Marlins, Rays Enter 2025 International Signing Period With Maximum Bonus Pool

The Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays are among the eight MLB teams that will have roughly $7.6 million to spend on international amateur free agents starting Wednesday.

Apr 11, 2019; Cincinnati, OH, USA; A view of a New Era Miami Marlins hat in the dugout during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

The 2025 international signing period is slated to open on Wednesday, and a few teams will be flush with cash.

The most any team has in its bonus pool entering the start of the cycle is $7.56 million. Eight teams have been given that much to spend by MLB, including the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays.

Miami is reportedly gearing up to spend roughly half of that budget on Venezuelan center fielder/shortstop Andrew Salas, plus some more on top Dominican pitcher Kevin DeFarnk. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, has handshake agreements with Dominican position players Maykel Coret and Raymer Medina that can become official Wednesday.

None of the teams with the maximum bonus pool are in the running for 23-year-old Japanese ace Roki Sasaki, who narrowed his list of suitors down to the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.

Teams can trade for up to 60% above their allotted bonus pool, and perhaps that is what the Dodgers, Padres and Blue Jays will do so they can increase their bids for Sasaki. Maybe the Marlins, Rays, Athletics or other teams at the top will be willing to part ways with some of their own budgets in order to pick up prospects or players from those teams desperate for spendable cash.

As it stands, though, here is how much each club has to work with:

$7,555,500: Athletics, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays

$6,908,600: Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates

$6,261,600: Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles, Angels, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals

$5,646,200: Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals

$5,146,200: Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants

Teams have to give up $500K from their international bonus pool if they sign a free agent who had rejected a qualifying offer from another team. As a result, the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals had their budgets slashed after signing Josh Hader and Sonny Gray, respectively, last offseason. Signing Shohei Ohtani cost the Dodgers $1 million due to the competitive balance tax, while the San Francisco Giants were also docked $1 million for signing bonus Matt Chapman and Blake Snell.

Players must be born between Sept. 1, 2007, and Aug. 31, 2008, to be eligible for the 2025 international amateur period.

Follow Fastball On SI on social media

Continue to follow our Fastball On SI coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter @FastballFN.

You can also follow Sam Connon on Twitter @SamConnon.