2019-20 MLB International Bonus Pools

Image credit: Gabriel Rodriguez (Photo by Bill Mitchel

Teams have learned how much international bonus pool space they will have for the upcoming 2019-20 signing period, which opens on July 2.

$6,481,200 Pool
Arizona D-backs
Baltimore Orioles
Cleveland Indians
Colorado Rockies
Kansas City Royals
Pittsburgh Pirates
San Diego Padres
St. Louis Cardinals

$5,939,800 Pool
Cincinnati Reds
Miami Marlins
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Twins
Oakland Athletics
Tampa Bay Rays

$5,398,300 Pool
Boston Red Sox
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Detroit Tigers
Houston Astros
Los Angeles Angels
New York Mets
New York Yankees
San Francisco Giants
Seattle Mariners
Texas Rangers
Toronto Blue Jays

$4,821,400 Pool
Los Angeles Dodgers
Philadelphia Phillies

$4,321,400 Pool
Washington Nationals

$0 Pool
Atlanta Braves

There are 12 teams that will each have $5,398,300 in their pool. Clubs that get a “Competitive Balance Pick” in Round A of the draft get an extra $541,500 each in their pool, while the clubs that get a “Competitive Balance Pick” in Round B get an extra $1,082,900 in their pool. So the teams Major League Baseball classifies as smaller market or smaller revenue clubs get some extra bonus pool space.

The Dodgers and Phillies had their pools reduced by $500,000 each for signing A.J. Pollock and Bryce Harper as free agents who received a qualifying offer. The Nationals signed Patrick Corbin as a qualifying offer free agent and, since they exceeded the luxury tax last season, they lost $1 million from their pool.

Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel are both still free agents who received qualifying offers, so the final numbers for each team’s bonus pool still change before July 2.

MLB reduced the Braves’ bonus pool to $0 this year as part of their penalty for international signing violations. Signings of $10,000 or less are exempt from the bonus pools, so even though the Braves have no bonus pool space, they can still sign players for up to $10,000.

The bonus pools are hard capped, which began two years ago in the 2017-18 period. This year will be the first that no teams will be limited to signings of $300,000 or less as a penalty for having exceeded their bonus pool under the previous system, when teams were allowed to go over.

Once the 2019-20 signing period opens, teams can trade for up to an additional 60 percent of their original bonus pool allocation.