White Sox handed $25M tax bill for signing Cuban prospect Robert

CHICAGO - Cuban prospect Luis Robert's signing bonus will be spread out over three years.

Chicago finalized a minor-league contract with the 19-year-old outfielder on Saturday, a deal that includes a $26-million signing bonus and will cost the White Sox an additional $25,243,200 in tax for exceeding their international bonus pool.

Robert receives $10 million within 30 days' approval of the commissioner's office and $2.5 million on Dec. 20. He gets $2 million each on July 1 in 2018 and 2019, and $2 million each on Dec. 20 in 2018 and 2019. A final $4.5-million payment is due on July 1, 2020.

Chicago must pay a 100 percent tax on the amount of bonuses exceeding $3,729,800, not including bonuses of $10,000 or under.

As part of baseball's new labor contract, in the signing period that starts July 2 Chicago's bonuses will be capped at $4.75 million, not including bonuses of $10,000 or less. In addition, the White Sox may not give an international amateur a signing bonus of more than $300,000 for the next two signing periods.