CLEVELAND
When baseball’s international signing period began on July 2, the Royals began serving a two-year penalty for blowing past their bonus pool in 2015. The club exceeded its allotted pool by more than 15 percent last year, and in accordance with baseball rules on international spending, it will be prohibited from signing international amateur players for more $300,000 for the next two spending periods.
But that doesn’t mean the Royals haven’t been busy on the international scene, assistant general manager Rene Francisco said. The team has signed more than 20 international amateur free agents since the period began in July, Francisco said.