Rangers acquire international slot money for Brallan Perez

The Texas Rangers have announced that they have made a trade with the Baltimore Orioles, acquiring international slot compensation money from the Orioles in exchange for minor league infielder Brallan Perez.

Perez, 21, is an infielder who has split the season between low-A Hickory, high-A Down East, and (for 2 games) AAA Round Rock. He’s considered more of an organizational depth player than a prospect.

MLB allows each team to spend a fixed amount on international free agents under the age of 25 each year, with the amount, under the new CBA, varying from $4.75 million to $5.75 million per team. Teams can also acquire up to an additional 50% of their original pool, and thus the Rangers can trade for pool money from other teams to get up to roughly $7.2 million this year that they could spend on international free agents.

The Orioles don’t spend on international signings, and so they generally deal away their pool money. It is unknown at this point how much the Rangers acquired. This is the second such transaction the Rangers have made for this period (which begins on July 2 of each year) — Texas also acquired international slot compensation money from the Chicago White Sox for Yeyson Yrizarri earlier this year.

While the Rangers have spent some money on international signings, indications are they have not reached their pool limit yet, and the speculation is that the Rangers are trying to load up on bonus pool money to offer Japanese pitcher Shohei Ohtani, who many expect will come to the United States this offseason. Ohtani, 23, is subject to the bonus restrictions, and has been heavily scouted by the Rangers the past couple of years.

UPDATE — Evan Grant says the Rangers got $500K in bonus slot money.