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Great work over at Baseball America by Ben Badler to run down all the IFA slot trades to see who actually has the most money to sign international free agents. It's a free piece, but I'll just link to the top 10 IFA slot pools that he re-figured:
| INTERNATIONAL SPENDING POOLS FOR 2013-14 |
||||
| No | Order | Slots |
Net +/– |
Updated Pool |
| 1 | Astros | 1, 4 | -$784,700 | $4,159,000 |
| 2 | Cubs | 1, 2, 3, Astros 2, Astros 3, Orioles 3, Orioles 4 | $963,100 | $5,520,300 |
| 3 | Rockies | 1, 2, 3 | -$206,400 | $4,007,400 |
| 4 | Twins | 1, 2, 3, 4 | — | $3,908,600 |
| 5 | Indians | 1, 2, 3, 4 | — | $3,636,900 |
| 6 | Marlins | 1, 2, 3 | -$197,000 | $3,198,200 |
| 7 | Red Sox | 1, 2, 3, 4 | — | $3,179,900 |
| 8 | Royals | 1, 2, 3, 4 | — | $2,988,100 |
| 9 | Blue Jays | 1, 2, 3, 4 | — | $2,817,100 |
| 10 | Mets | 1, 2, 3, 4 | — | $2,664,600 |
It goes on from there, but the important thing to notice is that even with Houston trading away two of its bonus pool slots, the Astros still had the second-most money to spend of any team in the league. The way they're investing that is also to sign multiple players, giving Houston a better overall chance for one or two of them to pan out, rather than hitching their wagon to one Eloy Jimenez, who may be the next Yasiel Puig, but who could also be the next Ariel Ovando.
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