2015-16 International Free Agency Thread

[Guest]

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noooooo

[Guest]

jesus christ imagine if we had moncada waiting in the wings in the next year or two.

 

the [expletive] would we even do

[davell]

I don't think this looks great for the Cubs(chances of signing him), regarding EJM. He switched agents recently, that much is known. That said, I could easily see a secenario that has him hiring the new agent prior to the previous one has been officially let go. Then the agreements happening in that time frame. Don't get me wrong, my guess is the first agent would have certainly known he's gone. But all it'd likely take is a few missed signatures(intentionallyby the initial agent) and he'd still technically be the rightful agent.

 

No idea if both contracts are signed or if there was consent on EJM's part to make an agreement at a certain dollar amount. Anyway, just a guess on my part. But it's definitely fucked up. And our best bet is for the initial agent to have been properly let go prior to getting his deal with San Fran.

[davell]

http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/154494356/cubs-giants-both-lay-claim-to-eddy-martinez?topicid=151569562

 

Jesse Sanchez update- Definitely an odd situation. I'd prefer the Cubs to be the team that made the deal with the actual US Agency, instead of the DR trainers. But if the Giants don't have anything other than texts and emails from him, I can't imagine they've got much to stand on here.

[Tryptamine]

I don't understand how MLB could possibly award EJM to the Giants unless they're suddenly making verbal agreements a binding legal contract, which we all know they aren't.

[davell]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/minor-league-transactions-oct-10-16-2/

 

@JesseSanchezMLB: Source: Eddy Julio Martinez is officially a member of the Cubs. He signed 10 days ago. The background: https://t.co/zRC9Cq1GS3

[craig]

Thanks, Dave. Glad to have some conclusion, in Cubs favor, on that signing.

 

Now lets hope he actually becomes a good player.

[davell]

Awesome to get him in. The way things are currently, tons of Cubans available, Dodgers scouting department in revamp mode.....We can do some serious damage over the next 8 months or so.

[davell]

http://js.mlblogs.com/2015/10/23/next-top-cuban-pitcher-shines/

 

Sierra isn't bound to the IFA penalties and definitely turned some heads yesterday. Sanchez mentions the Raicel Iglesias contract (4-27) as a comp for what to go off of for Sierra.

 

My initial thought, no basis to go off though, is the Yanks and Red Sox will be tough to beat on him, since they can't go after the rest of the Cubans.

[SouthSideRyan]

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Is Callis more down on him than most?

[Guest]

http://js.mlblogs.com/2015/10/23/next-top-cuban-pitcher-shines/

 

Sierra isn't bound to the IFA penalties and definitely turned some heads yesterday. Sanchez mentions the Raicel Iglesias contract (4-27) as a comp for what to go off of for Sierra.

 

My initial thought, no basis to go off though, is the Yanks and Red Sox will be tough to beat on him, since they can't go after the rest of the Cubans.

This is how one adds a starter with options that could also compete for the rotation.

[davell]

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Is Callis more down on him than most?

 

My guess is Callis is caught in the middle. He works with Jesse Sanchez, who's extremely high on him. And he used to work with Badler, who's the definitive low guy on him. Based on how poor MLB's lists have been, I'd say Callis lazily put him in between the 2.

[davell]

http://js.mlblogs.com/2015/10/23/next-top-cuban-pitcher-shines/

 

Sierra isn't bound to the IFA penalties and definitely turned some heads yesterday. Sanchez mentions the Raicel Iglesias contract (4-27) as a comp for what to go off of for Sierra.

 

My initial thought, no basis to go off though, is the Yanks and Red Sox will be tough to beat on him, since they can't go after the rest of the Cubans.

This is how one adds a starter with options that could also compete for the rotation.

 

Absolutely. He fits our situation to a tee.

[ctcf]

https://twitter.com/iamjoonlee/status/662770042866671616

[davell]

https://twitter.com/iamjoonlee/status/662770042866671616

 

Looks like the Pirates won the bidding.

 

Edit- Nitkowski's report being refuted by Olney and Heyman. So no winner yet.

[Guest]

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Diaz and Ona were rated as top 10 Cuban prospects by BA. Ona is still not eligible to sign.

[davell]

Who will be the next top player from Cuba to sign? Here's a list of Cuban players to watch this Hot Stove season. https://t.co/tawl3nZYWX

[CubsWin]

Who will be the next top player from Cuba to sign? Here's a list of Cuban players to watch this Hot Stove season. https://t.co/tawl3nZYWX

Thanks for posting that, davell.

 

There are a lot of intriguing names on there.

 

Yasiel Sierra sounds like he could provide rotation help as early as this season at considerably less money than any of the FA options currently on the market.

 

The two 16-year-olds, LHP Adrian Morejon and OF Lazarito Armenteros, sound like they'd be excellent additions if/when they become available to sign before the June 15th deadline. Both are described as top of the 1st round draft pick quality players.

 

Then there's 19-year-old, RHP Vladimir Gutierrez who has a profile similar to a late 1st round high school arm. 19-year-old Yusniel Diaz is an exciting CF prospect. OF Jorge Ona, also just 19, profiles more as a corner OFer but sounds solid at the plate.

 

That's 6 high quality prospects with others yet to be mentioned. A terrific opportunity for the Cubs to load up on potential impact talent right as they go into (what we hope are) several years without a high draft pick. I hope they have the resources to sign some of these guys. If so, this might be the Cubs most impactful off-season to date.

[CubsWin]

I'd say Sierra's moved up and Gutierrez down. I still really would like to sign Norge Ruiz when he is declared a FA.

Agreed, certainly with the description given in that article. But a 6'3", 19-year-old with room to fill out who currently sits 88-92 and can touch 94 while projecting to add velo is still a late first round talent. I'd take that in the Cubs organization moving forward. Gutierrez is 5 years younger as well.

