The Seattle Mariners may have a problem on their hands before they ever get to sign Mairon De La Rosa.
The club is expected to land the switch-hitting shortstop out of the Dominican Republic when the International Signing Period for 2027 opens on Jan. 15. A verbal agreement worth nearly $4 million was reported in January, and De La Rosa is regarded as one of the top international prospects in the Class of 2027.
But that plan could get blown up if Major League Baseball gets its way.
Joe Doyle of Over Slot Baseball reported Wednesday that MLB floated a new International Draft Proposal to front offices at the general managers meetings in Las Vegas. It’s only a proposal for now, and it’s part of the broader CBA fight coming this winter. Nothing is settled yet, and the financial shape of the sport could still shift in a major way.
Still, if this one survives the negotiation process, it would matter.
The immediate issue is the calendar. The current CBA expires on Dec. 1 at 8:59 p.m.
PT, and a lockout is expected to follow. If a new agreement isn’t in place by the Jan. 15 signing period, the international signing window would likely be delayed or canceled.
In that case, the Mariners would be unable to finalize a deal with De La Rosa or any other player they’ve already lined up.
Under the proposal Doyle described, MLB would move to a 12-round international draft with hard-slotted bonus values. In plain terms, that would wipe out pre-arranged deals and give every club a set international bonus pool before the process begins.
The proposal also would raise the age threshold by a year. Right now, players must be 17 by a certain date to sign. Under the new setup, they would need to be 18 by a certain date to be eligible for the draft.
There are still details to work through, including how pick trading would work and whether that part of the system is even practical. But the basic structure is clear enough.
The first draft would take place in the fall of 2027 or early in 2028. That would leave the Mariners without De La Rosa in the signing period, and likely without a path to him in that first draft cycle either. For a Seattle organization that has done well on the international market with players such as Julio Rodriguez, Lazaro Montes and Michael Arroyo, that would be a real hit.
There’s one more wrinkle: because of his birth date, De La Rosa would not be eligible until a fall of 2028 draft if the international draft and age rules are approved. In other words, he would miss the fall of 2027 or early 2028 draft entirely and only become available in the second draft under this proposal.
And beyond Seattle’s situation, the motive behind the plan is hard to miss. If owners are pushing it, they believe it saves money. A hard-slotted draft could lower spending, and delaying players’ arrivals to affiliated ball by a year would also push back big league debuts, free agency, and the dollars that come with it.
The players, naturally, are not going to love anything that cuts into earnings.
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