2012 International Free Agent Market

[Guest]

Raisin, anything interesting about the Cubs preview from Badler?

 

Didn't even see his team-by-team preview. For the Cubs:

 

Baseball America[/url]"]Chicago Cubs

 

The Cubs have shown interest in various players in Latin America, but it seems like Dominican shortstop Frandy de la Rosa is high on their priority list. The suspension of Dominican righthander Juan Carlos Paniagua ends on July 19. He is one player the Cubs have been tied to and he could cost more than the $1.1 million the Yankees were going to give him in 2011. The Cubs have poured money into the Cuban market as well with the signing of Jorge Soler becoming official this week, so it shouldn't be a surprise if they throw some of their international funds that way either.

[davell]

Thanks Raisin. Cool to see us show interest in Panigua, but I wonder why Badler mentions he could cost MORE now? That doesn't make sense to me, although I think I remember Badler or someone mentioning he'd be a top 10 prospect immediately for the Yanks.

[Guest]

Thanks Raisin. Cool to see us show interest in Panigua, but I wonder why Badler mentions he could cost MORE now? That doesn't make sense to me, although I think I remember Badler or someone mentioning he'd be a top 10 prospect immediately for the Yanks.

 

One of two things. Either his stock has risen or, since he's not eligible to sign until after 7/19, some teams might have spent a lot of their pool and another team that hasn't spent much could price the competitors out.

 

The only other two teams linked to Paniagua are:

 

Los Angeles Dodgers

 

...while Dominican righthander Juan Carlos Paniagua would also fit what they seem to be after.

 

San Francisco Giants

 

...while Dominican righthander Juan Carlos Paniagua may also be a fit. The Giants have generally stayed away from players with Paniagua's expected price tag in recent years, however, so they may be active more for mid-range type of players.

[Guest]

Also, Badler's introduction to the Dodgers is so awesome:

 

Los Angeles Dodgers

 

The Dodgers' new ownership group seems obsessed with making a statement, but it looks more like a misguided marketing campaign than anything else. First they sent out a bizarre press release on May 24 with the headline, "Dodgers announce Latin American signings," but never named the players that were signed. Their seven-year, $42 million major league contract for Yasiel Puig makes little sense for a player who may be the equivalent of a third-round pick, hasn't played in more than a year, is out of shape and wouldn't even face live pitching or run the 60-yard dash at his brief tryout in Mexico.

 

Here is the actual release:

 

Los Angeles Dodgers[/url]"]Dodgers announce Latin American signings

 

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced the signing of several players from Latin America, including both the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti made the announcement.

 

The Dodgers have signed or are in the process of signing more than 20 players from Latin America, including at least 10 position players and 10 pitchers.

 

"Besides the recent signings, with the support from ownership, we are fully prepared to be strong participants in the upcoming signing period in Latin America,” said Colletti. “With our renewed resources in that area and the upcoming First-Year Player Draft next month, we look forward to adding many talented young players to the Dodger family. Our Assistant General Manager, Scouting, Logan White and his staff have begun a strong and vital effort in a very important process to the future of the player development portion of the Dodgers' organization.”

 

The Dodgers have a longstanding tradition of signing future big league players out of the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. The team opened the doors on the first-ever baseball academy in the Dominican on March 27, 1987, naming it Campo Las Palmas. Current Dodger players and alumni that have been signed out of Latin America include Rubby De La Rosa, Elian Herrera, Kenley Jansen, Raul Mondesi, Pedro and Ramon Martinez, Adrian Beltre, Pedro Astacio, Omar Daal and Roger Cedeno.

 

The first round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft begins on June 4. The Dodgers hold picks No. 18 and 51 (supplemental first round choice). Last year’s first-round draft pick was Stanford left-hander Chris Reed, who is currently pitching for Single-A Rancho Cucamonga.

[davell]

That's awesome. As far as Paniagua goes, I think he's older. Maybe 20 or 21. But I think he sits 93-95 and the Yanks were really excited at one point. I guess it makes sense his price tag goes up because of that. I guess I was figuring because he's getting older, the price drops. With us needing pitching, I really hope that's our main target. Assuming we aren't in on Cabrera anyway. I kind of suspect we'll move slowly, instead of making a splash or two this week.

[Guest]

That's awesome. As far as Paniagua goes, I think he's older. Maybe 20 or 21. But I think he sits 93-95 and the Yanks were really excited at one point. I guess it makes sense his price tag goes up because of that. I guess I was figuring because he's getting older, the price drops. With us needing pitching, I really hope that's our main target. Assuming we aren't in on Cabrera anyway. I kind of suspect we'll move slowly, instead of making a splash or two this week.

