6:06pm: Arangure mentions (via Twitter) that Hechevarria still has to be "unblocked" by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, meaning it could be weeks before he's able to sign.
2:24pm: Adeiny Hechevarria is the next big thing out of Cuba, tweets ESPN's Jorge Arangure Jr. ESPN's Mark Saxon has the scoop on the 19-year-old shortstop.
Saxon says the Angels and five other teams watched Hechevarria in the Dominican Republic last week and bidding "could reach eight figures." Indeed, Arangure tweets that he expects Hechevarria to get more than Jose Iglesias' $8.2MM. The blog Cuban Ball Players has video and a profile of Hechevarria, and AOL Fanhouse's Frankie Piliere tweets one evaluator's take.
I sure do hope the Nats were among them. I can’t imagine what position they need to fill more, other than pitcher, of course.
don’t they have Christian Guzman at Short?
They do, but I think it is unlikely the Cuban kid would be on any MLB roster this year. Guzman is only overpaid for one more year, and the Nats are weak at SS in their system.
He would perfect for the jays
They really need a good, young, long term shortstop
His numbers dont really warrant him making more then Jose. Jose is supposed to be an elitist with his defense. He hit something like .260 in a small time league, why should he be making more?
Yanks need a SS in about 5-6 years. For this kid, though, that’s too far away. He’ll sign on with a lower team most likely.
I love when cubans defect and get signed by Major League Teams.
You know you want to sign him Neal. Don’t let this turn into another Sano situation, even if it wasn’t really your fault.
The Yankees have to get him and when Jeter retires in 4 or 5 years, He may be the answer from within the organization.
If this guy came out 2 years later from now, trust me the yankees would get this guy in a heart beat. But right now, they wont do it. If they were to sign him though, by the time he was ready for the majors (2-3 years) cano would be done with a contract, or maybe a trade. Then you move jeter to 2nd because there aren’t many successful 38 year old shortstops.
Nope. Keep jeter where he is.
The Jays were in on Chapman, and they will also be all over this guy. AA is obsessed with trying to find a long term solution at SS.
Agreed. If they were willing to shell $23-million for Chapman, I think they’d make an effort to get another ‘highly touted’ Cuban. I’d also imagine the Yanks and Red Socks are in on it, along with the Angels as before mentioned.
The Jays just have no luck with drafting SS’s.
Is this $8.2-million figure per year, or over a course of years?
Iglesias’ deal with the Sox is a 4 year deal and $6M of the $8.2M is in bonus. So I’m guessing something similar if people are expecting Hechevarria to get more… high signing bonus, less money spread out over 4-6 years.
I hope the Yankees go after this kid. After Montero and to a lesser level Romine and Heathcott, we have no real players who can have an impact on the offensive side of the ball.
I think the Angels are going to build a pretty solid Cuban pipeline.
He’s got a chiseled body, sign him!
He’s listed as 6′ and 160-pounds. He needs more meat on them bones.
White Sox, he’ll be ready for when Alexi leaves.
I am sure Erick Aybar loves the fact that the Angels are connected to Hechevarria. All that work he put into his procuring the starting shortstop job will be for nothing once they start drooling over this kid.
Why would the Red Sox sign another young Cuban short stop, after just signing Jose Iglesias?
Iglesias’ bat would have to develop far beyond projection for the Sox to consider moving him over to third.
While I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Sox put in a bid for another shortstop prospect, my bet is they won’t.