Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez Signs with the Phillies

[RammyFanny]

TORONTO -- The Dodgers are not pursuing Cuban free-agent pitcher Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, according to a baseball source.

 

Speculation has persisted that the deep-pocketed Dodgers, after the success of Cuban defector Yasiel Puig, have offered a contract for as much as $50 million for Gonzalez, a right-hander. But the source insists the Dodgers are not part of the process.

http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130723&content_id=54440330&c_id=la&tcid=tw_article_54440330

 

Hmmm...

[ctcf]

Woah

[Guest]

Instead of Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, the Dodgers have signed Cuban IF Alexander Guerrero to a 7 year/$32 million contract:

 

@dSoldevila: Fuente: Los Dodgers firman al cubano Alexander Guerrrero por un contrato de US$32 millones y siete años.

[pitchcs]

Report on him? That's more than Soler got.

[MWV]

There's this, from Hardball talk, Jan 21 2013:

Guerrero has been one of Cuba’s best players the last few years, hitting .338/.408/.641 in 2009, .343/.414/.583 in 2010 and .310/.400/.599 in 2011. Between the three seasons, he delivered 60 homers in 886 at-bats. One imagines that if the reports are true and he eventually becomes a free agent, he could take over as a starting shortstop or second baseman for an MLB team in short order.

[Guest]

Badler on Gonzalez: http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/miguel-alfredo-gonzalez-scouting-report/

 

Gonzalez is 6-foot-2, 185 pounds and has typically worked at 89-93 mph with his fastball as a starter. More recently in short stints he’s been throwing his fastball 89-94 mph and he’s touched 96. That surprised some scouts who have seen him extensively at international tournaments but never clocked him in the mid-90s before, especially for a 26-year-old to experience a velocity spike after not pitching competitively for a year. Other teams say Gonzalez did get his fastball up to the mid-90s when he was at the World University Championships in Japan, but he has trouble controlling the pitch when he reaches back for the extra heat. He has had elbow issues in the past, which may have led to inconsistent velocity.

 

Gonzalez throws a splitter and a changeup and they are the two offspeed pitches he leans on the most, particularly the splitter. Neither one is a wipeout pitch but they can both be a tick above-average when they’re on and miss bats.

 

The concern in Gonzalez’s arsenal is his breaking ball. Scouts highest on him have seen an average breaking pitch, while others call it a 40 or a 45 on the 20-80 scale. He throws what looks like two different breaking balls, but multiple scouts said they think it’s a variation of the same pitch that he adds and subtracts from it at 75-79 mph. Gonzalez will changes his arm slot to make the breaking ball look more like a slurvy curveball when he gets on top of it, then he’ll drop down to a lower angle to give it longer, more sweepy break. Scouts said they couldn’t remember Gonzalez throwing a cut fastball in the past, but he’s added a high-80s cutter to his arsenal as well.

 

...

 

Scouts generally agree that Gonzalez is a major leaguer, but projections vary significantly. Scouts highest on Gonzalez see his upside as a No. 3 starter who could pitch in the big leagues immediately, or at least soon after getting acclimated with some Triple-A time.

 

Others see a back-end starter, a middle relief option or a long reliever as more realistic projections given their concerns about how his stuff will play the second time through the order and as major league teams become more familiar with him. The lack of success from Nationals righthander Yunesky Maya, who had a strong record in Cuba with more pitchability but less velocity than Gonzalez, is a concern for some organizations.

[Guest]

Apparently not so fast on Guerrero:

 

@JesseSanchezMLB: Guerrero is a free agent but has not been unblocked by OFAC. He can't come into an agreement until cleared. Showcase scheduled for Wed in DR

[Guest]

Mooney:

 

Industry sources said those plans most likely will not include Cuban pitcher Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez. The Cubs have scouted Gonzalez in Mexico and stayed in the mix, but there’s an overall feeling that the 26-year-old right-hander will wind up being out of their price range, with the Boston Red Sox being mentioned as one of the frontrunners.

[Guest]

The fact that the reports vary so wildly and they seem to top out at #3 starter make me pretty leery of this dude.

