Cubs' foreign operations and overseas scouting lagging- why?

[badnews]

It seems like they're light years where they were in the late 90s, early 2000s.

[Outshined_One]

There are a few reasons for this...

 

1) Leon Lee, the Cubs' former top Pacific Rim scout, left a few years ago. As memory serves me, he was the guy who dug up JK Ryu and Hee Seop Choi, both of whom turned out to be very good prospects in this system early in their professional careers. After he left, there was a huge void and the Cubs didn't really fill it.

 

However, this past offseason, the Cubs spent a decent amount of time scouting players such as Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kei Igawa, and Akinori Iwamura (along with a few others) who were posted and bid on. The Cubs didn't win any of these biddings, but they made a legitimate effort to get these guys, from all accounts.

 

2) Following September 11th, the US government clamped down on work visas. This made it a heck of a lot more difficult to bring over players from other countries on visas, since these baseball players fell into a particular category that had strict limits for each team. So, in other words, the Cubs could only bring over a few players from the DR and Venezuela every year compared to pre-2001 levels, when it was much easier to obtain these visas for players.

 

My understanding is that there is pending legislation to help major league teams in bringing over foreign players much more easily on work visas, but I don't think it has been passed through yet. I could be mistaken.

 

3) The Cubs actually have been active recently when it came to bidding on young international players. The biggest name they picked up was Larry Suarez, whom many considered to be the best pitcher out of this year's class. He's currently down at Extended Spring Training. He'll need plenty of time to develop, but he has a very promising future as a 17 year old.

 

There are a number of other guys worth watching who come from beyond US borders whom the Cubs scouted and signed...

 

Iowa

 

C Geovanny Soto (PR)

 

Daytona

 

SS/2B Robinson Chirinos (Venezuela)

OF Jesus Valdez (DR)

 

Peoria

 

RP Oscar Bernard (DR)

SP/RP Marco Carrillo (Mexico)

RP Miguel Cuevas Novas (DR)

SP Rafael Dolis (DR, on the DL and was really promising at the start the year)

SP Robert Hernandez (Venezuela)

SP/RP Jose Pina (DR)

RP Alessandro Maestri (Italy)

C Wellington Castillo (DR)

IF Jonathan Mota (Venezuela)

 

Names to Follow down at EXST

 

P Larry Suarez

P Alberto Cabrera

P Harol Tolentino

P Ryan Searle

P Simon Lee

P Julio Castillo

OF Sammy Baez

OF Nelson Perez

OF Andres Quezada

OF Jesus Reyes

IF Marwin Gonzalez

IF Gian Guzman

IF Elvis Lara

[badnews]

Was Larry Suarez really that heralded? I heard a lot about Delois Guerra before he was signed, I heard nothing about Suarez. As for getting things done in the post 9-11 world, it hasn't seemed to slow the Mets and other teams. We used to hang in there with the Mets when it came to the foreign market! Now? Too many of the recent guys you listed are third tier guys. Where are the Carlos Truinfels and so forth? I mean Sammy Baez? How old is he, he certainly isn't the ripe young age you associate with such signings.

[Outshined_One]

Was Larry Suarez really that heralded? I heard a lot about Delois Guerra before he was signed, I heard nothing about Suarez. As for getting things done in the post 9-11 world, it hasn't seemed to slow the Mets and other teams. We used to hang in there with the Mets when it came to the foreign market! Now? Too many of the recent guys you listed are third tier guys. Where are the Carlos Truinfels and so forth? I mean Sammy Baez? How old is he, he certainly isn't the ripe young age you associate with such signings.

 

Baez has been in the system for awhile, though. He's 22 and was sent to EXST to work on changing from a SS to a CF, which, to my understanding, has worked out quite well for him. Otherwise, he probably would be in Peoria now.

 

The Suarez signing was a big deal, considering the Cubs shelled out $850k for him.

 

Look, I'm not making the argument that the Cubs are an international powerhouse that should not be meddled with. Plenty of other teams do a better job of international scouting than the Cubs, especially in recent years. The absolute lack of international talent from Daytona to Iowa is rather jarring, no question about it.

 

However, it's rather clear that the best international scouting comes from finding the unheralded guys and developing them into monsters. Guys like Villalona, Truinfel, and so on were well-hyped and highly regarded from the get-go. However, the teams that seem to do the best job are the ones who scout thoroughly, especially considering that the third-tier guys get signed for absolute pennies compared to the top guys. If you can produce solid young international cheaply, but still get terrific results, then that's a heck of a lot more cost-efficient than shelling out millions to a single guy.

 

Finally, the visa regulations haven't slowed down teams from signing guys, but they have slowed teams down when it comes to bringing them over to the United States in order to get them acclimated to living in a new country and get them better coaching than what they'd receive back home. A lot of the guys in EXST are on three month visas simply because there are not enough to bring them over on the low level professional athlete visa in order to keep them there. After the visa expires, those guys go back to the DSL, VSL, or one of their academies rather than stick around in EXST or go play short season ball. That makes a big difference.

[Guest]

The Cubs really beefed things up last season - I hope they keep it up with the sale coming, seeing as the draft was disappointing.

 

06 Signees (I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones I know):

 

RHP Ryan Searle (age 17)

RHP Simon Lee (age 23; from the new Pac Rim scout, Steve Wilson)

RHP Larry Suarez (age 17)

IF Gian Guzman (age 17)

OF Nelson Perez (signed as a pitcher)

 

One glaring ommission from Outshined's list is RHP Francisco Acosta, who had a big season in the DSL last summer and will likely start at AZL. He's 18 and has great stuff.

[Jon]

I wonder if they're done reorganizing their efforts. I know the Cubs have said that it's just too hard to compete financially with Asia anymore because of the scouting efforts of some organizations, but I have a hard time believing they won't be doing a little more in the near future (and not just on the professional level).

[RynoRules]

Let's all just hope Larry isn't related to the late Omar. I bury those cockaroches.

 

In all seriousness, its good to read that they are so involved in Latin America. I had been wondering what was going on down there based on the lack of Hispanic last names on their minor league rosters.

[Outshined_One]

One thing that's going to be worth keeping an eye on over the coming years is going to be how the Cubs approach Europe and other areas traditionally not baseball-oriented. The Cubs signed Maestri as a result of the newly opened baseball academy over there, which last season had about 5-6 guys signed from it. They also signed 17 year old Ryan Searle as a result of the Australian baseball academy. Maestri has had a fine season in relief and has a decent shot at making the majors in that role. Searle I know next to nothing about, but AZ Phil had some good things to say about him.

 

As Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Korea, and Japan attract more and more teams willing to spend a lot of money for premium talent, it would behoove some teams to start looking for talent in areas that don't receive much scouting attention. All parts of the world produce excellent athletes, so why not expose them to baseball and see what happens? The market would be significantly cheaper with less competition.

 

Maybe it won't pay immediate dividends, but it might not hurt to explore and see what results come about.

[Guest]

What I can gather is that Searle throws 4 different pitches. He had to go back to Australia because his tourist visa is up and he's going to the MLB Academy in Australia now. He'll be back next March.