2011 International FA Market

[Guest]

Yoanner Negrin was signed this week by the Cubs, according to BA. He defected with Cabezas evidently and is a RHP. Nothing else on him. No idea if this is who is being congratulated or not from LA Sports Management.

 

Negrin is represented by Carlos Perez of "United Sports". Perez is also the Director of Baseball Operations for Wasserman Media Group.

[craig]

Arizona Phil[/url]"],....

Negrin pitched for Matanzas in the Serie Nacional de Beisbol (the Cuban major leagues), and was a rotation starter prior to defecting with fellow Cub minor leaguer (and current Boise catcher) Yaniel Cabezas last year.

....

 

I read that Negrin was his staff ace back in cuba and won 11 games ....

I believe he's 27.

 

Here are the only stats I could find on Negrin:

 

In the 48th Cuban season, Yoannis Negrin (Matanzas) finished tenth in Saves with 7

and his ERA was 4.91 in 36.2 innings. In three previous seasons, Negrin had an ERA of

4.23 in 289.2 innings.

 

That comes from an interview with his advisor/agent. It also says that his fastball is consistently at 90, peaking at 94 and he throws a two-seamer, four-seamer, slider, curve, and change.

.....

 

Sounds like a modestly interesting guy. Might be a minor-league roster filler, a guy who's a little overmatched in AAA, or a guy who might end up being a usable major leaguer. When was the 48th Cuban season, versus the "staff ace and won 11 games?"

 

Agents tend to puff their clients, so if the agent says he throws 90 and has touched 94, that sounds like something of a soft-toss finesser. But if a guy was really throwing 90mph 2-seamers with command, obviously that could be an upgrade on the kind of junk rotation options we've got on the big-league team and in the minors. No idea what the parks or scoring is like in cuba. But certainly a soft-tossing finesse reliever with a 4.2-4.9 ERA's doesn't sound like an especially big-ticket pickup.

[wvcbxl]

When was the 48th Cuban season?

 

2009 - Aroldis Chapman was the strikeout champ that year with 130

[questionmarkgrace]

More on Yoennis Cespedes the defector that hasnt signed yet. Dude has put up some gaudy numbers down there. He will probably get a major league deal.

 

http://www.baseballdecuba.com/Players-50SN/YCespedes-GRM.html

 

As far as the guy we did sign Yoannis Negrin Perez he did have 11 wins at one time two years ago and 5 complete games according to this blurb. Scroll down:

 

http://baseballdeworld.com/2010/01/15/chasing-dreams-cuban-baseball-defectors-part-1/

 

this pdf has his compete stats for that year:

 

http://www.baseballdecuba.com/descargas/47NSN-IndividualPitchingTeams.pdf

[RammyFanny]

Was this signing reported?

They also didn't aggressively pursue Cubans (they have signed center fielder Rubi Silva, catcher Yaniel Cabeza and left-hander Frank De Valle for a combined $2.3 million) or go to places like Curacao to get players such as left-hander Christopher Pieters, who signed for $350,000.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0818-rogers-cubs-draft-chicago20110818,0,428597.column

http://networkedblogs.com/kzUJf

[Guest]

Was this signing reported?

They also didn't aggressively pursue Cubans (they have signed center fielder Rubi Silva, catcher Yaniel Cabeza and left-hander Frank De Valle for a combined $2.3 million) orgo to places like Curacao to get players such as left-hander Christopher Pieters, who signed for $350,000.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0818-rogers-cubs-draft-chicago20110818,0,428597.column

http://networkedblogs.com/kzUJf

 

Also in the Phil Rogers link, Malave signed for $1.6 million. The $2.3 million spent on Silva, Cabezas and Del Valle implies Del Valle got $800,000.

[davell]

This has been a phenomenal showing this year thru international signees. And who is to say we are even done yet. Reports say we are interested in that Garcia guy it looked like we may draft and there are still more guys unsigned from Central America too. Needless to say Ricketts has put his money where his mouth is.

[wvcbxl]

Was this signing reported?

They also didn't aggressively pursue Cubans (they have signed center fielder Rubi Silva, catcher Yaniel Cabeza and left-hander Frank De Valle for a combined $2.3 million) or go to places like Curacao to get players such as left-hander Christopher Pieters, who signed for $350,000.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0818-rogers-cubs-draft-chicago20110818,0,428597.column

http://networkedblogs.com/kzUJf

 

Yep, right here: http://www.antilliaansdagblad.com/images/stories/adnews/2011/juli/19-07-11/p11.pdf :wink:

[Guest]

Robert Osuna signed with Toronto. They're cleaning up in international baseball.

 

From what I've gathered, it sounds like one of the top Korean amateur free agents this year is SS Ju-Suk Ha.

[Guest]

The Mariners are close to signing a German teen pitcher: http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2011/09/mariners-close-to-signing-german-teen/

[scarey]

The Mariners are close to signing a German teen pitcher: http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2011/09/mariners-close-to-signing-german-teen/

 

'The Luger' would be a great baseball nickname. He'll have to get his velocity into the 90s to be worthy of such a nickname though.

[wvcbxl]

The Mariners are close to signing a German teen pitcher: http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2011/09/mariners-close-to-signing-german-teen/

 

'The Luger' would be a great baseball nickname. He'll have to get his velocity into the 90s to be worthy of such a nickname though.

 

Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg arranged a press conference today to announce the Daniel Thieben signing is official.

[Little Slide Rooter]

The Mariners are close to signing a German teen pitcher: http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2011/09/mariners-close-to-signing-german-teen/

 

'The Luger' would be a great baseball nickname. He'll have to get his velocity into the 90s to be worthy of such a nickname though.

