2009 Int'l FA Market: Cubs Sign 6 For $250,000+ Bonuses

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Confirmed Signings (via BA, BP, MLB, ESPN, Eastwindup Chronicle, Taiwan Baseball Blogspot, etc.):

 

Astros: SS Jonathan Mejia, Dominican Republic (age 16) - $370,000 bonus

Astros: LHP Kilby Peña, Domincain Republic (age 16) - $350,000 bonus

Astros: RHP Enderson Franco, Venezuela (age 16)

Astros: RHP Alexander Martinez, Nicaragua (age 16)

A's: SS Wilferdo Solano, Venezuela - $750,000 bonus

A's: 3B William Jose "Junior" Martinez

A's: OF Alfred Alejandro Sosa

Brewers: OF Jose Alberto Peña, Dominican Republic - $400,000 bonus

Brewers: RHP Heri Olivo, Dominican Republic (age 17) - low 6-figure bonus, signed in February

Blue Jays: C Santiago Nessy, Venezuela

Cardinals: OF Wagner Mateo, Dominican Republic - $3.1 million bonus

Cubs: C Wilson Contreras, Venezuela - possibly $850,000 bonus (per Jorge Arangure's Twitter; no confirmation)

Cubs: OF Kyung-Min Na, South Korea (age 18) - $725,000 bonus

Cubs: OF Dong-Yub Kim, South Korea (age 18) - $550,000 bonus

Cubs: RHP Tzu-An Wang, Taiwan (age 18) - $300-$350,000 bonus

Cubs: IF Ping-Chieh Chen, Taiwan (age 17) - $300,000 bonus

Cubs: RHP Yao-Lin Wang, Taiwan (age 18) - $260,000 bonus

Dodgers: IF Tae-hyeok Nam, South Korea (age 18)

Giants: OF Leonardo Fuentes, Colombia (age 16) - $280,000 bonus

Giants: RHP Marvin Barrios, Panama (age 16)

Indians: SS Jairo Kelly, Dominican Republic (age 16)

Indians: RHP Noel Cabral, Dominican Republic

Indians: SS Jorge Martinez, Dominican Republic

Mariners: OF Guillermo Pimentel, Dominican Republic (age 16) - $2 million bonus

Mariners: RHP Kim Sun-ki, South Korea (age 18) - $500,000 bonus

Mariners: C Choi Ji-man, South Korea - $495,000 bonus

Mariners: OF Alfredo Morales, Dominican Republic

Mariners: OF Alexis Palma, Venezuela

Mariners: 3B Andres Brito, Venezuela

Mets: LHP Juan Urbina, Venezuela, $1.25 million bonus

Nationals: SS Jean Carlos Valdez, Dominican Republic - $350 - $450,000 bonus

Nationals: RHP Cleto Cabral, Dominican Republic

Padres: OF Yoan Alcantara, Dominican Republic (age 16) - $135,000 bonus

Phillies: LHP Lino Martinez, Venezuela - $325,000 bonus

Phillies: OF Domingo Santana, Dominican Republic (age 16) - $330,000 bonus

Pirates: RHP Jean Carlos Ozoria, Dominican Republic (age 16)

Pirates: OF Daan Cornelissen, Netherlands (age 17)

Pirates: OF Ping-Hong Chi, Taiwan (age 18) - $30,000 bonus

Pirates: RHP Shen-Cin Hong, Taiwan (age 18)

Pirates: 1B/LHP Chi-Wei Hsu, Taiwan (age 17)

Pirates: RHP Dovydas Neverauskas, Lithuania

Rangers: SS Luis Sardinas, Venezuela (age 16) - $1.2 million bonus

Rangers: SS/RHP Jurickson Profar, Curacao (age 16) - $750,000 bonus

Rangers: SS Luis Mendez, Venezuela

Rangers: CF Chris Garcia, Curacao

Rangers: LHP Luis Daniel De la Torre, Mexico

Rays: 3B Cesar Perez, Venezuela (age 16) - $1 million bonus

Rays: SS Juniel Querecuto, Venezuela

Red Sox: SS Jose Iglesias, Cuba (age 19) - 4 years / $8.25 million ($3 million bonus)

Red Sox: SS Jose Vinicio, Dominican Republic - $2 million bonus

Red Sox: LHP Victor Payano, Dominican Republic - $900,000 bonus

Red Sox: RHP Raul Alcantara, Dominican Republic - $500,000 bonus

Red Sox: RHP Mario Alcantara, Dominican Republic - $350,000 bonus

Red Sox: OF Raoell Kortstam, Netherlands (age 17)

