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Flexibility key for Dodgers during Draft

LA unlikely to draft by need, will take international market into account

LOS ANGELES -- The 2015 Draft will take place from Monday, June 8, through Wednesday, June 10, beginning with the Draft preview show on MLB.com and MLB Network on Monday at 6 p.m. ET. Live Draft coverage from MLB Network's Studio 42 begins at 7 p.m., with the top 75 picks being streamed on MLB.com and broadcast on MLB Network. MLB.com's exclusive coverage of Day 2 begins with a live Draft show at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, with exclusive coverage of Day 3 beginning at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

MLB.com's coverage includes Draft Central, the Top 200 Draft Prospects list and Draft Tracker, a live interactive application that includes a searchable database of over 1,700 Draft-eligible players. Every selection will be tweeted live from @MLBDraftTracker, and you can also keep up to date by following @MLBDraft. And get into the Draft conversation by tagging your tweets with #mlbdraft.

Complete 2015 Draft coverageHere's how the Draft is shaping up for the Dodgers, whose first selection is the 24th overall pick.

In about 50 words
The Dodgers have four of the first 74 picks: their first- and second-rounders, a compensation pick for Hanley Ramirez and a second-rounder obtained in a trade with Baltimore that cost them $2.75 million in salary for Ryan Webb, which they ate when they quickly released him.

The scoop
This is the first Draft for the new management team. Billy Gasparino is the quarterback as director of amateur scouting, but top brass Andrew Friedman, Farhan Zaidi, Josh Byrnes and David Finley are also heavily involved in what will be a group effort.

First-round buzz
MLB.com's latest mock Draft projects the Dodgers taking University of Florida shortstop Richie Martin. Other potential targets include left-handed pitcher Brady Aiken, last year's unsigned first overall pick, who is coming off Tommy John surgery; UCLA right-handed pitcher James Kaprielian; and Duke right-handed pitcher Mike Matuella, another Tommy John patient. The Dodgers will attempt to spend wildly on international talent this summer, so they have less riding on their first-round pick than most clubs.

Money matters
Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, each team has an allotted bonus pool equal to the sum of the values of that club's selections in the first 10 rounds of the Draft. The more picks a team has, and the earlier it picks, the larger the pool. The signing bonuses for a team's selections in the first 10 rounds, plus any bonus greater than $100,000 for a player taken after the 10th round, will apply toward the bonus-pool total.

Any team going up to 5 percent over its allotted pool will be taxed at a 75 percent rate on the overage. A team that overspends by 5-10 percent gets a 75 percent tax plus the loss of a first-round pick. A team that goes 10-15 percent over its pool amount will be hit with a 100 percent penalty on the overage and the loss of a first- and second-round pick. Any overage of 15 percent or more gets a 100 percent tax plus the loss of first-round picks in the next two Drafts.

The Dodgers have $7,781,700 to spend on their first 10 picks with $2,094,400 designated for the 24th overall pick in the first-round pick and $1,756,100 for the 35th overall pick (compensation for Ramirez). While the team can afford to surpass its allotted pool, it won't hit the penalty threshold for losing a first-round pick.

Shopping list
Sizing up the Dodgers Draft can't be done without considering the club's forays into the international market, both past and future. If they did draft by need, a run-producing first baseman to groom for life after Adrian Gonzalez might be on the list. They've loaded up on international infielders like Hector Olivera, Alex Guerrero and Erisbel Arruebarrena, with mixed results. Olivera is already 30 and Gonzalez is 33, so Corey Seager is the only young infielder on the verge. Depth at catcher is another area of concern. And, as always, starting pitching.

Trend watch
In Logan White's 13 years in charge of the Dodgers' Draft, he took a pitcher first 11 times. White has moved on to San Diego, so it's easier to predict what the Padres will do than the Dodgers. That said, in Gasparino's two Drafts for San Diego, he not only took college position players first both times, but both years five of the first six players he selected were position players. The guess is that this year the Dodgers won't lean in any one direction, but apply a flexible approach without ruling out high school, college, pitchers or position players.

RECENT DRAFT HISTORY

Rising fast
He's young, moving fast and no secret to anybody following Minor League ball. He's Corey Seager, who is tearing it up in Triple-A after only one month at Double-A and has incumbent Jimmy Rollins hearing footsteps at shortstop.

Cinderella story
The best home-grown Cinderella story for the Dodgers is A.J. Ellis, who was drafted in the 18th round in 2003 and spent five years strictly in the Minor Leagues, then another four years shuttling between L.A. and Triple-A before being given a legitimate chance to start.

In The Show
From the current 25-man roster, Ellis (18th round in 2003), Scott Van Slyke (14th round in 2005), Clayton Kershaw (first round in 2006), Joc Pederson (11th round in 2010) and Paco Rodriguez (second round in 2012) were drafted by the Dodgers and developed by their Minor League system.

The Dodgers recent top picks
2014 -- Grant Holmes, RHP, Class A Great Lakes
2013 -- Chris Anderson, RHP, Double-A Tulsa
2012 -- Corey Seager, SS, Triple-A Oklahoma City
2011 -- Chris Reed, LHP, Double-A Tulsa
2010 -- Zach Lee, RHP, Triple-A Oklahoma City

Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com.
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