Since the 2012 Draft, Major League teams have been given bonus pools, an amount of money the organization is allowed to spend over the top 10 rounds without incurring penalties. Last year, the average amount spent by each team was just over $10 million.

We at MLB Pipeline decided to see who could assemble the best team of 10 players (one at each position, plus a right-handed and left-handed pitcher) with a $10 million bonus pool to pay out actual bonus amounts, with the draft pool being any player selected (and signed) in the past 20 years.

There were four of us: Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo, Jason Ratliff and Mike Rosenbaum. Here's how we did:

ROUND 1

1. Jim (from Mike): Mike Trout, OF, $1,215,000
2. Jason: Jacob deGrom, RHP, $95,000
3. Jonathan: Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, $95,000
4. Mike (from Jim): Ian Kinsler, 2B, $30,000

Callis: I wanted the best players at the top of the Draft, not necessarily the best super-discounted players, so I traded up to get Trout. Easy choice for me.

Ratliff: deGrom was similar in value (80 projected WAR) to the big guns at RHP, and at approximately 1/30 of the price. Also considered Mookie Betts, whom I (correctly) assumed Jim was targeting when he offered me picks 8 and 13 for Nos. 2 and 26.

Mayo: I used a combination of relative position scarcity at 1B and savings combined with production (65 PWAR) in targeting Goldschmidt with my first pick.

Rosenbaum: In hindsight, I regret giving Jim the satisfaction of taking Mike Trout with the No. 1 pick. That being said, I felt that there was a lot of value to be had with back-to-back picks in this format and was pumped to get Ian Kinsler, a total bargain, with my first pick.

ROUND 2

5. Mike (from Jim): Joey Votto, 1B $600,000
6. Jonathan: Ben Zobrist, OF/2B, $55,000
7. Jason: Mookie Betts, OF $750,000
8. Jim (from Mike): Nolan Arenado, 3B, $625,000

Rosenbaum: Jonathan may have gotten the best bang for his buck with Goldschmidt, but Votto had the highest WAR (62) among first basemen and only cost me $600,000. By taking him and Kinsler, I built a 117.2-WAR right side of the infield for just $630,000.

Mayo: I went bargain shopping again with Zobrist, who I was surprised to see had amassed a 44.6 WAR. His positional flexibility came in handy later on, too.

Ratliff: Second-highest projected WAR in the Draft for only $750,000. Thought I might end up with Goldy or Arenado here but was pleasantly surprised.

Callis: The two guys I wanted most of all were Trout and Betts, and I couldn’t believe Betts almost got to me. My next two guys were deGrom and Arenado, so I was happy how my trade worked out.

ROUND 3

9. Mike: Russell Martin, C $40,000
10. Jason: Cody Bellinger, OF/1B $700,000
11. Jonathan: Yadier Molina, C, $325,000
12. Jim: Andrelton Simmons, SS, $522,000

Rosenbaum: Buster Posey and Joe Mauer’s respective bonuses made them non-options for me. That left me with either Martin (38.8 WAR) or Molina (40.1), and I chose the former, a decision that ultimately saved me $285,000.

Ratliff: Considered Yadi due to dropoff in value at the position after him and Martin, but thought Bellinger's future relative to his present (PWAR 81/WAR 17.1) and his positional flexibility, which helped later, made him a sneaky good pick.

Mayo: Notice a theme in my early drafting? Position scarcity+low bonus=winning! His 40.1 WAR was enticing at that price and I was honestly surprised renowned Cardinals fan Jason Ratliff didn’t take him ahead of me.

Callis: The shortstop crop was thin and Simmons was a much better buy than the only guys I thought were better players, Francisco Lindor ($2.9 million) and Carlos Correa ($4.8 million).

ROUND 4

13. Jim: Giancarlo Stanton, OF, $475,000
14. Jonathan: Dustin Pedroia, 2B, $575,000
15. Jonathan (from Jason): Marcus Semien, SS $130,000
16. Mike: Cliff Lee, LHP $275,000

Callis: There aren’t 12 well-priced outfielders to stock all of our teams, and Stanton was the second-best six-figure option behind Betts.

Mayo: With Zobrist able to move to the OF, I was able to get Pedroia and his 51.6 WAR, the third-highest total of any eligible 2B. Zobrist, by the way, was the fifth-best OF based on WAR.

Ratliff: Of the 10 biggest bargains in the draft (based on Bonus/PWAR), Semien had the second-highest PWAR (69) behind only deGrom. When I had $ to spend later, I dealt him so I could get the only better SS in the draft.

Rosenbaum: Lee was the fifth-best southpaw based on WAR (43.2), but the four pitchers above him each signed for at least $1 million. Similar to my Russell Martin pick, I feel as though I forced everyone else in the draft to shift their attention to position scarcity by taking Lee.

ROUND 5

17. Mike: J.D. Martinez, OF $30,000
18. Jason: Christian Yelich, OF $1,700,000
19. Jonathan: Clayton Kershaw, LHP, $2,300,000
20. Jim: Zack Greinke, RHP, $2,475,000

Rosenbaum: I considered going big with this pick and taking a multi-million dollar player, but after scrolling through the deep crop of outfielders, Martinez’s value was too good to pass up. I’d also like the record to show that Jonathan messaged me after this pick to say, “Damn. You’re good at this.”

Ratliff: Now have five of the past eight MVPs and Cy Young Award winners. Tried to get pick 19 from Jonathan in a trade here so I could take Kershaw, so I was disappointed to see him go with the next pick.

Mayo: I came into this draft thinking I’d spend on top pitching, and I did just that. As the best LHP on the market (84 PWAR), his price tag was actually fairly reasonable.