Reds: SS Humberto Valor, Venezuela (age 16)

Rockies: SS Rosel Herrera, Dominican Republic

Rockies: LHP Jayson Aquino

Rockies: SS Juan Ciriaco

Rockies: RHP Carlos Medrano

Rockies: RHP Alberto Mendez

Rockies: RHP Jose Belen, Dominican Republic (age 17), signed in January

Rockies: RHP Ramon Hurtado, Dominican Republic (age 17), signed in January

Rockies: RHP Manuel Montilla, Dominican Republic (age 17), signed in January

Royals: 3B Chesler Cuthbert, Nicaragua (age 16) - $1.2 million bonus

Royals: C Shin Jin-ho, South Korea - $600,000 bonus

Tigers: SS Alwin Delgado, Dominican Republic

Tigers: SS Daniel Carranza, Panama

Tigers: 3B Jesus Ustariz, Venezuela

Tigers: RHP Jose Mendoza, Venezuela

Twins: OF Max Kepler, Germany (age 16) - $800,000 bonus

Twins: SS Jorge Polanco, Venezuela (age 16)

Yankees: C Gary Sanchez, Dominican Republic - $3 million bonus

Yankees: SS Damian Arredondo, Dominican Republic - $850,000 - falsified age and name, contract nixed

Yankees: RHP Chris Cabrera, Dominican Republic - $400,000

Yankees: SS Jorge Alcantara

Yankees: OF Daniel Lopez

Yankees: RHP Jose Pena.

 

Top July 2 Prospects:

 

OF Sandy Acevedo, Dominican Republic

RHP Raul Alcantara, Dominican Republic

LHP Noel Arguelles, Cuba (age 19)

SS Amilcar Arauz, Panama (age 16)

SS Damian Arredondo, Dominican Republic

SS Santos Luis Aybar, Dominican Republic

SS Jean Carlos Batista, Dominican Republic

1B/C Jacob Beltre, Dominican Republic (age 16)

RHP Jochi Ogondo Bosio, Dominican Republic (age 16)

RHP Noel Cabral, Dominican Republic

RHP Cristopher Cabrera, Dominican Republic

LHP Mariosal Cairo, Dominican Republic

OF Amable Capellan, Dominican Republic

LHP Leo Cardoso, Cuba

SS Paul Carlixte, Dominican Republic - IRREGULAR INVESTIGATION, POSSIBLE SUSPENSION

SS Juan Castillo

RHP Alejandro Chacin, Venezuela (age 16)

3B Cheslor Cuthbert, Nicaragua

RHP Jose de la Cruz, Dominican Republic

RHP Rafael DePaula, Dominican Republic - http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias_det.php?id=186424&l=1 - SUSPENDED

RHP Rafael Diaz, Venezuela

RHP Jhonatan Escudero, Colombia

RHP Anderson Encarnacion

LHP Edgar Ferreira, Dominican Republic (age 16)

OF Leonardo Fuentes, Colombia

OF Michael Guzman, Dominican Republic - SUSPENDED

SS Rosel Herrera, Dominican Republic

SS Jose Iglesias, Cuba (age 19)

RHP Johendi Jiminian, Dominican Republig (age 16)

OF Luis Jolly, Dominican Republic

SS Jairo Kelly, Dominican Republic

OF Max Kepler, Germany (age 16) - best European prospect in the past few years

SS Chris Mauro Lopez, Colombia

SS/3B Wilfredo Lozano, Venezuela

OF Wagner Mateo, Dominican Republic - hitting video:

OF Eladio Moronta, Dominican Republic - SUSPENDED

C Julio Morillo, Venezuela

LHP Sung-Bum Na, South Korea - sophomore in college in Korea

C Santiago Nesi, Venezuela

RHP Jochy Ogando

RHP Jose Osuna, Venezuela

OF Alexis Parma, Venezuela

LHP Victor Payano, Dominican Republic

OF Eric Peguero (a.k.a. Junior Monteliz), Dominican Republic - IRREGULAR INVESTIGATION, POSSIBLE SUSPENSION

OF Jose Alberto Peña, Dominican Republic

LHP Kirby Peña, Dominican Republic (age 16)

RHP Leonardo Perdomo, Dominican Republic

3B Cesar Perez, Venezuela

RHP David Perez, Dominican Republic (age 16)

