As expected, the Padres began the international signing period on Saturday with a bang.

The organization was the most active in baseball, with signings completed or imminent for 16 players — including eight of the top 50 prospects ranked by Baseball America — in the early hours of the opening day of the signing period.

It is an unprecedented period of spending for the franchise. The Padres are expected to spend some $60 million (including penalties for overages) during the international signing period, which runs into next year. Combined with a bonus pool approaching $13 million for last month’s MLB Draft, the organization is expected to commit nearly $75 million to player acquisition.

“It really just shows the commitment from our ownership,” Padres General Manager A.J. Preller said. “To build a championship program and a championship organization, it starts with having championship-level players, talented players — and a lot of them.”


Most of the players signed were 16-year-olds from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Padres International Scouting Director Chris Kemp spoke excitedly on the phone when reached Saturday morning in the Dominican, enthused about a pure hitter, five-tool outfielder, promising starting pitchers, and on and on.

But, in a society accustomed these days to instant gratification, Kemp emphasized that this is a process that requires several years before an impact is made at the major league level.

“You’ve got to be patient,” Kemp said. “The immediate gratification is knowing that we are literally building the farm, and when you’re farming, it takes some time.

“This is a five-to-eight-year plan. ... We’re looking a decade into the future because that’s the plan. We’re going to be here forever. We’re trying to build a perennial winner in San Diego. This isn’t going to be an overnight thing where these guys are going to be in the big leagues in a year or two. We’re going to build this thing forever, and that’s what this is about.”


Kemp used Dominican outfielder Nomar Mazara as an example. He was signed as a 16-year-old five years ago by Texas and has emerged just this year for the Rangers, batting .285 with 11 homers and 35 RBIs in 72 games.

“He’s, obviously, a Rookie of the Year candidate,” Kemp said. “It took him every bit of five years just to get to this point where he is now. And that is the best-case scenario when you sign a 16-year-old player, that in five years he could be an impact guy at 21 years.

The Padres’ 16 signings (at this point) were twice as many as those by the next most active team. The St. Louis Cardinals had eight players in a Baseball America list tracking international signings, followed by the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros with seven apiece.

In the process, the Padres smashed their club records for overall and individual spending on signings.


The most they ever spent on the international draft in one year was $5 million in 2008. They spent nearly that much Saturday on one player alone.

Luis Almanzar, a 16-year-old Dominican shortstop rated No. 2 by Baseball America received a $4 million bonus.

“He’s the best hitter in the the whole world market,” Kemp said. “Just pure hittability in a game.”

The largest bonus the team had previously given to an international amateur was $2 million to right-hander Adys Portillo, a 2008 signee who never made it past Double-A with the organization.


Other Dominican players signed Saturday included outfielder Jeison Rosario (No. 6, $1.85 million), right-hander Michael Miliano (No. 48, $450,000) and shortstop Yordy Barley (No. 50, $1 million), right-hander Jose Manuel Guzman ($40,000), outfielder Carlos Batista ($400,000), catcher Juan Vasquez ($100,000) and shortstop Carlos Luis ($200,000).

Venezuelan signed were shortstop Gabriel Arias (No. 4, $1.9 million), catcher Alison Quintero (No. 22, $830,000), shortstop Justin Lopez (No. 28, $1.2 million) and shortstop Tucupipa Marcano ($320,000). Also signed were Mexican outfielders Tirso Ornelas (No. 34, $1.5 million) and Augustin Ruiz and right-hander Martin Carrasco and Colombian right-hander Luis Patinio.

The Padres also are rumored to be interested in a couple of Cuban players — left-hander Adrian Morejon and outfielder Jorge Ona — who would be top-3 three prospects but haven’t been cleared yet by MLB as free agents. It has been reported that signing Morejon likely will cost $14-16 million. That would push the Padres’ spending to beyond $30 million on foreign talent.

“There continues to be speculation in the media about other players,” Preller said. “The biggest thing for us in the Cuban market and with other July 2 players for us is that July 2 is the start of a period. There’s going to be plenty of players here in the next year that we’re going to have interest in, and we’re going to hopefully be in play for.”


The Padres have a bonus pool of $3,347,600 for the 2016-17 signing period. By spending in excess of that amount, they are subject to a 100 percent penalty for any overages, which is where the $60 million figure comes from for signings.

Exceeding their bonus pool by more than 15 percent this year means the Padres will be restricted to signing players for no more than $300,000 each in the next two signing periods.

There was news during the week that MLB is barring the Boston Red Sox from participating in the 2016-17 international signing period for improprieties last year while signing some Venezuelan players. Penalties included removing five players from the Red Sox organization and making them available this year to sign with other teams.

“We did scout a lot of those players last year,” Kemp said. “We are looking into that now, checking over reports and looking at video and seeing how that process plays out.”


Asked if signing one or more of those players could be part of a revised Padres plan, Kemp said: “Anything’s possible. ... Anything that’s on the board is going to be looked at and evaluated.”