Rockies assigned $8.3 million for Draft bonus pool

DENVER -- The Rockies will have $8,348,300 for bonuses to be paid among their 11 picks in the first 10 rounds of this year's MLB First-Year Player Draft, according to Draft pool figures obtained by MLB.com.

If the pool money (based on inverse order of last year's standings) is averaged out and given strictly to the players the Rockies choose in their first 10 rounds, plus their Competitive Balance Round A choice between the first and second rounds, each player would receive $758,845.

However, the higher the round, the greater the pick is valued, according to the assigned pick values. The eighth overall pick, which belongs to the Rockies, is slotted at $3,190,800, their Competitive Balance Round A pick at 35th overall is slotted at $1,614,500, and their second-round pick at 48th overall is $1,158,000.

There is wiggle room with slots, based on negotiations. For example, a team can select a college player who is unlikely to return to school and negotiate a bonus lower than the slotted value, and some of that money can be used to go above slot to entice a high school player who is weighing a college offer.

In addition to the 11 players in the first 10 rounds, the Rockies may use bonus pool money for players from rounds 11-40 who receive signing bonuses of $100,000 or greater.

A club that exceeds its Draft pool by 0-5 percent pays a 75-percent tax on the overage. The penalties get much more severe at higher thresholds: the loss of a first-round pick and a 75-percent tax for surpassing it by more than 5 and up to 10 percent; the loss of first- and second-rounders and a 100-percent tax for more than 10 and up to 15 percent; and the loss of two first-rounders and a 100-percent tax for more than 15 percent.

In the first two years under these rules, teams have exceeded their Draft pools a total of 22 times, but never by more than 5 percent.

The Rockies also will have an international bonus pool of $1,404,500 -- based on a system also based on reverse order of last year's final standings.

The money can go to players not eligible for the Draft. Generally, this means players who are from outside of the U.S., U.S. territories and Canada. Players at high schools and colleges in the U.S., regardless of country of origin, are Draft-eligible.

The international signing period begins July 2.

In addition to establishing a total pool, Major League Baseball has established values for 120 slots. It's as if each team has four "rounds," and those rounds have a specific value.

But because there is no international draft and there are no restrictions on how to spend the money, teams can use the slot values for trading. Each team is allowed to trade for up to an additional 50 percent of their international bonus pool, an additional $1,513,350 in the Rockies' case. However, any trades are tied to specific slot values rather than dollar amounts.

There are penalties for teams signing well beyond their international pool money allotments.