The Pittsburgh Pirates were able to take advantage of a miscue by the Atlanta Braves organization. This past off-season, the Bucs signed one of the top international free agents in Ji-Hwan Bae. Bae was brought into the Pittsburgh Pirates organization after they signed him for about $1.25 million. That of course came from the team’s international signing pool for the 2017 season.
The reason the team was able to sign Bae was because the Atlanta Braves were caught in a scandal. The MLB investigated the Braves and found that they were making questionable deals with the international free agents.