Via Melissa Segura and Kevin Goldstein, one item on the table during talks between the owners and players assocation about a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is a cap for spending on international free agents and the draft. Segura says the IFA cap would be between $2-2.5M annually, though she’s unclear if that is for all countries or just the Dominican Republic. A draft spending cap would not include hard slotting.
Obviously, this would be very bad news for the Yankees. The IFA market is the backbone of their farm system and has been for two decades now, simply because they can throw their money around (as well as the Yankees brand) and sign almost anyone they want. A $2.5M cap is nothing, the Yankees spent more than double that in 2010 alone. Coming into the season, the team’s top three prospects (and five of their top nine) were originally signed as IFAs. The new CBA should be announced relatively soon, and it sure seems like spending on amateur players will be restricted in some way. For shame.
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