My first spring training is about to start which means the international free agent period is right around the corner.  How does the international pool work?  Are a handful of prospects offered each day, you have a few days to bid and the process is repeated throughout the free agent period?  If so, are they randomly assigned or do the better ones tend to come out earlier or later?   Are there particular categories you typically favor over others?  Everything else being equal, is it better to make a big splash on a big name or spread your money over a few different prospects?  FYI, I've got a $18M prospect budget (drafting 22nd in each round so I figure $3-4M for the amateur draft).  Thank you in advance.  

They randomly show up throughout the season.  The amount of money in your IFA budget determines how many you'll see, as well as the accuracy of the projections you will see for them.

The stud IFA's who show up will cost you mega-bucks.  It's not unusual to see them going for over $20m in bonus money.  If you're not willing to spend that much, then the IFA's you'll be willing to afford will tend to not be the impact players.

You'll tend to get much better value for your prospect money from the amateur draft.

I try to get one IFA guy a year.  I also don't tend to be the guy that lobs 32M at the mega IFA stud.  I target one or two IFA's in the 8-12M dollar range, but keep in mind early in the year they tend to go for more than later in the year.  You don't want to be caught holding money in your prospect budget at the end of the year, this sucks, but if you are lucky enough to have it and a stud appears (who will probably ask for 7M) and not many teams have money left to drive up the bidding, you can get a golden egg.  But it's a risk. 

My strategy is to have a set amount I can afford to spend on an IFA and jump on the first worthy one I see and try to get him.

Yes, you get a handful a day. You'll have potential IFAs every 4 hrs. The quality is random over the course of the season, and is also random from season to season. There may be 5 great players one year, and none the next. 

The real question is...is it worth it to devote a lot of money to chase international free agents year after year? There's got to be a better way.

when do new internationals stop showing up?

Posted by boogerlips on 12/13/2011 12:47:00 PM (view original):
Yes, you get a handful a day. You'll have potential IFAs every 4 hrs. The quality is random over the course of the season, and is also random from season to season. There may be 5 great players one year, and none the next. 

Actually, this isn't quite true.  IFA's only show up on the "Part 2" Cycles (AM Cycle Part 2, PM Cycle Part 2 and PM2 Cycle Part 2). 
I was embarrassed that I didn't realize this for like the first 3-1/2 years I played this game; tecwrg posted in some thread or other what happens on each cycle, and then I started paying attention to it and saw that IFA's do not show up on cycles where games are played.

I did?

Posted by tecwrg on 7/27/2012 8:46:00 AM (view original):
I did?

Pretty certain it was you that made the post (not in response to a post of mine)... I have a pretty good memory about useless information like that.

Better than mine, I guess.  'Cuz I don't think I realized (or remembered) that IFA's only show up on half cycles.

Any I believe they stop showing up at around the end of the minor league regular season, not the major league regular season.

Posted by kcden on 7/27/2012 8:43:00 AM (view original):

Posted by boogerlips on 12/13/2011 12:47:00 PM (view original):
Yes, you get a handful a day. You'll have potential IFAs every 4 hrs. The quality is random over the course of the season, and is also random from season to season. There may be 5 great players one year, and none the next. 

Actually, this isn't quite true.  IFA's only show up on the "Part 2" Cycles (AM Cycle Part 2, PM Cycle Part 2 and PM2 Cycle Part 2). 
I was embarrassed that I didn't realize this for like the first 3-1/2 years I played this game; tecwrg posted in some thread or other what happens on each cycle, and then I started paying attention to it and saw that IFA's do not show up on cycles where games are played.

I'm gonna have to look at this to see if it's true.  Somehow in my 78 completed seasons I missed this?

End of ML regular season

Kcden is correct. IFAs only show up on the part 2 cycles. I'm pretty sure but not positive they only sign on the part 2 cycles and the end of the minor league season is when IFAs stop showing up.

Also you don't necessarily see IFAs every day. I have $20M in international scouting on half my teams. I've seen up to 5 IFAs in one cycle but have had plenty of instances where no IFAs appear multiple cycles in a row.

Posted by hbdgirl on 7/27/2012 10:50:00 PM (view original):
Also you don't necessarily see IFAs every day. I have $20M in international scouting on half my teams. I've seen up to 5 IFAs in one cycle but have had plenty of instances where no IFAs appear multiple cycles in a row.

This often frustrates the hell out of me:  having 16-20 mill in IFA scouting and not seeing one for 3-4 days