When the Cincinnati Reds traded Franderlin Romero to the Baltimore Orioles ten days ago they received back additional 2015 international signing period pool money (no money itself, but the ability to spend more money without penalty). The amount the organization received in the deal was $693,300.

When the deal was announced it seemed that the plan was to use the money to sign players remaining in the class. The current period is still open for another 12 days, but after that it closes and the pool allotment goes away forever and the new signing period with new pool allotments begins on July 2nd, but the Reds haven’t exactly made a splash worth noting since the trade, and with nearly $700,000 a signing for six-figures would certainly have come out at this point.

That led to the speculation that perhaps the team had gone past their 2015 limits and needed this to get them back on the positive side of the ledger so they didn’t face penalties and lose their ability to sign players for more than $300,000 in the upcoming period where they have the second most allotment money available to spend (without penalty – several teams are expected to spend way more money and just face the harsh penalties).

After asking around I was able to get more clarification. The Reds made the trade as there were several players that they are still interested in signing this period and they had spent all of their money and spending more would have forced them into the penalty area, which they obviously wanted to avoid given where they stand for the 2016 period with so much money they are allowed to spend. I was also told that they are still attempting to trade for more money for this signing period, which again, ends in 12 days.

If the team traded for just under $700,000 and is still looking to add more, there’s got to be a player out there they are really looking to grab for a significant amount of money, otherwise they could just wait a month and sign that player in the upcoming period. Why the team needs to sign that player before the next period begins is interesting.The reason could be that the Reds are interested in the player who is drawing interest from another team who currently is unable to sign the player for the bonus he wants, but will be in the upcoming period, so they are trying to get the jump. It could be that they feel more comfortable being able to create the pool space for a large signing this period than in the upcoming one where they’ve already agreed to many deals and could have to really try to work things to fit that in. Either way, the team is looking to acquire more space for this period and add more talent. There’s less than two weeks left, so we should know how things play out rather quickly.