Callis: I planned on shifting to expensive guys in the middle rounds, and the Yelich and Kershaw picks right ahead of me only reaffirmed that decision. There were three big-time righties available, with Greinke more cost-efficient than Justin Verlander ($3,120,000) and Max Scherzer ($3,000,000).

ROUND 6

21. Jim: Chase Utley, 2B, $1,780,000
22. Jonathan: Brett Gardner, OF, $210,000
23. Jason: J.T. Realmuto, C $600,000
24. Mike: Justin Verlander, RHP $3,120,000

Callis: Utley made the most sense because the dropoff from him to Howie Kendrick at second base was greater than the difference between Chris Sale to Jon Lester among lefties.

Mayo: Back to the bargain bin bonus-wise for outfield help. Did you know Gardner’s 42.3 WAR was sixth-best among outfielders eligible for this draft? Neither did I, and his 55 PWAR shows he’s not done yet.

Ratliff: Was eyeing Utley here. When Jim took him, I knew I’d take a bargain-bin 2B late. Jim and I were still catcher-less, and knowing neither of us could spend $5M-$6M on Posey or Mauer, I chose to stick him with a considerably lesser (and more expensive) catcher in Brian McCann.

Rosenbaum: All of the money I saved with my first five picks allowed me to go big on Verlander, who had the highest WAR (71.6) among all RHP on the list. This pick ended up accounting for 31.6 percent of my total spending.

ROUND 7

25. Mike: Trevor Story, SS $915,000
26. Jason: Francisco Lindor, SS $2,900,000
27. Jason (from Jonathan): Freddie Freeman, 1B $409,500
28. Jim: Chris Sale, LHP, $1,656,000

Rosenbaum: Returning to the bargain bin after my Verlander pick, I went with Story, who still has plenty of good years ahead of him and cost me less than a million.

Ratliff: Once Jonathan accepted my trade here -- my Nos. 15 (Semien) and 31 for his Nos. 27 and 30 -- I had the rest of my draft plotted out. Unfortunately, I got so caught up in the idea that the trade was for Lindor (which, ultimately, it was), that I took him at 26 when I had planned to take Sale or Hamels and wait on Lindor since the other three already had their shortstops. As it turns out, I got Matt Chapman, Jon Lester and Jeff McNeil with my final three picks instead of Josh Donaldson and either Chris Sale and D.J. LeMahieu or Cole Hamels and Howie Kendrick. I’m OK with that.

Callis: Thanks, Jason. I understood why he made the trade, but he could have taken Lindor in the 10th round and gotten the better lefty.

ROUND 8

29. Jim: Lorenzo Cain, OF, $95,000
30. Jason (from Jonathan): Matt Chapman, 3B $1,750,000
31. Jonathan (from Jason): Aaron Judge, OF, $1,800,000
32. Mike: Josh Donaldson, 3B $652,000

Callis: I’m getting the last catcher and first baseman with my last two choices, so taking Cain allows me to get the best possible combo.

Ratliff: Elected to go with Chapman over Donaldson here, which meant I’d have to go with Lester for $1 million rather than Hamels for $2 million for my lefty. Of the 15 players in the Draft with the highest projected WAR, this gives me seven of them.

Mayo: I needed one outfielder and one third baseman, knowing I had enough to take whatever RHP I wanted. The best combination started with Judge and his 66 PWAR, knowing Mike would likely take the 3B I wanted.

Rosenbaum: Needing a third baseman, this pick came down to Donaldson or Jose Bautista. Since there wasn’t a huge difference in WAR or price between the two, I went with the still-active Donaldson to round out my infield.

ROUND 9

33. Mike: George Springer, OF $2,525,000
34. Jason: Jon Lester, LHP $1,000,000
35. Jonathan: Max Scherzer, RHP, $3,000,000
36. Jim: Anthony Rizzo, 1B, $325,000

Rosenbaum: With $4,338,000 left in the bank and two outfield spots to fill, I targeted active players still in their prime. Springer fit that description to a T, though, in hindsight, I probably could have taken an inactive player with a higher WAR and been fine.

Ratliff: I went almost exclusively with young stars who have many years ahead of them. Lester was the exception. My team’s average Draft year was 2010. The average for each of the other three teams was 2006.

Mayo: Being able to take my RHP-3B combination in any order, I made my biggest buy of the draft with Scherzer and his 87 PWAR. There was a huge dropoff on the RHP list, so any other combination to save money wouldn’t have made sense.

Callis: If I hadn’t gone Cain/Rizzo, the next-best pairing would have been Curtis Granderson ($469,000) and Kevin Youkilis ($12,000).

ROUND 10

37. Jim: Brian McCann, C, $750,000
38. Jonathan: David Wright, 3B, $960,000
39. Jason: Jeff McNeil, 2B $50,000
40. Mike: Jason Heyward, OF $1,700,000

Callis: Kurt Suzuki ($550,000) and Jonathan Lucroy ($340,000) were the other options at catcher.

Ratliff: I bought a squirrel for $50,000! The 2013 12th-round pick has been fantastic for the Mets over his first two seasons (.896 OPS/142 OPS+) and is a massive bargain at $50K.

Mayo: I coveted Donaldson and thought about Evan Longoria with a cheaper RHP option, but this made the most sense given Wright was second on the 3B list in WAR, behind Longo.

Rosenbaum: Several outfielders fell just outside my price range for my last pick -- Andrew McCutchen ($1.9 million), namely -- but I was happy to get Heyward, who had the ninth-highest WAR (36.9) among outfielders.