I'm curious how vets approach international free agents.
Specifically, do you pounce on the first high quality dude or do you wait for the pick of the litter?
What's the best IFA you've ever seen, and is there usually one absolute stud per year?
Thx

The amount and quality varies from season to season.

You may sign a good one and then two or three (or more) better ones come along, or you may wait for the "pick of the litter" and he never shows up and you wind up missing out altogether.

Really no clear cut answer because it varies so much from season to season.

As far as best IFA ever. There have been guys who are not only immediately ready for the bigs, but who are MVP caliber players.

You don't want to be at the end of the season holding a bag full of cash. As mchale said, you never know season to season. It also depends on how much you have budgeted in your IFA scout budget. If you have budgeted a lot, it will increase the number of IFAs you will see. But if you sign one early, you have most of the season to develop him. There's no clear answer, really. If you see a guy you like a lot, I'd say you go for him.

When I first started my rebuild in Wright and my system was bare I jumped on the first all star caliber guy that appeared. Now that I have some good guys I try to wait and fill needs. That being said, if a front line starter shows up you should probably bid IMO

How come I am not seeing certain IFAs even though I have more money inIFAs than the teams seeing the players?


I think it depends on what needs you project your team to have in the future. If you know your team is set at 1b RF and LF and a good but not great corner outfielder pops up early I would probably wait, but if your Fa system doesn't have any good pitchers and a pitcher pops up I would probably jump on the pitcher.

I handle it by putting 0 in International scouting and watching guys budget 20 mil and then watch some transfer 20 mil into it so I have an extra 20 to 40 mil for payroll and trades.