I am hoping the Royals can keep grabbing highend International Players. Here is this years Top 20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 2012 draft was unusual for several reasons. Aside from the new rules, there was little consensus about who the best player in the draft was or how teams had the top of their boards lined up.

In the world of scouting 15- and 16-year-old international free agents, that lack of consensus is more routine. One team might view a player as a $1 million prospect, while another sees the same kid as a $100,000 guy.

The best players usually rise to the top, though there is always disagreement about even who those players are. And there are always players who sign for bonuses that leave scouts from other teams scratching their heads. There have always been bonuses given out for questionable reasons, but this year there will be a new twist with the $2.9 million bonus limit for each team—and the relative ease with which teams could bend the rules if they want.

So in our international amateur rankings, we are doing things a little differently. In the past we have ranked players based on their expected signing bonuses, but this year we have ranked the top 20 players in the international market for July 2 based on talent, just as we do with our draft rankings. We aren't sure exactly how the bonuses will line up, but our rankings are an attempt to capture the scouting consensus of the industry—to the degree that it exists. The list does not include players who have already been eligible to sign or suspended players, like Dominican righthander Juan Carlos Paniagua.

The players at the top of the list have separated themselves, but after you get past the top 15 or 20 you'll find a large pool of players who generate a wider variance of opinion and are fairly close together in terms of value. For that reason, we cut the list off at 20. We will continue to add more scouting reports on notable players in the coming days, as well as a team-by-team forecast for Baseball America subscribers, who can read full scouting reports on the top 20 players.

1. Franklin Barreto, ss/cf, Venezuela
2. Luis Torrens, c, Venezuela (video)
3. Jose Mujica, rhp, Venezuela (video)
4. Alexander Palma, of, Venezuela (video)
5. Gustavo Cabrera, of, Dominican Republic (video)
6. Jose Castillo, lhp, Venezuela (video)
7. Luiz Gohara, lhp, Brazil
8. Carlos Belen, 3b, Dominican Republic (video)
9. Luis Castro, ss, Venezuela
10. Wendell Rijo, ss, Dominican Republic (video)
11. Amed Rosario, ss, Dominican Republic (video)
12. Amaurys Minier, ss, Dominican Republic (video)
13. Richard Urena, ss, Dominican Republic (video)
14. David Rodriguez, c, Venezuela (video)
15. Deivi Grullon, c, Dominican Republic (video)
16. Julio de la Cruz, 3b, Dominican Republic (video)
17. Jose Almonte, rhp, Dominican Republic
18. Sergio Alcantara, ss, Dominican Republic
19. Frandy de la Rosa, ss, Dominican Republic (video)
20. Jose Pujols, of, Dominican Republic (video)

these players are all being scooped up. so far, nothing from the royals.

The new CBA will make it tougher & tougher for the Royals to get the best international players. They can't just outbid other teams for them now.

If you were a player from Panama, and the Red Sox offered you $600K, and the Royals offered you $600K...whose offer are you more apt to take? Just another cost of running a poor organization.

i wouldnt sell 'em out that short. the royals international presence grew more rapidly than any other organization of late. they have an academy in latin america with broad operations.

since they've signed plenty of international players recently, that only helps to solidify their presence in the market. if you picked a different team with comparable international stout like the rangers then perhaps they might lose out but the red sox have hardly made a name for themselves for anyone to suggest a player would choose them over the royals....said player might even go with the mariners over boston.

lol

haha yep.
just saying... the sox must have signed more than 100 international players over the years. how many have graduated to play regularly on the major league squad? theres dice-k, always liked doubront...hanley and anibal were traded...it still doesnt hit double digits.

anyway, yankees>red sox. simple as that.

"but the red sox have hardly made a name for themselves"

"he sox must have signed more than 100 international players over the years."

lol

up to your clever antics again i see.

there are jewels and then there are phonies. the sox have alot of the latter. (organizational depth)

sly boy!

lol, your blind optimism over anything minors is so bordering on willful ignorance that your posts are showing blatant cognitive dissonance.

First you try to say that the Royals will have a leg up on a team like the Red Sox because they have been major players in the international market, then you try to change the argument to the Red Sox have a leg down because they haven't had any good international signings (while somehow trying to discount Hanly Ramirez, Daisuke, etc...).