OF Guillermo Pimental, Dominican Republic

SS Jorge Polanco, Venezuela (age 16)

RHP/SS Jurickson Profar, Curacao - former LLWS star

C Dionicio Ramirez

OF Alfredo Ramos, Dominican Republic - IRREGULAR INVESTIGATION, POSSIBLE SUSPENSION

OF Jaider Rocha, Colombia

RHP Daniel Sanchez, Venezuela (rumored to be 19)

C Gary Sanchez, Dominican Republic

SS Miguel Sano, Dominican Republic - http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3974952

RHP Amiro Santana, Dominican Republic

RHP Gian Carlos Santana

SS Luis Sardinas, Venezuela

LHP Mario Sel Cairo

3B Wilfredo Solano, Venezuela

3B Gabriel Tenia, Venezuela

RHP Chax Tomosina, Dominican Republic (age 18)

LHP Juan Urbina, Venezuela - Ugueth Urbina's son

SS Jean Carlos Valdez, Dominican Republic

SS Humberto Valor, Venezuela

SS Jose Vinicio, Dominican Republic

 

2010 (all Dominicans):

 

SS Ramel Flores-García

SS Claudio Baez

SS Yan Cory Pimentel

LF Dionisio Rosario

Elvis Sanchez

Frank Jimenez?

[Outshined_One]

Any Inoa-like prospects in this market?

[Cubswin11]

Any Inoa-like prospects in this market?

Yu Darvish if his team posts him.

[Guest]

Shinsano / East Windup Chronicle[/url]"]As I’ve mentioned before, going into 2009 the Cubs have four Koreans signed by my bosses within the last couple of years. They are pitchers Rhee Dae-eun and Jung Su-min, shortstop Lee Hak-ju, and outfielder Ha Jae-hoon. And there’s more on the way..wink wink. I’ll be following the progress of all four during the 2009 season.

 

:)

[RammyFanny]

Nice! Are there any lists with some of the top Korean guys available?

[Guest]

Nice! Are there any lists with some of the top Korean guys available?

 

No. Of the 4 Korean guys the Cubs signed in the past 2 years, the only one who got some publicity in the U.S. before he signed was Dae-Eun Rhee (a brief mention in Baseball America).

 

I just browse some Asian baseball blogs and sometimes BA mentions a signing after the fact. Specifically, this Taiwan Baseball blog is good for potential Taiwanese MLB signings - they were the first to mention the signing of Hung-Wen Chen. And East Windup is a must-read since one of the posters there is a part-time Cubs scout in Korea.

[craig]

Thanks for the "more on the way wink wink" note, cal. I'm overreading, I'm sure, but "more" sounds less singular than plural.

[Guest]

I read it the same way, craig. Hope it's not overreading.

[mdwilla]

http://www.npbtracker.com/2009/03/cubs-sign-korean-amateur-outfielder/

 

Picked this one up on the Japanese version of joins.com, which appears to be a Korean publication.The article, quoting a scout from a Korean team, says the Cubs have signed high schooler Don-Yeop Kim to a contract with a $550k bonus. Please excuse my romanization of the name, I used the Katakana in the Japanese article. Kim is a 6′1, 181 lbs. outfielder who reportedly projects to have some power.

[Guest]

Here's one, Craig; hopefully more to come: Cubs sign Korean HS outfielder Dong-Yub Kim. 6'1", 181 lbs, $550,000 bonus.

 

And kudos to mdwilla for finding the link and info: http://www.npbtracker.com/2009/03/cubs-sign-korean-amateur-outfielder/

 

http://japanese.joins.com/upload/images/2009/03/20090327112140-1.jpg

[craig]

Here's one, Craig; hopefully more to come: Cubs sign Korean HS outfielder Dong-Yub Kim. 6'1", 181 lbs, $550,000 bonus.

 

And kudos to mdwilla for finding the link and info: http://www.npbtracker.com/2009/03/cubs-sign-korean-amateur-outfielder/

 

http://japanese.joins.com/upload/images/2009/03/20090327112140-1.jpg

 

Wow, that was quick. $550K, that seems significant and seems to be a common sort of range for a number of our Korean signings. Need to be getting multiple signings there; that would seem conducive to kind of establishing us as a pipeline place to go. If I'm a teenager or his parent, I'd probably feel more comfortable signing with a team that has a batch of other korean kids who will be his peers in spring training and very possibly on his minor league teams. this will make five now all in short-season. Not sure how soon Kim will come over; the SS didn't last year. But; if Kim was to come over this year, all five of these guys would all be in Mesa, able to room with each other, talk together, eat together, play video games with each other, perhaps take English class together. If I was a kid or his parent, I'd much rather sign myself into that sort of a pipeline; I'd probably sign with the Cubs unless some other team made a significantly higher dollar offer. Could be awesome if the Cubs established themselves as the default team that gets the benefit of the ties-or-close.

