Dominican shortstop prospect Darrel Morrell Morel was originally scheduled to sign with the Dodgers when the 2025 international signing period opens on Jan. 15, but Baseball America’s Ben Badler reports that Morel will now sign a deal worth close to $1.8MM Bonus signed with the Buccaneers. That’s about double the amount Morel received from Los Angeles.
There is nothing inappropriate about such a deal, as none of these signings are official until they are officially signed on January 15th. Advisors/trainers will often have these trades arranged well in advance of the player’s year of eligibility. Players in the 2025 class are at least 16 years old or will turn 16 before Sept. 1, but many prospects are regularly linked to teams as early as 13 or 14 years old.
What makes the 2025 international signing class so unusual is that Riki SaakiA move from Nippon Professional Baseball to the major leagues at the age of 23 made him eligible for the international market. By the time he turns 25, Sasaki will be eligible to become a free agent (within the confines of the MLB/NPB release system), giving him a chance to earn a potentially massive nine-figure contract. Yoshinobu YamamotoBut Sasaki chose to bet on himself and start his major league career as soon as possible.
Sasaki is a highly sought-after prospect and his future MLB team is expected to give up their entire international bonus pool to sign him. It’s worth noting that money obviously wasn’t the main factor in Sasaki’s choice of an MLB franchise, but since this bonus will temporarily represent all of his official MLB earnings, it stands to reason that he’ll be looking to get a generous payday within the bonus pool system. within limits.
Since Sasaki won’t sign until after January 15th, this has quite a ripple effect on the entire international class. As Butler said, “At least six teams believe they are still in the running to sign Sasaki. That means at least 20% of the league’s 2025 international signings are in limbo.”
Morel is not considered one of the elite members of the 2025 class, as MLB Pipeline did not include the shortstop in its top 50 list of top international prospects of the year. However, with the Dodgers considered one of the top candidates to sign Sasaki, Morell was unable to guarantee that his prearranged deal with Los Angeles would materialize, so he opted to sign with the Pirates. Of course, it may also help that Pittsburgh is willing to add around $900,000 to Morell’s bonus.
It has not yet been specified whether the Buccaneers gave up some of their own deals to sign Morel or whether there is enough room left in their own international bonus pool to accommodate Morel within their $6,908,600 bonus pool limit Inside. Badler noted that some clubs have set aside money in their pools specifically to take advantage of some of the prospects that may emerge due to the uncertainty surrounding Sasaki. “Some teams are already working with other teams to identify committed players,” Badler wrote. And coaches have taken unusual steps to prepare their players for a new round of selections.
Several players have already received offers from other teams, so for the Dodgers and the six other clubs who have reportedly met with Sasaki himself, continued interest in Sasaki’s 2025 international commitments to these seven teams It’s a potential danger signal. As Butler noted, the “worst case scenario” for a team would be “that they hold off on signing Sasaki in hopes of landing Sasaki, and their top player looks elsewhere after January 15th, only to have them go elsewhere.” Sasaki signed with another player.” Anyway, team. “This could result in some unlucky clubs losing Sasaki, losing a large portion of the 2025 international pool and damaging relationships with the Buscone community in future deals.
While coaches may view 2025 as a unique situation due to Sasaki’s situation, even if certain teams don’t completely close the door on handshake deals, that doesn’t help those teams’ chances of signing any star players. Will handle it. Of course, the biggest impact is on the 2025 prospects themselves, some of whom will find themselves missing out on life-changing bonuses that their families have been counting on for years. Some prospects like Morell will be lucky enough to receive higher bonuses, but a large number of teenage prospects will see their careers and lives changed in the aftermath.
