MONDAY, 10:28am: The $35-50MM estimate for Cespedes may be light, a GM tells Gammons. Cespedes' people told one club they already have an offer with $10MM up front and eight years.
FRIDAY, 3:46pm: Cespedes may be looking to obtain more than $60MM on an eight-year deal, according to MLB.com's Joe Frisaro. The outfielder shoud be declared a free agent soon after he establishes temporary residency in the Dominican Republic in late November, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).
12:59pm: The question emerges whenever a star hits the free agent market: ‘how much will he cost?’ Yoenis Cespedes, the 26-year-old Cuban center fielder who is expected to hit free agency this offseason, has already drawn interest from many MLB teams and it sounds as though he expects to be paid like an established star, not a prospect.
Cespedes' agents are positioning him as an impact MLB player, instead of comparing him to other Cubans who have made the leap to the Major Leagues, according to Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). Scouts in the Dominican tell Peter Gammons of MLB Network that Cespedes will cost between $35-50MM (Twitter link).
The Cubs will watch Cespedes and others in the Dominican Republic next week, according to MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat (on Twitter). The Red Sox, Phillies, Indians, Blue Jays, Pirates, Rangers, Tigers, Nationals, Athletics, Marlins, and Yankees also appear to have some interest in Cespedes.
$30-50m?
Yikes
No thanks Cuba, you can keep him.
This guy should be fortunate to have the opportunity to even play in the MLB. 50 MM with no track record? Pass
Should be fortunate to even play in the MLB? Shouldn’t every player be fortunate to have the opportunity?
Because he’s CUban? Does being Cuban mean you have to accept less from billionaires for your services?
No, but it doesn’t mean you’re an MLB-level player. He’s completely unproven, and comparisons I’ve read put the quality of the Cuban pro league around high-A ball.
And yes he IS fortunate, because he’s not subject to the draft like a U.S. born player. What makes him worth 3-5 times more than top overall picks, who HAVE a track record? One thing: free agency.
This is a very simple equation and you can’t fault the player in the matter: he’s worth exactly what any given team is willing to pay for his services.
This. Supply and demand.
wait…draft picks have track records? you’re telling me that bubba starling playing hs baseball in BFE kansas has more of a track record than Cespedes?
My guess is Muggi did not so much mean “track record,” but is instead talking more that Starling is easier to project than Cespedes, who is not a known quantity. He plays in a Cuban league that is rated to be the equivilant of low A ball in the United States. The top talent evaluators would have heard of him, but would not have been able to scout him reguarly outside of some international tournaments. Starling was scouted heavily, game in and game out, by all MLB teams and especially the ones that thought they would be in position to draft him. Not so with Cespedes. Basically, this guy has a YouTube video. He is supposedly 26. (Yeah, right, just like El Duque was supposedly 29 when the Yankees signed him.)
This “kid” thinks he can step right in and play against MLB pitching. He can’t. MLB pitching will tear him to shreds. He’s going to have to spend at least a year or more in AA and AAA before being MLB ready, something he may never be.
Low A ball, I’m sure you don’t know what you r talking about, just check their International track record against Major Leagues and professional teams and ask your self how a “low A ball team can have that much success against such stars, out all the Cubans (stars) that had sign with a major league team, only Kendry Morales had spent more that a year in the minor leagues and that was because Texeira was with the big club, Ramirez, El Duque, Livan, Chapman, Contreras, etc.. and most of them were old, only Ramirez, Morales, Viciedo, Chapman and now Cespedes were young enough to take a risk…
Nobody is suggesting Starling has more of a track record than Cespedes. And Starling played baseball in suburban KC, not some small town in the middle of a prairie. No, the competition isn’t Florida, Texas, or California, but Starling DID play in some all-star games against the better amatuer talent in the US. And Starling is a prove-able 19, not 26(?), so he IS missing 7 years of track record Cespedes has…so there’s that.
Nobody is suggesting Starling has more of a track record than Cespedes. And Starling played baseball in suburban KC, not some small town in the middle of a prairie. No, the competition isn’t Florida, Texas, or California, but Starling DID play in some all-star games against the better amatuer talent in the US. And Starling is a prove-able 19, not 26(?), so he IS missing 7 years of track record Cespedes has…so there’s that.
I should say I think the guy will get 25-35 for six years, and that’s not wholly unreasonable if he’s close to as good as represented. $50m is ridiculous.
Well according to gary sheffield it means you will play for nothing!
