Braves, Padres, A’s Dominate First Day of International Signings

Oakland Athletics

The last time that Oakland dipped their toe in heavy on a single player in the international market, it was enormous young righty Michael Ynoa, giving him a huge bonus only to see him never make it out of A-ball before losing him as a six-year minor league free agent. They’ve obviously been a bit sheepish about going big after one guy since, though they’ve been noted for finding some under the radar talents in that time.

This year, they broke that trend, signing probably the most well-known player in this year’s market, Cuban OF Lazaro Armenteros, also known as Lazarito. He’s a tremendously talented young outfielder that many thought would be signed for big money, but the A’s were able to sign him for “just” $3M. Call To The Pen’s Jason Evans covered the Lazarito signing in more depth on Saturday before the signing became official.

They also signed three other top 50 prospects, including two 7-figure bonuses to #13-ranked Dominican SS Marcos Brito and #24-ranked Dominican shortstop Yerdel Vargas. They also signed Dominican SS George Bell, the son of the player by the same name.

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