Mariners in **AGREEMENT** with Top 2027 International Free Agent('s**)

[GL_Storm]

I was looking to see if anyone had posted on this. I see it got buried in the 2026 thread. All the Keith Law posts pushed it down the pile. Do u think these kids try and time certain players timelines to theirs when signing with an organization? Meaning, JP only has what, 4-5 years left at most as a starting SS, if that. And thats about how long it takes for these kids to break into the big leagues.

No, that has nothing to do with it. It's almost entirely about the bonus money. Also, from what I understand, the trainers, or Buscones, play a major role in pushing kids towards certain teams. The Buscones typically get a large percentage of the bonus money. So the relationship between team and trainer is pretty important too. It's a terrible system.

The difference in age minimums between Latin players on American and Canadian players is crazy and I can't believe it still exists in 2026. It is like they are basically saying Latin kids are lucky that MLB teams are interested because if they weren't they would probably be making $3 a day working manual labor jobs.

But that is kind of the reality, though I do think things have improved somewhat in the DR at least. Julio's parents, I believe, are more middle class by DR standards. I think I read something similar about Jonatan Clase. But for most of these kids, baseball is their shot out of poverty.

For me, the minimum action that MLB should take is to clamp down on these early verbal commitments. I'm fairly certain these have come about because of the Buscone system. But it makes no sense to commit millions of dollars when a kid is 13 or 14. The incentives in that system aren't good for teams or players.

[D-train]

I went to the DR to vacation in 2016. My former driver was Dominican and I became good friends with him. He got deported back there a couple years earlier. He took us to the Bad parts of the DR which the tourists never see. It was unreal. 3rd World on steroids.