2007 International Free Agent Market

[badnews]

When they drafted Mark Holliman so high that surprised me because that was really in the era where everybody had be built like Paul Bunyan.

[craig]

Taiwan Baseball Blog has some interesting stuff on 16-year old Taiwanese HS junior RHP Wen-Hao Cheng:

 

Per WH Cheng's coach, Nomura told Cheng that the Cubs had an $800 K offer for Cheng. If that offer is true, that would be shocking to me. .... Despite being only a HS junior, Cheng will have to fight the stigma ... - the owner of a low 90's fb whose projectability is questionable because of his 5'9" stature.

 

I'm guessing the $800k bonus figure is bogus but looking around the net, Cheng has been getting noticed by American agents since at least March. He is only 5'9 but he throws in the low 90s and struck out 14 in 7 no-hit innings in a Taiwanese HS tourney recently.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v177/Navinda/cheng.jpg

 

Cal, this doesn't relate to Cheng except on the tangent that Steve Wilson is our Asian guy.

 

I'm getting the impression that Wilson is a significant scout. Time will judge whether he's a good one or not. I'd wondered how much action he'd get. I assumed he was a brand new scout, in a generally expensive and somewhat competitive market.

 

I'm now wondering whether he isn't quite a sharp, persuasive, articulate guy that Cub people respect. Within a single year, he's already gotten two dollar amateurs signed in Rhee from Korea and Chen from Taiwan. How many scouts are funded to sign two guys as expensive as that in a give year? Certainly very few stateside scouts. Now we get this report that he's also been trusted/authorized to make a serious offer to Cheng. So, I'm thinking he's being given a lot of budget to spend; they must trust his judgement pretty well.

 

Then, what do I read regarding Fukudome but that Wilson is the guy Hendry mentioned most for having watched Fuku a lot and having recommended him strongly (in addition to Hughes and Weaver). I hadn't realized Wilson was involved at all in Japan or in the Japanese professional leagues, I'd thought he might be only amateur stuff.

 

So now we see him active in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, at both pro and amateur level, and his input getting valued by Hendry right up there next to Hughes and Weaver.

 

Sounds like he might be one of the most important scouts we've got in the organization. If they respect his input on $48-million Fuku, perhaps they're also going to respect his input on $0.4-0.8 guys like Chen and Cheng and rhee.

 

Hopefully we're going to remain very active and effective in Asia from this point out. that would be really neat.

[Guest]

Cal, this doesn't relate to Cheng except on the tangent that Steve Wilson is our Asian guy.

 

I'm getting the impression that Wilson is a significant scout. Time will judge whether he's a good one or not. I'd wondered how much action he'd get. I assumed he was a brand new scout, in a generally expensive and somewhat competitive market.

 

I'm now wondering whether he isn't quite a sharp, persuasive, articulate guy that Cub people respect. Within a single year, he's already gotten two dollar amateurs signed in Rhee from Korea and Chen from Taiwan. How many scouts are funded to sign two guys as expensive as that in a give year? Certainly very few stateside scouts. Now we get this report that he's also been trusted/authorized to make a serious offer to Cheng. So, I'm thinking he's being given a lot of budget to spend; they must trust his judgement pretty well.

 

Then, what do I read regarding Fukudome but that Wilson is the guy Hendry mentioned most for having watched Fuku a lot and having recommended him strongly (in addition to Hughes and Weaver). I hadn't realized Wilson was involved at all in Japan or in the Japanese professional leagues, I'd thought he might be only amateur stuff.

 

So now we see him active in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, at both pro and amateur level, and his input getting valued by Hendry right up there next to Hughes and Weaver.

 

Sounds like he might be one of the most important scouts we've got in the organization. If they respect his input on $48-million Fuku, perhaps they're also going to respect his input on $0.4-0.8 guys like Chen and Cheng and rhee.

 

Hopefully we're going to remain very active and effective in Asia from this point out. that would be really neat.

 

I believe Wilson was a pretty well respected Asian but part-time scout with the Phillies before coming to the Cubs, so he's definitely not a complete newbie to the Pacific Rim scene. He certainly has exceeded my expectations and you're right, the Cubs obviously respect his word given the amount they have invested in the Pac Rim under him.

 

I believe a lot of Asian/Pac Rim scouts are also lead on scouting professionals in Asia so Wilson's part in the Fukudome signing isn't surprising. I'm sure Hendry and the Cubs view Fukudome as a big part of the puzzle but I think Hendry and Wilson looked at this as part of their grand scheme to become more and more involved in the Pac Rim. I think they believe the Cubs will be a more attractive suitor for Asian amateur and professionals with already one successful one playing on the team.

[craig]

I believe Wilson was a pretty well respected Asian but part-time scout with the Phillies before coming to the Cubs, so he's definitely not a complete newbie to the Pacific Rim scene. He certainly has exceeded my expectations and you're right, the Cubs obviously respect his word given the amount they have invested in the Pac Rim under him.

 

I believe a lot of Asian/Pac Rim scouts are also lead on scouting professionals in Asia so Wilson's part in the Fukudome signing isn't surprising. ...

 

Thanks, cal. I hadn't realized he had previous part-time experience. That Pac scouts do both amateur and pro ball makes good sense, and indeed isn't surprising. Maybe my expectations were colored by Lee, who never got us close to any Japanese players, and who averaged less than 1 signing per year.

 

I had actually expected that Paul Weaver would be the lead Japanese scout. He is an experienced, respected, fairly well-renowned scout, and he had been the Asian scout or supervisor or something for somebody for several years. So I had expected that he was going to be the experienced guy who'd do Japanese players and whose opinion Hendry would listen to, more so than Wilson who I incorrectly assumed was a newbie.

