Drew Smyly criticizes Yoan Moncada bonus

Early this morning, the Red Sox landed the biggest free agent prospect available by signing Cuban international infielder Yoan Moncada to a record $31.5M bonus, on which the Red Sox will pay a 100% penalty.

That bonus does not include the salary to be made by the presumed phenom, and Drew Smyly takes issue with that amount of money being thrown at a should-be Top-10 in MLB prospect.

It's not right that a Cuban 19yr old gets paid 30m and the best 19yr old in the entire USA gets prob 1/6th of ... http://t.co/7aAZCwgm2t

— Drew Smyly (@SmylyD) February 23, 2015

"It's not right that a Cuban 19yr old gets paid 30m and the best 19yr old in the entire USA gets prob 1/6th of that. Everyone should have to go through same process"

That's a harsh criticism of the international posting system which has seemingly succeeded in keeping most of the smaller market teams from making a splash.

The Rays, Red Sox, and Yankees will all face the same restrictions in the 2016 and 2017 international signing periods, despite the Rays spending approximately 1/10th of Boston's, and 1/5th of New York's budget.

Of course, that doesn't touch on the disparity compared to US players entering through the draft either, which is a valid point on Smyly's part. Yoan Moncada is suddenly a very rich young adult, and it puts the importance of industry regulation in harsh relief. If the goal is to foster competitive balance by keeping the risk level for the acquisition of young talent to an acceptable level for all teams, then the draft appears to be working and the international market sure looks like a loophole.