Cubs sign 2 Cuban hitters for 1.5 million

[Transmogrified Tiger]

A LH OF with speed and gap power for 1 mil, and a catcher for 500k.

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=10829

 

A pair of former top players from the Cuban junior national team have signed with the Cubs, who have agreed to terms with outfielder Rubi Silva and catcher Yaniel Cabeza, according to international sources.

 

Silva, a 21-year-old lefthanded hitter, signed for a $1 million bonus. At around 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, Silva is a good athlete who has played both center and right field with above-average speed and a strong arm. An aggressive hitter, Silva has a line-drive swing and gap power. Silva played for La Habana in Cuba's Serie Nacional in 2008-09 and hit .276/.305/.428 in 283 at-bats with 10 triples, four home runs, 12 walks and 44 strikeouts.

 

Some scouts believe Silva has enough versatility to possibly even move to the infield, an option that wasn't available to him on the Cuban junior national team, which featured Red Sox shortstop Jose Iglesias and Blue Jays shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria up the middle.

 

Cabeza, also 21, signed for $500,000. Cabeza stands out for his work behind the plate, earning praise from international scouts for his receiving, throwing and game-calling. His defense is ahead of his bat, but one Latin American director said Cabeza has solid bat control and is a good situational hitter. A teammate of Silva's for La Habana in 2008-09, Cabeza hit .195 with four walks and 14 strikeouts in 82 at-bats in 2008-09.

 

 

I kinda wish those scouting reports were a bit more optimistic.

[imb]

we just took $1.5 million out of the Pujols Fund for the cuban Koyie Hill and Freddie Bynum?

[Cubs Fan Dan]

we just took $1.5 million out of the Pujols Fund for the cuban Koyie Hill and Freddie Bynum?

 

These guys are probably better than Hill and Bynum right now.

 

But seriously if they are raw talents with some good potential why not deepen the system?

[Guest]

These are the 2 Cubans craig posted about in talking about the Cubs Convention.

[davell]

Hey, it's something anyway. I'm not all that enthused with the reports, but we have to trust the scouting sometimes. I guess both of these guys start in Peoria? If so, does this move Gibbs to Daytona possibly?

[davell]

By the way, AZPhil mentioned Silva a few weeks ago, saying he's been in the US for over a year now and hadn't signed with anyone yet. I didn't know how to take that and he didn't comment further about him either. So, either he was holding out for more money from a team or he couldn't find anyone to sign him I guess. If so, I hope it's the former obviously.

[craig]

A different report I saw (before I saw this thread) had Silva at $1.2 rather than $1.0. I wonder if part of the time is getting the legalese and the citizenship stuff squared away correctly? At any rate, I don't think the Cubs would be paying at least a million on a guy who couldn't get anybody to sign him for a year.

 

If he's 21 now, he'd have been 19 back during his Cuban championship season? His numbers don't look great, but don't look bad given his age and the level of serious competition. Would be cool if he turned out to be good.

 

By the way, AZPhil mentioned Silva a few weeks ago, saying he's been in the US for over a year now and hadn't signed with anyone yet. I didn't know how to take that and he didn't comment further about him either. So, either he was holding out for more money from a team or he couldn't find anyone to sign him I guess. If so, I hope it's the former obviously.

[toonsterwu]

Silva sounds mildly intriguing, and the money is big enough to make you take a peak, but after the Serrano hype, I'm not holding my breath.

 

I don't see a point of pushing Gibbs to A+, but maybe he forces his way there. As of now, Flores will likely get the bulk of the time there. As for Silva, I guess we have to wait and see what position they play him at.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if both of these kids went the XST/Boise route, though.

[Guest]

Gibbs? I wonder if his bat is ready for Peoria.

[Outshined_One]

Gibbs? I wonder if his bat is ready for Peoria.

 

He'll be fine if he gives up switch hitting.

[Guest]

Gibbs? I wonder if his bat is ready for Peoria.

 

He'll be fine if he gives up switch hitting.

 

Holy smokes, you're not kidding.

 

v. RHP: .132/.205/.160/.365

v. LHP: .381/.447/.476/.923

[questionmarkgrace]

A LH OF with speed and gap power for 1 mil, and a catcher for 500k.

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=10829

 

A pair of former top players from the Cuban junior national team have signed with the Cubs, who have agreed to terms with outfielder Rubi Silva and catcher Yaniel Cabeza, according to international sources.