 

How bad would it suck to get stuck with a $50M long reliever?

[Guest]

Have you had a chance to see/hear about Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez? Does he project as a front-end starter or something lesser?

 

Klaw  (1:08 PM)

 

Haven't seen except a little video. Have talked to several scouts who did, general reports seem to have him as a likely above-average MLB starter, fastball up to 96, plus slider, four pitches, arm works. I can't imagine dealing with the inflation in Cuban free agents, but he's got to be worth $40MM+ in this market.

[Guest]

he's waiting to see if the cubs sign him before deciding whether or not he likes him

[Tracer Bullet]

he's waiting to see if the cubs sign him before deciding whether or not he likes him

 

You're getting weird with this

[Guest]

he's waiting to see if the cubs sign him before deciding whether or not he likes him

 

You're getting weird with this

 

Especially since Law loves almost everything Theo does.

[Guest]

he's waiting to see if the cubs sign him before deciding whether or not he likes him

 

You're getting weird with this

 

Especially because Keith Law has been more positive about the Cubs than 95% of the other MLB teams since Theo and Jed came on board.

[Guest]

he's waiting to see if the cubs sign him before deciding whether or not he likes him

 

You're getting weird with this

 

uhh it's weird that you'd pick me as the guy to single out with this, since i've made maybe a couple references about him.

 

search posts with "law" by me and there are 2 results about him over the last year, and the only insulting one was this post. search "klaw" and only one comes up.... again from a year ago.

 

i may have made a couple remarks recently that don't show up, but i don't understand why you're associating me with this.

 

btw: on the first (only) page of those results you can twice see me saying i like keith law.

[imb]

im the one who's weird about it

[Bull]

im the one who's weird about it

 

Yeah, but you're just weird in general.

[Tracer Bullet]

he's waiting to see if the cubs sign him before deciding whether or not he likes him

 

You're getting weird with this

 

uhh it's weird that you'd pick me as the guy to single out with this, since i've made maybe a couple references about him.

 

search posts with "law" by me and there are 2 results about him over the last year, and the only insulting one was this post. search "klaw" and only one comes up.... again from a year ago.

 

i may have made a couple remarks recently that don't show up, but i don't understand why you're associating me with this.

 

btw: on the first (only) page of those results you can twice see me saying i like keith law.

 

I said that bc I was reading latest posts on tapatalk and 2-3 in a row were you saying law would make his opinion whatever angered cubs fans.

 

imb is def weirder about law generally. I just didn't understand your bent since I haven't seen law particularly anti-cubs. More than that, law thinks he's smarter than everyone else about prospects (and food and board games, apparently). So the idea that he'd let a fan base's feelings for a player sway his opinion struck me as odd. The complaints are that he's unnecessarily jerkish, not that he trolls cubs fans.

[davell]

Down to one team in each league. I still have no idea if I want us to get him or not.

[Guest]

I said that bc I was reading latest posts on tapatalk and 2-3 in a row were you saying law would make his opinion whatever angered cubs fans.

 

imb is def weirder about law generally. I just didn't understand your bent since I haven't seen law particularly anti-cubs. More than that, law thinks he's smarter than everyone else about prospects (and food and board games, apparently). So the idea that he'd let a fan base's feelings for a player sway his opinion struck me as odd. The complaints are that he's unnecessarily jerkish, not that he trolls cubs fans.

 

i made one comment in this thread, and one in another one. other than that, i have barely mentioned him in the last year, except to say that i like him. there are several people who have been talking about him a lot more that you could have chosen.

[Tracer Bullet]

I didn't single you out as the anti-law guy. imb, tt, probably others, have been very vocal about not liking him b/c he's an [expletive]. I get that. As I said above, I saw two posts in a row by you effectively saying law was going to take whatever side angered cubs fans and that made no sense to me.

[Epsteenie]

Alfredo to Phillies per Passan

[davell]

Wow, 50 mill over 6 years, with incentives that could push it over 60.

[TruffleShuffle]

Given the scouting report, I'm fine with passing on him at that price tag.

[dcvalpo]

A year from now, this will be cited as another "failure" by Jed and Theo.