What the heck is July 2?

If you're on Twitter and follow a whole bunch of baseball people, you know that something's happening today. What is it? Well, it's the beginning of the international free agent signing period. What the heck is that? Allow us to explain...

Today, the Astros - and everyone else - can sign Latin American players as young as 16 years old. This is free agency, not a draft. And the Astros, because of their God-awfulness in 2012, have the most to spend in baseball, at $4.9m.

Ben Badler wrote that ($) the Astros might not get any of the top ten players, but might spread their money around to land a bunch of six-figure free agents.

Here are the Top 30 International Free Agents (according to Ben Badler). We'll update this list with any news we come across today:

1. Eloy Jimenez, of, Dominican Republic
2. Gleyber Torres, ss, Venezuela Signed with Chicago Cubs for $1.7m
3. Rafael Devers, 3b, Dominican Republic Signed with Boston for $1.5m
4. Luis Encarnacion, 3b, Dominican Republic
5. Leonardo Molina, cf, Dominican Republic
6. Marcos Diplan, rhp, Dominican Republic Signed with Texas for $1.3m
7. Yeyson Yrizarri, ss, Venezuela/Dominican Republic Signed by Texas for $1.375m
8. Yeltsin Gudino, ss, Venezuela
9. Micker Zapata, of, Dominican Republic Signed by Chicago White Sox for $1.6m.
10. Jose Herrera, c, Venezuela Near a deal with Arizona
11. Carlos Herrera, ss, Venezuela Expected to sign with Colorado
12. Marten Gasparini, ss, Italy Signed with Kansas City for $1.3m
13. Erick Julio, rhp, Colombia Agreed with Colorado
14. Jesus Lopez, ss, Nicaragua Signed with Oakland
15. Lewin Diaz, of/1b, Dominican Republic
16. Erling Moreno, rhp, Colombia Meeting with Chicago Cubs
17. Carlos Hiciano, ss, Dominican Republic Signed with Oakland
18. Freddy Rodriguez, of, Venezuela
19. Mayky Perez, rhp, Dominican Republic
20. Nicolas Pierre, of, Dominican Republic Signed with Milwaukee
21. Greifer Andrade, of, Venezuela
22. Cristhian Vasquez, of, Venezuela
23. Jen-Ho Tseng, rhp, Taiwan
24. Wilson Amador, ss, Dominican Republic
25. Ali Sanchez, c, Venezuela Signed by New York Mets for $690,000
26. Michael de Leon, ss, Dominican Republic
27. Ricardo Sanchez, lhp, Venezuela
28. Carlos Talavera, of, Venezuela
29. Anderson Franco, 3b, Dominican Republic Signed with St. Louis
30. Luis Carpio, ss, Venezuela

Potential Astros targets (again: $):
Jose Herrera (#10)
Jesus Lopez (#14)
Wilson Amador (#24)
Wander Franco
Nestor Tejada
Jake Bowey