 

Perhaps the magic here is that they've got both. If one of them likes a guy, perhaps Wilson can do the more volume scouting of a Japanese player they like, because he's always over there. But perhaps Weaver can sort of function as a cross-checker. If both of them see a guy with comparable enthusiasm, maybe that gives more confidence. And then if Hughes also goes over and does sort of the super-scout cross-checking deal, if they all three come back thumbs up, Hendry probably has more confidence than if it was just Weaver or just Wilson.

 

I also recall Wilson commenting that he was establishing a network of part-time scouts. That makes a lot of sense. I've got to think that travel and hotels in Japan and Korea is extremely expensive. If Wilson is getting keyed in on who the really worth-watching guys are, he can be much more efficient. So if he's got a guy or two in Taiwan, somebody in Australia, one or two in Korea, one or two in China, that can help.

[UK1679666180]

Craig, don't forget the role of Gary Hughes in this one who has like Fukudome for years.

[Guest]

In case you were wondering about Salcedo:

 

Pete, Norwalk CT: Is there any Edwardo Salcedo update?

 

Jim Callis: (2:23 PM ET ) I keep hearing that he has been massively overhyped and isn't worth his huge price tag, which is why he remains unsigned.

[craig]

Cal, I'm not sure if he's been discussed, but one interesting and unusual signing was this Caridad guy who's on the invited-to-camp list. Weird deal, 22-year-old Dominican pitcher (tall) who was with Japanese org last year, and actually pitched a few innings I believe in a Japanese League. (Was it their top major league? Not sure).

 

I hadn't given it much thought. What kind of Dominican signs at 22, and weird situation, so not likely to actually be significant.

 

But Fleita talked about him briefly in the Down-on-the-Farm segment on Sunday. He said they saw him and liked him, and compared his Dominican-in-Japan deal with when Soriano did that. He said that he probably isn't really ready for big-league camp invite, but that was one of the terms of being willing to sign with us. He also said something to the effect that they had very little opportunity to scout him before signing him (I'm not sure where they saw him.) So apparently not a guy that they'd been able to track and watch repeatedly and get the cross-checkers over or all of that kind of stuff. But somebody apparently saw him, was impressed enough, and they thought he was interesting enough to go after and even give a non-roster invite rather than let him get away.

[Guest]

Cal, I'm not sure if he's been discussed, but one interesting and unusual signing was this Caridad guy who's on the invited-to-camp list. Weird deal, 22-year-old Dominican pitcher (tall) who was with Japanese org last year, and actually pitched a few innings I believe in a Japanese League. (Was it their top major league? Not sure).

 

I hadn't given it much thought. What kind of Dominican signs at 22, and weird situation, so not likely to actually be significant.

 

But Fleita talked about him briefly in the Down-on-the-Farm segment on Sunday. He said they saw him and liked him, and compared his Dominican-in-Japan deal with when Soriano did that. He said that he probably isn't really ready for big-league camp invite, but that was one of the terms of being willing to sign with us. He also said something to the effect that they had very little opportunity to scout him before signing him (I'm not sure where they saw him.) So apparently not a guy that they'd been able to track and watch repeatedly and get the cross-checkers over or all of that kind of stuff. But somebody apparently saw him, was impressed enough, and they thought he was interesting enough to go after and even give a non-roster invite rather than let him get away.

 

Esmailin Caridad played for the Hiroshima Carp (not sure if it was the their major league team or not) and their Dominican Academy - the Hiroshima Carp are supposed to be one of the biggest NPB teams involved in the Dominican Republic. Alfonso Soriano signed with them back in the 1990s.

[craig]

Esmailin Caridad played for the Hiroshima Carp (not sure if it was the their major league team or not) and their Dominican Academy - the Hiroshima Carp are supposed to be one of the biggest NPB teams involved in the Dominican Republic. Alfonso Soriano signed with them back in the 1990s.

 

How does this work for a Carp guy to get signed by the Cubs? Would the Cubs have signed him as a free agent, or bought him from the Carp, or what? I'm thinking that if a prospect can just jump out and sign with an American team, what would be the motive for the Carp to invest in Dominican prospects, is the best ones aren't going to stick with your organization but will just go to the U.S.? So I wonder what the commitment is by player to organization, and what it was the enabled the Cubs to get him away from the Carp.

[Guest]

Esmailin Caridad played for the Hiroshima Carp (not sure if it was the their major league team or not) and their Dominican Academy - the Hiroshima Carp are supposed to be one of the biggest NPB teams involved in the Dominican Republic. Alfonso Soriano signed with them back in the 1990s.

 

How does this work for a Carp guy to get signed by the Cubs? Would the Cubs have signed him as a free agent, or bought him from the Carp, or what? I'm thinking that if a prospect can just jump out and sign with an American team, what would be the motive for the Carp to invest in Dominican prospects, is the best ones aren't going to stick with your organization but will just go to the U.S.? So I wonder what the commitment is by player to organization, and what it was the enabled the Cubs to get him away from the Carp.

 

Caridad probably did what Soriano did which was to retire from NPB and return his signing bonus before signing with an MLB team. Maybe whatever playing time Hiroshima did get from Soriano/Caridad was worth it (factoring in inflation to the returned signing bonus). Maybe it's a gamble and they just hope they can get a few guys who won't be lured away to the U.S.

[1908]

How does this work for a Carp guy to get signed by the Cubs? Would the Cubs have signed him as a free agent, or bought him from the Carp, or what?

The Nomo loophole Soriano used (retiring from NPB and then signing an MLB contract as a free agent) has been replaced by the posting system. Either the Carp released Caridad, or his contract expired and it called for him to be a free agent.