Rays' Drew Smyly slams MLB's amateur signing rules

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Smyly wants to make one thing clear: he's got no problem with Yoan Moncada's record-setting signing bonus. 

Smyly took to Twitter on Monday following Moncada's reported $31.5-million deal with the Boston Red Sox, and expressed frustration with baseball's international signing rules for amateur free agents.

"It's not right that a Cuban 19yr old gets paid 30m and the best 19yr old in the entire USA gets prob 1/6th of that," the 25-year-old lefty tweeted under his handle @SmylyD. "Everyone should have to go through same process."

Smyly clarified his tweet Tuesday in an interview with Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, saying he supports every player's efforts to sign for as much money as possible, but that the league needs to address a system that most would agree is broken.

More Smyly from the Times:

I think it's awesome that he got that, I'm all for any player making as much money as they can make in this game. So it's nothing against him or any Cuban player. I was only trying to say everyone else doesn't have those opportunities. So I think there should be some way where everyone, every amateur, has the same opportunity and guidelines. And that's not even America vs. Cuba; Dominican Republic and Venezuela players don't get that. They have never got close to that signing bonus.

For the sake of comparison, Smyly pointed to the contract of Washington Nationals phenom Bryce Harper, who received a $6.25-million bonus when he was selected with the top pick in the 2010 draft. 

After getting wind of Smyly's comments, Commissioner Rob Manfred reiterated his desire for a worldwide draft.

"It makes all the sense in the world to have a single method of entry," he told Jon Morosi of FOX Sports. "(A worldwide draft) has been a bargaining objective of the clubs in the past, and I expect it'll be an issue in 2016."