The 2024 international signing period opens today, but the White Sox will get to it when they get to it.
While my Twitter timeline was populated with photos of teenagers signing contracts while sporting the jerseys of their new organizations, the only White Sox item was Francys Romero's report to stand down:
You can argue how much this matters. Most signings are struck well in advance of Jan. 15 (and July 2 before then). Besides the previously reported agreements with 17-year-old third baseman Eduardo Herrera and 17-year-old shortstop Jurdrick Profar, Baseball America added six more names to the list for the White Sox:
- Eduardo Herrera, 3B, Venezuela
- Jurdrick Profar, SS, Curacao
- Jesus Premoli, 3B, Venezuela
- Orlando Suarez, RHP, Venezuela
- Juan Berroteran, SS, Venezuela
- Alexandre Valdiviezo, RHP, Venezuela
- Manuel Rumbos, RHP, Venezuela
- Elier Gil, C, Venezuela
Herrera ranked 11th on MLB.com's top international prospects list, and 16th on Baseball America's bonus board. Profar ranked 66th on the latter list, and Suarez made a BA feature of under-the-radar signings worth following:
Suarez showed promise earlier in the scouting process with his smooth, easy mechanics and projectable 6-foot-2 frame. Now his fastball has jumped from scraping the low 90s to touching the mid 90s, big velocity for a player who just turned 17 in December. He shows feel to spin a hard curveball in the mid-to-upper 70s, with a firm changeup and both a slider and splitter that he has used as well.
The White Sox have signaled a typical amount of activity, so maybe it doesn't really make a difference if they announce it today, next week, or anytime before spring training.
But given the sorry state of the MLB roster, you'd think the White Sox would be eager to present any glimpse of a more promising future. The White Sox announced a portion of their signings on the first day of the period last year, circled back to report the rest of them a week later, with Marco Paddy offering his perspective on the biggest bonus recipients in between.
Of course, for all the activity early, the White Sox didn't come close to using up all their international bonus pool money. They ended up trading $1 million of it to the Dodgers for A-ball pitchers Aldrin Batista and Maximo Martinez in August, and had something like $400,000 still left over. Between their habit of devoting the most money to older Cuban players up top and having large chunks of money going unused, the White Sox's international approach left a lot to be desired.
Upon his introduction as White Sox GM, Chris Getz listed international scouting as an area in need of assessment, and he listed it ahead of amateur and pro scouting. Then Jan. 15 rolls around, and the White Sox don't have anything official to share yet.
Jerry Reinsdorf said he promoted Getz without interviewing anybody else because he wanted to hit the ground running, but with a month until pitchers and catchers report, there hasn't been any evidence of rapid response at any level. Everybody's still waiting for Getz to acquire his first good player or make his first landmark move, and now even the international signings are delayed for some reason. In isolation, a lack of immediate international announcements doesn't mean much, just like the right return for Dylan Cease would make all the silence worth it. It'd just be cool to see any evidence of a job well done in a timely manner, just to know it's possible.
In related news, the White Sox scheduled their spring training equipment truck photo op for Tuesday. With pitchers and catchers reporting on Feb. 15, that's one thing that should show up on time.
