Shadow Twins 2015 bonus structure

2015 Shadow Twins draft and international bonus structure

One of the key factors in conducting a shadow draft: making the bonus pools work, just like the real teams do. Here’s how the Shadow Twins bonus structure looks for 2015 talent acquisition. In each case, a player was signed for equivalent or slightly more money than they did in real life.

Draft Pool: $7,388,700
1) Andrew Benintendi, OF, University of Arkansas $3,889,500 (slot)
He took slot money from the Red Sox in real life.
CB) Jacob Nix, RHP, IMG Academy $900,000 (+63,000 over slot)
The 900K was his real life bonus from the Padres. I can fit that in here.
3) Austin Rei, C, University of Washington $754,000 (slot)
He took slot money from Red Sox in real life

4) Trey Cabbage, 3B, Grainger HS, Grainger, Tennessee $760,000 (+242,100 over slot)
Real Twins pick I stayed with. This is the one big overage I have to cover.
5) Ryan Kellogg, LHP, Arizona State University $380,000 (-7,700 below slot)
Took slot money from the Cubs ($376400) in real life. I can beat that even with a slightly below slot bonus.
6) Edwin Rios, 1B, Florida International University $250,000 (-40,300 below slot)
Took slot money from Dodgers ($222,500) in real life. I can beat that and stay substantially below slot.

7) Jose Vizcaino Jr, 3B, Santa Clara University $170,000 (-47,400 below slot)
Took below-slot money from Giants ($150,000) in real life. I can beat that and still save.
8) Logan Ratledge, SS, North Carolina State University $100,000 (-75,400 below slot)
9) LaMonte Wade, OF, University of Maryland $163,000 (slot)
10) James Reeves, LHP, The Citadel $50,000 (-103,300 below slot)

Ratledge and Reeves are seniors so they lack leverage. Reeves got $50,000 from the Yankees in real life. I'm not sure what Ratledge's bonus was in the 13th round from the Pirates but it wasn't more than 100K. 

Overall I come out $31,000 over the bonus pool amount of $7,338,700, which is not enough to get me in trouble with the commissioner's office. Every player gets as much money as they got in real life, or more, and I don't suffer any penalties.

On the international market, I have $3,948,500 to work with. The real Twins spent the entire pool on one player (Wander Javier). I prefer to split that money up among three different high ceiling prospects. Note that by the rules of the Shadow Universe, I have to beat the real team bonus by at least 10%. There's no international draft so this simulates having to outbid other teams in the free market.

2015 Top International Signees (Pool 3,948,500)

1) Juan Soto, OF, Dominican Republic (Nationals) $1,650,000   ($1,500,000 in real life)
2) Gregory Guerrero, SS, Dominican Republic (Mets) $1,650,000    ($1,500,000 in real life)
3) Fernando Tatis, Jr., SS, Dominican Republc (Wsox) $770,000   ($700,000 in real life)

That eats up my bonus pool at $4,070,000. HOWEVER, in real life the Texas Rangers traded minor league pitcher Jason Hoppe to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for $879,500 worth of international bonus slots. This is important because I drafted Hoppe in the 27th round of the 2014 Shadow Draft, so I have him in my system.

Not any more though: I'm trading Hoppe to the Angels for that $879,500, giving me more international spending power. That hasn't been allocated yet, but I'll likely load up on some $100,000 guys.

Finally, here's the final list of players drafted and signed by the Shadow Twins in the 11th round or later this year. None of them got bonuses over $100,000 in real life or for me.  My 27th and 30th round picks did not sign.

11) Alexis Omar Diaz, RHP, Juan Jose Maunez HS, Naguabo, PR
12) Adam Choplick, LHP, University of Oklahoma
13) Carson Cross, RHP, University of Connecticut
14) Garrett Kennedy, C, University of Miami-Florida
15) Adam Whitt, RHP, University of Nevada
16) Trevor Belicek, LHP, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
17) Giovanny Alfonzo, SS, University of Tampa
18) Melvin Rodriguez, 2B, Jackson State University
19) Seth Brown, 1B, Lewis-Clark State College
20) Michael Rivera, RHP, Colegio Hector Urdaneta HS, Rio Grande, PR
21) Kamran Young, OF, Cal State Dominguez Hills
22) Stephen Dezzi, OF, University of Tampa
23) Alex Perez, SS, Virginia Tech
24) Drasen Johnson, RHP, University of Illinois
25) Ben Meyer, RHP, University of Minnesota
26) Xavier Borde, LHP, University of Arizona
28) Corey Hale, LHP, University of Mobile
29) Reggie Wilson, OF, Oklahoma City University
31) Ty Jackson, RHP, Lewis-Clark State College
32) Andrew Vasquez, LHP, Westmont College
33) Adam Bray, RHP, South Dakota State University
34) Quinnton Mack, OF, New Mexico State University
35) Gage Green, C, Oklahoma State University
36) Gunnar Kines, LHP, Mount Olive University
37) Christian Talley, RHP, University of Southern Mississippi
38) Chris Powell, RHP, Cal Poly Pomona
39) Santos Saldivar, RHP, Southern University
40) Andrew Thome, RHP, University of North Dakota