dominican, outfield
              • Reported to have signed $100,000 deal

              Now we wait to see what penalty(ies) might be levied against our St. Louis Cardinals.  We also now wait to see which of these players get their visas and make to the States.  In addition, we wait to see which of these reports are simply inaccurate as surely there are inaccuracies when dealing with international markets.

              Next: International Signings

              What did you think of the work the St. Louis Cardinals completed in this year’s international pool?  Like these selections?  Let us know on Twitter and stay tuned as we will keep you updated as soon as we get more information.