Tigers land 3 top international prospects with aggressive bonuses

The international free agency period opened on Thursday, leading to a wave of signings across the league. The Tigers, who made their biggest IFA splash last season, when they signed No. 4 prospect Cris Rodriguez to a minor league deal with a $3,197,500 bonus — the largest the franchise had ever doled out to an IFA player — and were connected to four in Baseball America's top 100 ranking.

They ended up signing all of them, three of whom got bonuses over $1 million: catcher Manuel Bolivar with a $2.3 million bonus, shortstop Oscar Tineo with a $1.45 million bonus, and outfielder Randy Santana with a $1.1 million bonus. Outfielder Douglas Olivo got $900,000.

Detroit picked up a couple of other players since the signing period opened — shortstop Eduardo Tusen and outfielder Santiago Ventura — but $5.75 million of their $7.36 million bonus pool money went to those four players. Bolivar ranked 12th, Tineo 30th, Santana 34th, and Olivo 61st in Baseball America's pre-signing rankings.

Tigers sign top international prospects Manuel Bolivar, Oscar Tineo, Randy Santana as IFA window opens

Bolivar's $2.3 million is the largest bonus for a catcher in this year's IFA class. Baseball America's brief scouting report on him identifies advanced strength and bat speed as pluses. Swing-and-miss is a concern, but "scouts highest on Bolivar think he will make enough contact to tap into that power in games." It's also complimentary of his defense behind the plate: "he's an athletic mover who blocks well and has a strong arm."

It's going to take these guys a long time to pan out, but there's also no rush. Tineo is the youngest of the group and turns 17 this February, while Bolivar and Santana only turned 17 this past September. Rodriguez, the headliner of last year's crop, was only 16 when he was signed and spent 2025 in the DSL.

If Bolivar works out to the same effect Rodriguez has started to in the early goings of his professional career, he could be in the mix to step into the Tigers' primary catcher role if Dillon Dingler leaves in free agency after the 2030 season.

That's a little too far down the line to speculate on heavily, though. For now, we can at least be happy that the Tigers are spending a little bit of money in any capacity, even if it's going to take a while to see anything come to fruition.