International signing question

[jim]

I just read a very interesting and disturbing article in Baseball America. It turns out this July 2 date is basically b-s - that oral agreements with players happen in the winter showcases. Players not committed by January are now being referred to as "passed over", which is what they used to call the guys who didn't sign on July 2. They said most MLB teams have their entire allotment "spent" by Jan 1. Sure it's not formally binding, a player could verbally commit and then change his mind, but they said the agents don't want to burn bridges so it doesn't happen very often.

The consequence? Well teams start turning their attention to the next years class - 15 year olds. And they say it's accelerated to the point where many teams are spending their allotment on 15 years olds, which means they start scouting 14 year olds. One scout said he was at a tryout for 12-13 year olds.

Teams used to get 6 signings under $50k that were exempt, that rule is out in 2015. So instead of teams looking for those hidden gems, they really have no incentive to scout the 16 year old class so they turn their attention to the next class.

This has a lot of scary implications imo.