Cashman: Pool money will be used
The Yankees now know they will not land Shohei Ohtani, but Brian Cashman vowed the $3.5 million in international pool dollars they had earmarked for the best player in Japan will be spent.
“We have between now and June [15th, to be precise] to use it and we will do so,” Cashman said.
In normal years there would not be much left to spend on since most of the best international amateur free agents are officially signed soon after the July 1 date to do so.
But this has not been a normal period in baseball what with this unique posting of Ohtani, the availability of the player with the largest guaranteed contract in history (Giancarlo Stanton) and the sudden free agency of 13 international signings made by the Braves in conjunction with the penalties imposed by MLB against Atlanta for subverting international rules to sign players.
That group of 13 includes Kevin Maitan, who not long ago was signed for $4.25 million by the Braves and considered one of the game’s best prospects. The shortstop lost some of that praise this season playing at the rookie level and looking thicker than he did when he was an amateur. But he is just 17 and a switch hitter.
The Yankees are looking to add catching prospects and Abraham Gutierrez, who received a $3.53 million signing bonus in the same 2016 class as Maitan, also is free, as are middle infielders Ji-Hwan Bae, Yunior Severino and Livan Soto, and pitchers Yefri Del Rosario and Juan Contreras, among others.
Jonathan Mayo, who writes about prospects for MLB.com, said the Yankees were looking closely at Severino and also Julio Pablo Severino, who has a showcase planned for Friday. Julio Pablo Severino, 21, is a center fielder who at the time of his defection was considered one of the best players in Cuba.
“I wouldn’t say,” Cashman said about what players interest him. “We have been in the position and continue to be in the position to evaluate what is available. We never acted as if we had any knowledge that we could get Ohtani, so we evaluated the whole marketplace.”
The Yankees actually made four trades in the last year — two with Baltimore, one with Miami and the Sonny Gray deal with Oakland — in which they obtained bonus international pool money. It was done foremost to position them well for Ohtani, but the extra dollars are still there.