ST. LOUIS -- The Brewers still have room in their international budget to explore additional signings after agreeing to terms with nine players on Saturday, general manager David Stearns said, leaving open the possibility of pursuing prospects whose contracts with the Red Sox reportedly were recently voided.
According to multiple reports, Boston's agreements with five players from last year's signing period were voided because of alleged violations in distributing bonuses. Neither the Red Sox nor Major League Baseball had issued statements on the matter, but the players involved are outfielders Albert Guaimaro and Simon Muzziotti, infielders Antonio Pinero and Eduardo Torrealba and right-hander Cesar Gonzalez.
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MLB.com has learned that a workout will be held for the five players on Tuesday in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and clubs may also have the players participate in private workouts at their academies. According to the original Yahoo! Sports report, the first $300,000 of bonuses for those players will not count against bonus-pool limits for the teams that sign them. Additionally, the players will keep their original signing bonuses from Boston.
"I'm not going to comment on any specific player, but I'd say that we're certainly going to do our due diligence on any available player that's out there at this point," Stearns said. "To the extent that there are newly available, premium-type talents, we're certainly going to be involved with them."
The Brewers have about a quarter of their $4,098,500 pool total remaining after finalizing nine agreements on Saturday, when the international signing period opened. Unlike 2014, when the Brewers directed all of their funds to one top prospect, infielder Gilbert Lara, they spread around the risk this year, with the top bonus going to outfielder Pablo Abreu, who received $800,000.