A Shift In The Balance Of Power

Yesterday, the Oakland Athletics, owners of baseball's third lowest payroll, spent $4.25 million signing bonus on a 16-year old pitcher from the Dominican Republic named Michael Inoa. These are the same A's that only draft college pitchers and are notorious for tight hold on their wallet, as they have either traded or let high-profile players leave as free agents. Barry Zito, Jason Giambi, Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson, and Miguel Tejada are just a few of the players that no longer don Oakland hats because they were too expensive for the A's to keep. However, yesterday's signing may indicate a change in the thinking of the braintrust of the Oakland A's.

The Oakland A's 2008 payroll is roughly $48 million. The A's are giving the equivalent of 9% of their payroll to a 16-year old kid, someone that has an incredibly slim chance of even making it to the Major Leagues. Even if Inoa eventually makes it to the Major Leagues, it likely will not be until 2013 or 2014 at the earliest. If Inoa turns out to be a bust, the A's will end up wasting valuable money for a small-market team that cannot afford to spend like the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.

The A's aren't the only small-market team that has spent large amount of money on young talent in Latin America. The Cincinnati Reds gave 17 year old Juan Duran a $2 million bonus in March. The San Diego Padres spent $5 million to sign 4 Latin ballplayers. The Reds own a payroll of $74 million, 18th highest in baseball, while San Diego owns the 19th highest payroll in baseball with a $73.6 million mark. However, while the millions of dollars that these small-market teams are handing out may seem high, they are spending much less than they would be if they had drafted the same players in the MLB Draft.

By allowing teams to sign Latin American players instead of sending them to the draft, it gives the small-market teams a chance to obtain the same talent that they normally can't afford by selecting a player in the MLB Draft. A player selected in the draft commands a much larger bonus than the ones handed out to Inoa and other Latin ballplayers. This allows small-market teams to compete with the big-market teams and make a run at the World Series. For the small-market teams to still have hope, they will need to hope that the big-market teams do not open up their wallets to try to acquire Latin talent.

So far, the ability and the success that small-market teams such as Oakland, Cincinnati, and San Diego have had in signing Latin ballplayers have helped level the playing field, as these teams cannot afford to sign big money free agents and draft potentially expensive high school and/or college players. Whether or not the Latin ballplayers signed by these teams turn out to be good Major Leaguers has yet to be determined. However, they give the small-market teams the oppurtunity to compete with the big boys in their quest for a World Series Championship. One day, the playing field may be leveled because of the Latin presence on small-market ballclubs.