2016-17 International Bonus Pools

Teams received their international bonus pool allotments from the commissioner’s office for the 2016-17 signing period, which begins on July 2.

The pools are determined based on reverse order of major league winning percentage in 2015, so teams already knew roughly what their pool would be based on last year’s pool allotments. The Phillies have the highest bonus pool ($5,610,800) after finishing with the worst record, while the Cardinals have the lowest pool ($2,027,300) for having the best record. Each bonus pool is increased around 3-4 percent from last year.

Several teams, however, will be restricted in how they can spend their pool space. As a penalty for exceeding their pools in previous signing periods, there are 10 teams so far that are officially in the penalty box for the 2016-17 signing period and will be unable to sign a player subject to the pools for more than $300,000. Those teams—the Angels, Blue Jays, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Rays, Red Sox, Royals and Yankees—can still spend their entire pool allotment, they just can’t give more than $300,000 to one player.

Players are exempt from the bonus pools if they are at least 23 and have played at least five seasons in a foreign professional league, such as Cuban outfielder Guillermo Heredia or infielder Luis Yander La O, so those restrictions don’t apply to those players or the teams penalized for exceeding their pools.

At least four teams—the Braves, Cardinals, Nationals and Padres—are planning to exceed their 2016-17 bonus pools, and others might also join them.

Club	International
Phillies	$5,610,800
Reds	$5,163,400
Braves	$4,766,000
Rockies	$4,412,700
Brewers	$4,098,500
Athletics	$3,818,700
Marlins	$3,569,600
Padres	$3,347,600
Tigers	$3,150,000
White Sox	$2,973,500
Mariners	$2,875,400
Red Sox	$2,783,800
Diamondbacks	$2,697,400
Rays	$2,615,900
Orioles	$2,539,600
Indians	$2,467,400
Twins	$2,399,100
Nationals	$2,335,000
Giants	$2,274,400
Angels	$2,217,300
Astros	$2,197,000
Yankees	$2,177,100
Rangers	$2,157,400
Mets	$2,138,200
Dodgers	$2,118,900
Blue Jays	$2,100,200
Royals	$2,081,200
Cubs	$2,063,100
Pirates	$2,044,800
Cardinals	$2,027,300