 

Silva, a 21-year-old lefthanded hitter, signed for a $1 million bonus. At around 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, Silva is a good athlete who has played both center and right field with above-average speed and a strong arm. An aggressive hitter, Silva has a line-drive swing and gap power. Silva played for La Habana in Cuba's Serie Nacional in 2008-09 and hit .276/.305/.428 in 283 at-bats with 10 triples, four home runs, 12 walks and 44 strikeouts.

 

Some scouts believe Silva has enough versatility to possibly even move to the infield, an option that wasn't available to him on the Cuban junior national team, which featured Red Sox shortstop Jose Iglesias and Blue Jays shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria up the middle.

 

Cabeza, also 21, signed for $500,000. Cabeza stands out for his work behind the plate, earning praise from international scouts for his receiving, throwing and game-calling. His defense is ahead of his bat, but one Latin American director said Cabeza has solid bat control and is a good situational hitter. A teammate of Silva's for La Habana in 2008-09, Cabeza hit .195 with four walks and 14 strikeouts in 82 at-bats in 2008-09.

 

 

I kinda wish those scouting reports were a bit more optimistic.

 

 

They shelled out alot of money for the scouting reports above. That said, Im excited to see the cubs get more involved with bigger name caribbean/latin american players. Ive been dogging them on here about this for a while so its good to see. Again it would be nice if they were more highly regarded but I'll take this crumb they are throwing my way and hopefully their potential plays well.

[davell]

AZPhil made mention that the older Cuban players(I guess he could only be talking about Serrano and Borges, since I don't remember others) don't really listen to instruction and just play, they seem to think they aren't getting as good of instruction here as they did in Cuba. Just his opinion, of course, but hopefully if it's true, these 2 don't fall into the same traps.

[questionmarkgrace]

I'm a bit less excited after seeing these stats:

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/2008-2009_Cuban_National_League

 

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Ruby+Silva+Noguez&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

(scroll down to the xls file for download, sheet 1: Bateo) risky but i didnt find any problems with it.

 

Ruby Silva-Noguez' stats, led league in triples. Not listed here but first link says he had 16 outfield assists. ALso the stolen bases are surprising for a guy with 10 triples. Played all three outfield spots.

 

Ab Hits AVG 2B 3B HR Rbi TB SLU BB K Sb CS Fielding %

298 78 .276 11 10 4 32 121 .428 12 44 1 1 .959

 

Yaniel Cabeza - Just like the scouting report says, a good receiver not much else to look at.

 

Ab Hits AVG 2B 3B HR RBI TB SLU BB K Sb CS Bases stoled Def Caught Stealing Fielding %

80 16 .195 0 0 0 6 16 .195 4 14 0 0 24 15 .991

[craig]

I'm pretty enthused about Silva. I think the Cubs have some good scouts. And having been shopping around for a while, I think they've had a chance to see him play. So, I don't really think they'd shell out $1.2 if he didn't have some genuine good potential. And I don't think they'd shell out $1.2 if there wasn't realistically somebody else who might shell out $0.8-1.0.

 

Second, these are young players. Looking at statistics from two years ago, they were teenagers then. I don't know enough about Cuban baseball, but my understanding is that there are some good players in their top league. The numbers aren't great in themselves, but if a favorably tools-scouted player put up numbers like that as a teenager in Daytona or AA, we'd be really excited. I think because we don't know the league, we can't easily contextualize how good or bad those numbers are. But I suspect they might be better than we think.

[questionmarkgrace]

I'm pretty enthused about Silva. I think the Cubs have some good scouts. And having been shopping around for a while, I think they've had a chance to see him play. So, I don't really think they'd shell out $1.2 if he didn't have some genuine good potential. And I don't think they'd shell out $1.2 if there wasn't realistically somebody else who might shell out $0.8-1.0.

 

Second, these are young players. Looking at statistics from two years ago, they were teenagers then. I don't know enough about Cuban baseball, but my understanding is that there are some good players in their top league. The numbers aren't great in themselves, but if a favorably tools-scouted player put up numbers like that as a teenager in Daytona or AA, we'd be really excited. I think because we don't know the league, we can't easily contextualize how good or bad those numbers are. But I suspect they might be better than we think.

 

I dont think that I would be too excited if I saw those numbers from either guy in double a. that said point well taken, they were playing with the countries best, many of whom would be legitimate mlb guys if not stars if they defected. So for a teenager in the best league Silva showed promise. And it sounds and looks like the other guy is an advanced receiver who's bat needs to catch up with his defense. In short they were playing above their heads.