Neither argument is tenable, because, as you yourself admitted, the Red Sox have signed hundreds of players from the international market over the years and have been major players themselves in international signings. And the Royals haven't had any good international signings for at least 15 years (until Perez), so they aren't going to have a leg up on anybody in saying their international players go on to be productive major leaguers.

It's truly funny to watch you try to spin everything.

We should also remember that Allard Baird scored a lot of frequent flyer miles cross-checking "prospects" on any part of the globe. He was also the one who launched the Dominican academy, and we were told when they hired Tony Pena that it would give us a leg up there. Pena was/is an icon on his home island.

All that has meant doodly-squat so far. Even Perez, our lone international signee who has made it, is a Venezuelan.

Now this isn't to say that some of those teenaged millionaires might not make it some day. Or that the Royals should back out of the Latin American market.

But I'm from Missouri. Show me. When they start producing, then I'll say our foray into the Latin American market has been productive.

"first you try to say that the Royals will have a leg up on a team like the Red Sox because they have been major players in the international market" they are. at this moment. period.

"then you try to change the argument to the Red Sox have a leg down". Royals leg up. Red Sox leg down. lol right. who's got cognitive dissonance?

i'd think anyone should have the sense to tread carefully when they lack comprehensive knowledge on a topic. otherwise, you just get a spinmaster like yourself who will mince other peoples words to make it seems as though you are the authority.

what contributions do you believe you can make when the likelihood is that you did not know much..scratch that..you still may not know much about the international market? i'm willing to bet you have not trekked to any baseball academy in south america or asia to get a first hand whim of how things work.

the youthful exuberance of many of the kids who believe that sports is the ticket to a better life; not just the talented ones.

the red sox are not major players for being a philanthropic organization. how many times beyond dice-k have they landed a heralded international talent? you know the answer. at least you should your highness. i dont give them credit for winning with a large sum of cash in a blind bid. if you still disagree...oh well.

the royals would not have landed a talent like Elier Hernandez had they not built up their overseas operations. Had he gone elsewhere, you'd be talking about the rangers or bluejays before you name the sox.

Anyway, it would suit the Royals to continue to do well in the market because across the I-70 the Cardinals have been doing it better in my opinion.

lol and spin spin spin. When was the last time the Red Sox landed a major international talent outside of Daisuke? Guess it depends on your idea of what major means. They signed, largely because of their deep pockets, Jose Iglesias. You know, the kid who defected with Arguelles. I'm sure you're balls deep in love with Noel, even though he has been downright awful, while Iglesias has already made it to the majors.

They just signed #17 on that list up there, and made sure to sign Tzu Wei Lin before the July 2nd signing day so it wouldn't count against their cap. He would have been on that list as well. Ohh ya, the Royals have yet to sign a single one of them.

Ohh ya, there was some guy named Hanley Ramirez too.

Of course I could probably keep going on and on, but it's not really necessary as this is just a red herring you tried to get going to distract from your spin again.

The writing is all right there. That's the bad thing for you about the internet, this stuff doesn't go away. You tried to make a couple of arguments that don't bear fruit, and when you got called out on it, you're trying to spin your obvious failure.

at the very least it seems we both agree the other person is spinning things. you are very good with your diction and being surgical with your words; reminds me of myself (when i'm actually not talking out of my @$$). i respect ya because of that regardless of the fact that you have to conjure up your rebuttal from opening up another tab in your internet browser and looking it up at the precise moment(something i do not need to do).

for the most part, i can say that i know anyone's favorite team (in any sport) better than they could. this is an effect of being in tune and attentive in advance. this being a lousy forum allows gives me the luxury to be lousy.

Yes, Arguelles was fun to watch as a piggyback partner to Michael Mariot but clearly he doesnt have stamina to be a starter. Meanwhile, Mariot is still an underrated royals prospects i always said i liked better.

to that effect, i dont see why it would be a bad thing that stuff doesnt go away. perhaps that is how you feel.

Anonymity. you'd never know who i was and wouldn't be able to find out. I certainly would know who i was talking to as a member of this bureaucracy that oppresses civil rights. its conceivable we may have even shared a conversation in person and agreed on many issues....maybe i just like pulling your leash.

R's made an international signing - 16 year old Venezuelan 3B. Not on BA's list of top 20.

ht tp://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2012/07/royals-sign-samir-duenez-for-425000/