 

Sounds like you're right. Here are some scouting reports on Paniagua in the past few months from BA:

 

Throwing around 30 pitches on May 1, Paniagua sat in the 93-95 mph range with his lively fastball. He showed a 78-81 mph changeup and mixed in a couple 77-78 mph curveballs. But, after his fastball, his most impressive pitch might be his slider. When Paniagua signed with the Yankees, scouts said his slider was a slurvy pitch and lagged behind his fastball and changeup, but today he showed a nasty 81-84 mph slider with sharp, late tilt.

 

Paniagua is every bit of his listed 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds. He showed good rhythm and balance in his delivery and was around the strike zone with all of his pitches. Before this outing, Paniagua last threw in front of scouts on March 28 at Palm Beach (Fla.) CC. He spent this offseason playing winter ball in Panama, where he had a 5.09 ERA in 17 2/3 innings with 18 strikeouts and nine walks.

 

When Paniagua had signed with the Diamondbacks, he was a raw arm who had been throwing around 88-90 mph, touching 92. During his suspension, Paniagua joined one of the top academies in the Dominican Republic, the Arias and Goodman academy run by Alfredo Arias and Gary Goodman. Their players last year included Astros outfielder Ariel Ovando ($2.6 million), Mariners outfielder Phillips Castillo ($2.2 million), Cubs third baseman Jeimer Candelario ($500,000) and Yankees righthander Reynaldo Polanco ($450,000), among others.

 

While training at the Arias and Goodman academy during his suspension, Paniagua's velocity skyrocketed. Multiple scouts who have seen Paniagua recently reported that he sat around 93-95 mph and touched 98. Some scouts said they had heard Paniagua may have even topped out even higher, though Baseball America could not confirm those reports.

 

Paniagua's situation is similar to that of Dominican righthander Carlos Martinez (previously known as Carlos Matias), whose low six-figure agreement with the Red Sox was voided when he was suspended for fraud. While he was suspended, Martinez's fastball shot up and he started throwing up to 99 mph. Since Martinez's contract with the Red Sox never received official league approval, Martinez was able to become a free agent after he finished his suspension last year, then signed with the Cardinals for $1.5 million last April.

[Guest]

It'll be interesting to see how quickly signings filter in this year. In year's past, teams like the Yankees had signings completed by 12:30 AM on July 2nd and tons of big name signings filtered in throughout the first half of the day on July 2nd. With the bonus restrictions, it will be interesting to see how quickly players will sign and how much teams will try to balance various big time players' bonuses. On top of that, right now, the Rangers seem like they are stuck in neutral until they hear from MLB about Beras.

[davell]

Wow, I didn't even think about the Rangers. Can they be penalized and lose their allotment over the Beras deal? If not, I would think they could go and sign guys, because if Beras was ruled illegal, it'll be voided and he'll be suspended, right?

[Guest]

Wow, I didn't even think about the Rangers. Can they be penalized and lose their allotment over the Beras deal? If not, I would think they could go and sign guys, because if Beras was ruled illegal, it'll be voided and he'll be suspended, right?

 

I don't believe MLB will penalize the Rangers over Beras. Ben Badler said the Rangers are handcuffed while they wait on MLB's decision and that it seems like most of their plans are contingent on the fate of Beras. Not sure what Badler's reasoning is for saying this but you'd think the Rangers would and should be able to go out as if business is normal.

[davell]

Phillies sign number 20 prospect, OF Jose Pujols, for 540k. I wasn't expecting any signings to trickle in til noon tomorrow. Oh well, maybe we'll get more soon.

[Guest]

Phillies sign number 20 prospect, OF Jose Pujols, for 540k. I wasn't expecting any signings to trickle in til noon tomorrow. Oh well, maybe we'll get more soon.

 

Badler is 1/1 in his predictions already.

 

@BenBadler: They're eligible now, but most July 2 signs will be in the morning/afternoon RT @luke_jackson10 At what hour can teams start signing guys

[wvcbxl]

For Werner, from BA:

 

In Europe, Rachid Engelhardt (video) is a righthanded hitter from the Netherlands who played for the Dutch team at the 16-and-under World Championship in Mexico last August. At 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, Engelhardt has good bat speed and flashes solid power potential, though he'll need to work at his approach to have it play more in games. He's shown promising defensive tools but like many young catchers will need to add polish behind the plate. Some expect the Mariners to be involved.

 

He made his debut in the Dutch league (easily the toughest in Europe, but that doesn't mean much) when he was just 15, and his brother Bryan plays for the national team.

