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Odds and Ends: Signing Johnny Cueto
Cincinnati's top three prospects garnered so much attention this spring that Johnny Cueto's dominant debut on Thursday caught even some well-informed baseball watchers by surprise. The 22-year old Dominican, who began last year in Single A, seemed to explode upon the major leagues as Athena did from the head of Zeus: fully formed, and from a very unexpected place.
If you're a GM, just how do you get your mitts on a talent like Cueto's? Courtesy of Reds Insider, we have a peek at the story of the scouting and signing of the Reds rookie (is it still too soon to call him a "phenom"?). Cincinnati's then-director of international operations, Johnny Almaraz, squeezed in an early-morning look at Cueto before his flight out of the Dominican Republic. Liking what he saw, he signed the 18-year old righty for $3.5K. (For contrast, the following year the Mets signed 16-year old Fernando Martinez for $1.4MM. That's quite a differential.)
The full story, by John Fay, will appear in tomorrow's Cincinnati Enquirer.
Sarah Green writes for the Boston Metro and UmpBump.com. She can be reached here.
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With the way the Reds scouting department has been over the last 10-15 years in the Dominican this can basically be summed up with the saying that even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. Watch, pay attention to, or look up this guys next start Tuesday night against Milwaukee. He's something special. If there other Dominican, Edinson Volquez, can live up to the hype they could end up being the talk of the baseball world.
Posted by: Grizzlyfox | April 05, 2008 at 04:11 PM
Wonderful interplay between baseball and Greek mythology, Sarah. Quite fresh and welcomed, it was!
Posted by: HoratioAlgae | April 05, 2008 at 05:39 PM
Yes...it's too soon to call Cueto a "phenom". Let's give him until the All Star break and see where he's at...
Posted by: dbacksbuzz | April 05, 2008 at 06:23 PM
Is that $3.5K as in $3500?
Posted by: ballyb11 | April 05, 2008 at 10:08 PM
Yes, that would be a grand total of three grand, plus another five hundred bucks to go ca-raaaaz-yyy with. I hope the kid didn't spend it all in one place.
Posted by: Sarah Green | April 05, 2008 at 10:34 PM