 

I also like the concept of signing a guy who projects as an outfielder with some power. Brief as that info was, it didn't suggest defense or speed or catching as his appeal. We could use some true-blue hit-first outfielders with possible power. Soriano, Bradley, Fuku, Johnson, all of our outfielders will be done or fossils by the time kids being signed or drafted now graduate. So I think getting some outfielders could be a high system priority.

[RammyFanny]

Nice. 500K, so he must be pretty well thought of.

[TruffleShuffle]

i'm glad we have a presence in asia, but it would be really nice if some of these guys turn out to be good.

[Outshined_One]

Moved and merged the topics.

 

I dig this signing.

[Guest]

Cubs Korean signings since Steve Wilson got on board:

 

RHP Dae-Eun Rhee (age 18) - $525,000 bonus (signed in 2007)

SS Hak-Ju Lee (age 17) - $725,000 bonus (signed in 2008)

RHP Su-Min Jung (age 18) - $510,00 bonus (signed in 2008)

C/OF Jae-Hoon Ha (age 18) - $225,000 bonus (signed in 2008)

OF Dong-Yub Kim (age 18) - $550,000 bonus (signed in 2009)

 

Age is at signing.

[Guest]

The Royals sign C Shin Jin-ho ($600,000 bonus) and the Mariners sign C Choi Ji-man ($495,000 bonus).

 

Shinsano / East Windup Chronicle[/url]"]At this point I’m really not the person to be breaking the big news, but I’ll gladly link to Patrick at NPB Tracker’s translation of a Japanese translation of a Korean article, reporting that the Cubs/we have signed Kim Dong-yub, an outfielder from Korea.

 

The original Korean article says Kim has a quick powerful bat with speed that should keep his HR/SB numbers in line with one another.

 

Over the weekend there were a number of articles in the Korean media sounding alarm bells at the number of high school prospects signing with MLB teams. This one quotes a KBO scout saying if they “stop the Cubs” they can stop the exodus of talent. Not surprisingly, the seats behind home plate at Mokdong Stadium, where a big high school tournament is wrapping up now, were dug up and rendered useless the day after the news of the three signings broke. Well, except for the walled off area that the Korean scouts sit in.

 

:)

[Guest]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=2979

 

Phillies sign 16-year old Dominican OF Domingo Santana ($330,000 bonus).

[sneakypower]

Dong

[Guest]

No more yankee my wangkee, the donger need a food!

[jersey cubs fan]

Going down to massage parlor to get dong-yub.

[Wrigley Rat]

Going down to massage parlor to get dong-yub.

=D>

[TruffleShuffle]

if this guy makes the majors i'm totally calling him "the donger"

[Brian]

i can already see the next great nsbb home run call

 

DONG-SLAP

 

Let's hope we're experiencing that one for longer than the fabled Dope-Slap

[Guest]

i can already see the next great nsbb home run call

 

DONG-SLAP

 

Let's hope we're experiencing that one for longer than the fabled Dope-Slap

donger-dinger?

[Guest]

http://www.cubscast.com/podcasts/cubscast503.mp3

 

Episode 503 of Cubcast's podcast has an interview with Aaron Tasano (a.k.a. Shinsano of East Windup Chronicle).

 

He talks about Dong-Yub Kim in his interview:

 

• Was heavily scouted by the majority of MLB teams who scout in Korea.
  
• Nice bat speed
  
• Can hit for power and steal some bases.

 

How the Cubs stack up against other MLB teams in Korea:

 

• Cubs fans can feel good about what the Cubs are doing in Korea.
  
• Cubs have always been aggressive in Korea, even before Steve Wilson got here.
  
• Wilson and Paul Weaver really know what they're doing and have set up a good system that works: the Cubs are aggressive and have the money to back that up.

 

Aaron also postulated that OF Jae-Hoon Ha and RHP Su-Min Jung will start in Boise (in a story about how helping sign those two helped convert him from being a Reds fan to a Cubs fan).