 

If the Cubs signed Ruiz, that'd be good too. The more the merrier, but it sounds like Gutierrez has more upside.

[Guest]

I want to sign so many Cubans we need to field an extra minor league team next year.

[davell]

Its us, the Dodgers, and who? I'm sure the Giants will get a guy or two. The Royals are over their budget, but I'd think they spend almost everything they've got on the ML team. My guess is the Reds will become serious now that they've committed to rebuilding.(They were in on EJM). But outside of them, I guess 1 or 2 teams will break agreements they've already made for next year? Can't see too many doing it honestly. And the Yanks and Red Sox can just watch.

 

Our real competition seems to be MLB. If they drag their feet in making some of these guys eligible, teams can at least try to offer enough money to get these guys to hold off until next signing period. But the ruling for Machado/Estevez should conceivably open the flood gates. If not, there's still plenty of guys to grab.

 

Theo saying he wants to add pitching "at all levels" of the organization tells me we'll likely be heavy on the pitching.

 

The Morejon report was a ton better than BA's(which was still solid in its own right). But differing from maybe being the best J-2 pitcher in this years class, which was weak- to being a 1-1 candidate in the Amateur Draft......Quite a difference, kind of mirrors the EJM reports in a way that they were so far off too.

[craig]

A few years back, the Cubs were clearly in rebuilding, talent-accumulation. I have so many questions about how it works internally now. Now the Cubs are a 97-win team who went to the NL championship series. I wonder how much discretionary money the Cubs have to spend? And how internally they split that between prospect procurement and big-league free agency? Do they have totally different budgets? In the Soler/Concepcion and Jiminez/Tseng/Torres years, were they stealing tens of millions from the big-league cookie jar because there was nothing worthwhile to spend that money on? Or do they have a fixed budget for procurement, which had $14 mill per year between draftees and internationals? Do they have different cookie jars for draft versus international procurement? The face that they can't spend for the next two years, can they borrow from the future? Or can they only spend from whatever savings and revenue-past has accumulated?

 

Internally, is Theo sitting in a room in which McLeod/Madison/Dorey are having heated arguments with Hoyer/Bush/Shiraz Rehman? McLeod wants $30 million to sign Cubans, but Hoyer wants that to sign Fowler and Zobrist and O'Day rather than settling for Darren Jackson?

 

Do FA spending and international procurement come out of different budgets with different Zell-sale debt/borrowing constraints?

 

I would just love to have an inside dope scoop on how this plays out internally.

 

Dave, as you mentioned with the "all levels" bit, I think that could very much fit an interest in Sierra. If he was signed and went to AA or AAA, but might be ready fairly soon, that could provide an extra alternative to Hammel if he hits the wall again, or be an option for injury replacement.

 

One of my other "all levels" thoughts has been that Castro doesn't have trade value for a good big-league starter, but he might have value for an interesting minor-league pitching prospect. How good of an almost-ready prospect arm might you get for Castro+Happ? Or Castro + Underwood?

[davell]

Yeah, that's occurred to me too. Trading Castro for prospects.

 

I remember quotes from Theo explaining there's a singular baseball ops budget and that it was all encompassing. That said, I have ZERO idea if overages come out of it(my guess is no).

 

And to make matters even more confusing(but a reason I'm very excited about this Cuban class) is the extremely late info that came in recently that Maddon spent a day with Moncada and came close to getting him to sign late. Considering the timing and all of when Moncada signed and for how much he signed for......We evidently had the ability to give him. 30+ mill(plus pay the overage).

 

Based on the teams trajectory and all, I can't think that's money that was going to count against whatever our budget winds up being. So that goes against a true baseball ops budget, first and foremost, unless there IS just a separate fund Theo has set aside for IFA's......And that IS what I'm operating under.

 

I'm assuming if its discretionary funds, it doesn't ALL have to/will be spent at once just because its there. But if you were to assume we had 30( not counting for the original 3ish that would have been in the baseball ops budget.......I'll haphazardly guess we've got around 20 of it left to spend on these guys this off season. I could obviously be wrong on all of this, but its why I've been so excited about what we can accomplish this year on this front-especially with the lack of teams involved.

[Guest]

Another young Cuban defector: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/157498524/miguel-vargas-lazaro-vargas-defect-from-cuba

 

16-year old IF Lazaro Vargas. Hopefully he'll be eligible before June 15th.

 

When the teenager will become eligible to sign is to be determined. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Vargas is in the early stages of his paperwork, and he will be subject to the rules of the international signing guidelines because of his age and experience. He joins a crowded field of young Cuban talent that includes highly touted 15-and-under Cuban national squad teammates Lazarito Armenteros, an outfielder, and left-handed pitcher Adrian Morejon, who are training in the Dominican Republic. The trio could become eligible when the 2016 international signing period begins on July 2, if they are not made eligible for the current period that ends on June 15.

[CubsWin]

Another young Cuban defector: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/157498524/miguel-vargas-lazaro-vargas-defect-from-cuba

 

16-year old IF Lazaro Vargas. Hopefully he'll be eligible before June 15th.

 

When the teenager will become eligible to sign is to be determined. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Vargas is in the early stages of his paperwork, and he will be subject to the rules of the international signing guidelines because of his age and experience. He joins a crowded field of young Cuban talent that includes highly touted 15-and-under Cuban national squad teammates Lazarito Armenteros, an outfielder, and left-handed pitcher Adrian Morejon, who are training in the Dominican Republic. The trio could become eligible when the 2016 international signing period begins on July 2, if they are not made eligible for the current period that ends on June 15.

Man, the list keeps growing. I hope these 3 become available before June 15th. I think my new favorite name might be some derivation of Lazaro.