The Dutch league sent him over to a showcase in Arizona at the end of last year, and he said a couple of organizations had shown interest, so I expect he'll end up signing somewhere, but maybe this year would be too soon.

[Guest]

Blue Jays sign Franklin Brieto, BA's #1 IFA prospect.

[davell]

It'll be really interesting to see what kind of bonus he gets. Sae it's supposed to be for close to 2 mill, just want to see how teams handle their allocations and if a team shoots their wad on a single player. With their farm's depth, it makes sense for the Jays. Next year, with some teams having more money, I figure we'll see the top guys get more typical bonuses again.

[davell]

He's right about the AL East, Luis Castro, no 9, goes to Toronto, and no 17, Jose Almonte, goes to the Red Sox.

[davell]

Since Paniagua is suspended until July 19th and Gohara doesn't turn 16 until July 31st, we may be very slow to spend any money.

[Guest]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2012/07/top-20-international-prospects-tracker/

Tracker of who amongst the top 20 has signed.

[davell]

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120702&content_id=34319274&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb&tcid=tw_article_34319274

 

We're close to a 700,000 deal with De la Rosa, according to this article.

[davell]

Assuming we get that deal done, I want to see the Dodgers go out and spend some money between now and when Paniagua becomes eligible to be signed, so we have as much cash available to sign him as they do.

[craig]

This year, every team has 2.9 mill to spend on IFA. If you go over that amount by less than 5 percent, there's no penalty. If you go over by less than 10 percent, you pay a fine on the amount you went over on. I think it's 75 percent. If you go over by less than 15 percent, you pay the fine and you can not sign a player for over 500k the following season. If you go over by more than 15 percent, you get the fine and can not spend over 250k on a player the following season. Next year, the budgets will range from around 5 mill down to under 2 mill, based on record. So, while the worse record we have helps our draft position, it also helps here tremendously. So, if have a bottom 5 record this year, ee'll have a very high IFA budget next year. And if we go for it next offseason and try to contend, next year is the time to go all in on IFA, because our budget would be considerably lower for the following season anyway.

 

Bumping/reviewing. I was trying to rediscover what the actual amounts were. If it's 2.9, and you can go up to 10% over before losing anything but money, that's a pretty decent pool. Interesting that the top guys on BA's list are going in the low $1's, of the six guys listed only one has signed for more than $1.4 (Mets at $1.75.) Just kind of wondering if any of the teams signing the big tickets today are pricing themselves out of signing a second big ticket, but that appears to not necessarily be true. It's not like the Yankees signing a $1.3 guy today rules them out of the Paniago derby, or anything. (Unless we'd be spending $2+ on Paniago.)

[davell]

The Yanks are done though, for the most part. they've signed a 1.3, an 800k, and a 650k already.

[davell]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2012/07/cubs-sign-no-19-international-prospect-frandy-de-la-rosa/

 

Badler's link confirms De La Rosa signing.

 

FWIW, he's number 10 from MLB.com's IFA preview.

Edited July 2, 2012 by davell

[craig]

The Yanks are done though, for the most part. they've signed a 1.3, an 800k, and a 650k already.

 

Toronto has three top-13 guys, so they're probably done too.

 

I wonder how quickly these deals get official and get public. Or how long a team can keep it under wraps. If everybody knows what the cap is, and if they can track big chunks of another team's signings, you could kind of know the max somebody else might bid for a guy coming out later on. Might help you get a cheaper deal if you know you don't need to go super-high to win.

 

However, there's lots of teams around, so ruling a handful out doesn't really ensure anything, I guess.

[Guest]

Badler:

 

Cubs Sign No. 19 International Prospect Frandy De La Rosa

 

The Cubs have signed Frandy de la Rosa, the No. 19 international prospect for July 2, for $700,000.

 

De la Rosa, a 16-year-old Dominican shortstop, is 6-foot-1, 180 pounds and has a smooth swing from both sides of the plate. He trained with Valentin Monero and played in the Dominican Prospect League.

 

Baseball America subscribers can read a complete scouting report on de la Rosa.

[davell]

The way Goldstein made it sound earlier, most of these agreements have been in place for months. I'd love to learn more as to how this all works. I know teams view players dramatically different, at this age and a team may see a million dollar bonus in the same guy another team offers 50k to. But, I can't help but think teams with the better facilities atract these kids and win them over somewhat with the trust factor.

 

Adding our Dominican Academy really seems like it could help us bigtime, if it gets done in time for next year's signing period. After that, with a draft looming, all bets are off. Although I still think having guys constantly working out in your facilities has to be an advantage and gives you a gigantic scouting edge, assuming your not letting other teams in very often to see them.