 

Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg arranged a press conference today to announce the Daniel Thieben singing is official.

 

If The Hawk sees him blow a fastball by someone, I hope he know better than to say what he usually would.

[davell]

According to Sun Times article, Wittenmeyer says we are more interested in 19 year old Cuban OFer from Cuba than we are in Cespedes. He becomes a FA within a few weeks and evidently has the upside that Cespedes appears to have. The Yanks and Nats also appear to have big interest in him. He is expected to get a contract slightly larger than what the Rangers gave Leonys Martin earlier in the year. Which was 3 years and 15.5 mill. So this guy must be pretty damn good, at any rate. He definitely fits into what Theo wants to do, signing a guy or two like this helps the system out tremendously. Go get him Theo.

[MWV]

His name is Jorge Soler. Looks interesting:

 

John Manuel, BA[/url]"]Soler, the 18U team's right fielder, has a strapping 6-foot-3, 205-pound body, is 18 and has five-tool potential. Soler, also a right-handed hitter, checked in at 4.26 (to 1B). Soler has bat speed and what one scout called "explosive power" to go with above-average arm strength.

 

The quoted story is from last November.

[davell]

The A's signed OF/1B Sandor Pimentel today. There are still a decent amount of guys from BA's top 40 signing bonuses out there. Teams have until July before that cap goes into affect. It'd be great if we got Soler, maybe that Garcia Speck guy, some Pac Rim signings including the pitcher represented by Boras, or maybe Mauricio Silva or Manuel Gonzalez from the Dominican under contract before these rules take effect. This looks to be our last true shot at overspending before we're capped for good.

[BeerHere]

Yu Darvish is going through a divorce and his wife may be waiting to see if he signs an MLB contract to max her take.

 

...they are the root of all evil

 

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/28/yu-darvishs-posting-may-be-delayed-by-his-divorce/

[davell]

Geraldo Concepcion is a Cuban lefty who's 19. The Cubs, Yankees, Phillies, and Rangers are connected to him. He's under the radar, but has applied for eligibility and should have it very soon. It'd be a great way to take advantage of "last minute" IFA spending before the new rules kick in. Between him and that Garcia Speck guy, it'd be great to amp up our pitching in the minors. Along with some of the Dominican arms that haven't signed yet, silva and Gonzalez. Then, of course, there's Jorge Soler, who's probably a couple of weeks away from being able to sign. Bottom line though, is if we want to give one final boost to our system without penalty ramifications, it's now or never, and there's guys out there who can help us out.

[wvcbxl]

This looks to be our last true shot at overspending before we're capped for good.

 

The cap is on signing players, not on resources allocated to international scouting. The Cubs probably have the resources to widen the traditional search area; MLB is holding it's first African academy in Cape Town this week, and I hope there's a Cubs' scout present.

[davell]

Well yeah. What I mean is if we wanted to go out and spend 30 mill on a bunch of under 23 year old IFA, we can still do that until July. I don't doubt we're going to have scouts everywhere between now and then either.

[jersey cubs fan]

I hope there's a Cubs' scout present.

 

Jerry Sandusky every Christmas morning?

[RammyFanny]

Cuban Cub? It is a name very few outside a select circle have heard, but Geraldo Concepcion is creating a buzz with baseball insiders, including the Cubs.

 

Concepcion a 19-year-old left-hander, defected from Cuba recently and has applied for signing eligibility with Major League Baseball, which could approve it very soon.

 

His under-the radar entrance is perfect for the new Cubs' regime, which has interest in him along with the Yankees, Phillies and Rangers, according to a very good source.

 

"(Pitching) is an area where we challenge our scouts to be as creative as possible," Cubs President Theo Epstein said the other day. "There's way more demand than supply for starting pitching."

 

There is a doubt that Concepcion comes major-league ready. While winning Cuban rookie of the year honors, he struck out 53 in 1012/3 innings and posted a 3.36 ERA.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-spt-1207-ct-baseball-bits--20111207,0,4381585.story

[ctcf]

Cuban Cub? It is a name very few outside a select circle have heard, but Geraldo Concepcion is creating a buzz with baseball insiders, including the Cubs.

 

Concepcion a 19-year-old left-hander, defected from Cuba recently and has applied for signing eligibility with Major League Baseball, which could approve it very soon.

 

His under-the radar entrance is perfect for the new Cubs' regime, which has interest in him along with the Yankees, Phillies and Rangers, according to a very good source.

 

"(Pitching) is an area where we challenge our scouts to be as creative as possible," Cubs President Theo Epstein said the other day. "There's way more demand than supply for starting pitching."

 

There is a doubt that Concepcion comes major-league ready. While winning Cuban rookie of the year honors, he struck out 53 in 1012/3 innings and posted a 3.36 ERA.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-spt-1207-ct-baseball-bits--20111207,0,4381585.story

 

Well if he can pitch that many innings, who cares about his K totals.

[davell]

I have been searching but haven't found anything about this guy's arsenal. Cuba is basically AA ball, right? If so, his K rate isn't all that troubling to me, since he is just 19 and pitching up for his age. The fact it was even brought up he MAY not be ready to help a major league team intrigues me, especially at that age. If anyone finds anything about what he throws and his velo, please post it.

[wvcbxl]

If anyone finds anything about what he throws and his velo, please post it.

 

There's a blurb at the bottom of this article.

 

He seems to be a control pitcher, with a good curve and an efficient slider.