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The test of whether the Padres' explanation that pulling out of their deal with young Latin American players was due to Covid related spending restrictions is realistic will be if we see the same from other teams.
The response from fans every time any team reduces spending in any way is that they're "cheap". Looking at how MLB ownership restricts spending on the whole in all kinds of markets (International, amateur draft, etc) that is reasonable. But on an individual level, less so.
We can be pretty confident that the Padres aren't cheap when it comes to spending internationally.
There's the issue of pre-draft deals with players years before they're eligible to sign at 16, meaning as young as 12 and 13. Putting the pressures of adult life on children that young is unfair and immoral.
"Everybody does it" is not an excuse. While true, anyone who participates deserves condemnation. But I believe, in the sliding scale of moral culpability, MLB ownership and the MLBPA deserve a much higher share than individual scouting directors.
The system that MLB ownership and MLBPA agreed on to limit signing young players creates massive distortions in behavior. Instead of allowing teams to pay players their worth, it incentives signing players by other means, in backroom deals hidden from public and league scrutiny.
This is why MLB refuses to enforce it's rules about negotiating before the age of 16. They created it! They could ban 30 international scouting directors, and the next 30 replacements would all do the same thing.
