First “freed” Braves’ prospect signs with Royals

The first of the Atlanta prospects who were made conditional free agents by MLB has signed with Kansas City. Right-hander Yefri Del Rosario looked to be one of the most promising of the group of a dozen Braves’ prospects who were given until January 15 to sign with another team if they wanted to collect an additional signing bonus. The Royals gave Del Rosario $650,000, which is $100,000 more than the Pirates have paid any international amateur since 2012. The Pirates still have $2.2M unspent in their 2017-18 international bonus pool.

In other semi-international news, the Cardinals have agreed to terms with right-hander Miles Mikolas on a two-year deal worth $15.5M. The Pirates briefly acquired Mikolas back in 2013, along with Jaff Decker, for Alex Dickerson. They traded Mikolas a month later to Texas for Chris McGuiness. Mikolas went on to considerable success in Japan from 2014-16. Dickerson had a promising 2016 season with San Diego, but missed all of 2017 due to injury. McGuiness hasn’t played in the majors since that trade. Decker had a .598 OPS in very brief appearances over two years with the Pirates.

UPDATE: As noted in the comments, the Angels have signed Kevin Maitan for $2.2M. But the Pirates have $2.2M left!

And catcher Abrahan Gutierrez has signed with the Phillies. Shortstop Livan Soto may have signed with the Angels, but I haven’t seen anything yet to verify that. The Pirates, meanwhile, still have a nice potential addition to their Juan Nicasio mad money.