WEDNESDAY: Martin's five-year Major League deal includes a $5MM signing bonus, tweets Anthony Andro of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan confirms that the deal is official, noting that Martin is likely to start at Double-A. By the way, Martin is represented by Praver/Shapiro.
TUESDAY: The Rangers' contract with Cuban outfielder Leonys Martin is official, tweets Jorge Ebro of El Nuevo Herald. The deal is worth $15.5MM over five years. The Rangers currently have a full 40-man roster, so they'll have to clear a spot for Martin.
Martin, 23, defected from Cuba last year and established residency in Mexico. Back in September, Baseball America's John Manuel wrote that Martin's "best tools are his speed and defense." ESPN's Jorge Arangure Jr. tweeted in March that Martin is "considered an elite prospect." ESPN's Buster Olney talked to three talent evaluators about Martin in April, with one saying he's "similar to Juan Pierre, with a better arm." Another called him a "capable, average major league center fielder," questioning the price paid by Texas.
Fantastic! This is awesome! Julio Borbon has stiff competition now. I’m looking forward to seeing this kid!
I don’t see $3 million and change per year being too much for an average CF that has the potential to be more.
and again another mlb team signs a random cuban defector, as cuban myself im really disappointed at cuban players, more than 20 have signed in the last two year just one has establish himself at the major league level(Chapman), Martin is no better than Leslie Anderson or Juan Carlos Linares and they are hitting under 240 in AAA, Cespedes, Gourriel,Abreu, Despaigne, Bell, Urgelles, those are the guys they have to pursue and stop signing this random players that defect…
your upset that guys who were signed are playing in the minor leagues? if you reall are a cuban then I would assume you know that there is a difference between cuban leagues and the minors and a huge difference between the minors and the bigs. Why are you disappointed? Shouldn’t you be happy that your country men and making it and getting out of cuba and into a better life? Are you actually cuban or are you american who has cuban parents?
im cuban born i was a baseball player myself, i wasnt able to keep playing after middle school because my family couldn’t afford the accessories, baseball is part of my life as it is for most of the cuban born people. Now i see this guys risk their lives to come to US looking to improve their life style, looking for a better future, and what they do? they dont show up at training sessions, they go to spring training out of shape, they fail physical tests, its embarrassing. Btw cuban baseball is said to be at the same lvl of AA with some ml players.
Without any intense analysis I would say that the ratio of Cuban successes vs. busts is about equal to Americans or any other latin country.
I guess Gio Gonzalez isn’t “actually” Cuban. I was born here and view myself as “actually” Cuban. Cuban families are proud of where they came from and still identify themselves as Cuban. Yes I am American but my heritage is Cuban. And as Cubans we hope, no demand, more from the people who represent us.
See there’s Alexei Ramirez as well.
Nice. Hopefully this guy pans out so we don’t have to see Julio Borbon in 2012.
Julio and I have a romantic relationship, so please don’t say mean things about him.
Cuban u really dont know Leonys, neither cuban players because there are many others playing at high level in MLB like: Kendry Morales and Alexei Ramirez
hes playing since he was like 18 i saw him play his firts 2 seasons i know hes a better player now, or at least he should be, but back then he sucked, the name of his game is “Speed” at most he will be something like Michael Bourn. I know of Kendry and Alexei but i mean the ones that have signed the last 2 years, Chapman, Ruiz, Marti, Gomes, Linares, Iglesias, Viciedo, Hechavarria, Ibarra, Padron, Maya, Anderson,Arguelles. Where are they? except for chapman they are all slumping in the minors.
My man Yuniesky Betancourt, SS, with the Milwaukee Cerveceros is Cuban, was a stud for the Cuban leagues and defected in 2003… I wouldn’t generalize there ‘cubanking’…
Dayan Vicedio who was showing this past spring he is ready for the bigs and if it were not for a broken finger he probably would be starting for the whitesox right now
$15 mil is a whole lot to spend for a supposed Juan Pierre w/ a good armbut has yet been able to prove himself at the mlb level. They obviously see something that some of the “experts” might not agree with.
15 mill over 4 years if he is like juan pierre, it means a .300 ish average good defense and 60 stolen bases a year….thats not bad at all
It beats spending $44 mil over five years for Juan Pierre w/o a good arm.
It beats the Vernon Wells disaster too.
My sentiments exactly. LA was was looking to pay anyone a sizable chunk of that 5/44m deal they gave him and take nothing back in return just to be rid of him and he was *fairly* productive for them as far as speed and defense was concerned.
If a Pierre with only a better arm is all Texas bought for 15m here.. Oh my..
One difference I’d point out between the Pierre deal and this one (besides the huge gap in money) is that Pierre’s defense slipped to the point where the Dodgers were using him primarily in LF. That made his bat more of a liability. If Martin truly is able to be a capable, defensive CF as many of the scouts suggest, than $3 million a year is hardly outlandish when you consider what guys like Gary Matthews Jr. have received on the open market.
The Rangers probably overpaid a bit, but the deal still has a decent chance to turn into a bargain in the long run.
actually he has more power than pierre, he can hit like 10 homeruns per season and he is much better defending than him
If he’s better than Borbon, who is terrible in every aspect of the game, then he’ll be welcomed with open arms in Arlington.
Does JP even have 10 career homeruns?
how did they get the money?
The club was sold to a new ownership group backed by two billionaires. A lack of money isn’t an issue right now.
I’d say right now hed be about 35 or so since his hitting tools are a little raw right now. But everyone keeps saying the rest of his game makes him an elite prospect so he may even touch 20.
Doubt he’d have him in the top 100 at this point. Here’s what Law had to say about the signing:
“Have not seen him myself, but I talked to multiple scouts/execs from teams that did scout him. Consistent response was that he can run and shows raw power in BP, but has major swing flaws with every single source questioning his ability to hit. Have also heard that he wasn’t running balls out in late workouts because of some undisclosed leg injury. Several sources said they liked him, just not close to the ultimate price.”