I don’t care if he is from Mars if he can play. If he wants a big deal then he should sign a 2 year 10 million dollar deal and prove himself in the bigs. Then he would be 28 an could go for the big one if he performs.
He’s not being racist, it’s not like he’s making a bunch of Castro jokes. Its the fact that ANY unproven talent coming into the MLB shouldnt get paid THAT much.
Turn that boat around buddy!
It’s psychology. Even if no one is inclined to pay him that much, everyone is now inflating their initial assessment accordingly.
His true asking price could be much lower, but by having such a high number out there, people will ignore their original ideas about his worth and overpay because they percieve anything less than his stated asking price to be a deal. It’s called the anchoring effect, and it’s the same reason why leather jackets are priced at $1000, but always on “sale” for $400.
Yes, and you should be fortunate to have the opportunity to even post on this site. =P
Why would it cost that much? Would he rather stay in Cuba if he doesn’t get 30 mill?
In theory the only reason he would cost that much is if there are so many teams bidding that the price soars. (Im actually learning about that right now in Economics)
Doesnt seem like there is a huge market with SERIOUS interest for him developing
the most he will get is a 30 mill. contract. unproven, and even though there are a lot of teams bidding, it seems every club has estimated the high at 31 mill.
I don’t picture him getting more than $25-$30 at the most.
But don’t you think he’s more likely to get 30mil now that the number 50mil is floating about?
AA and his elite front office put a dollar value on each player in baseball. If they decide that Cespedes is worth 40M to them, that is what they will pay, regardless what the fans think. If other teams then want to overpay his true value, that is their choice. The same holds true with Darvish. If AA decides he is worth 120M, that is what the Jays will pay. He has to be posted first though and nothing is guaranteed on that front.
I don’t care how much you give him, just be careful about the length of the contract. How old is he really? He’s probably more like 30, so don’t overpay for typical age regression.
If you believe he is closer to his listed age of 26, give him 5 years, 40 million.
assuming he’s at least an MLB regular, $30M-50M over 6 prime seasons wouldn’t be too difficult to make back for the signing club
How do you know you’re getting his 6 prime seasons when nobody is completely sure of his age? Traditionally, 24-30 are more the prime rather than 26-32, so there’s two years of prime years already gone. If he’s two years older than he says, now you’re down to two prime years. Add in another year for him to adjust and you’ve got one prime year. No thanks.
Has this guy even faced a major league breaking ball? Extremely skeptical
Before i get murdered, i mean major league quality. Obviously Adam Wainwright has never snapped one off on him yet.
can anyone hit a healthy Wainwright curveball?
Certainly not Carlos Beltran
he can’t even swing at it
and if he puts up numbers here like he does in Cuba, $30-$50m over 4-5 years will seem reasonable. I do believe he will be offered 5/35 or something like that…
The Pirates are not in on this guy, if they ever were. That’s from NH.
Correct me if I’m wrong: Haven’t signing the Cuban international players worked out better than signing/posting the Japanese players? I can count numerous Japanese players that flopped, but I can’t think of any Cubans who have.
hahahha, nice incendiary comment.
How is it incendiary? Both Cuba and Japan have professional baseball teams. How have their players’ success translated into MLB? I wasn’t trying to stir up any racial issues.
Do the Yankees really even need an out fielder?
Yankees only have control of Granderson for two more seasons, Gardner for many, but he would he terrific trade bait at some point and Swisher, who only has his current option year. They have Zoilo Almonte who looks really good and could be an option in 2013 or 2014 to man RF. The Yankees would be justified in looking at out field options and with Matt Kemp (who I thought for a while would be a Yankee) is no longer on the market.
You know Grandy is going to want a BIG payday and if his next two seasons are at all like this last one (and his past is productive as well) he is going to want some big $$$, and how many 100m+ contracts would the yankees want to own? So basically, i agree they could use him.
Matt Kemp is pretty young, so perhaps he is a limited exception, barely, but under no circumstances, ever, should a team sign an OF to a contract for more than $100mm let alone the $150mm range. I do not see Granderson seeking or getting $100mm contract. He’ll be in the market the same time as Ellsbury and I’m sure a few others and I don’t know what affect that will have. I can see Granderson getting a new deal from the Yanks for 3 years and $42mm.
ha ha
All of that. Along with Mason Williams probably contributing in late 2014.
But with Swisher under team control one year, Granderson two, both being 30 years old, really makes me wonder what Cashman’s plan is for the future.
Right, Mason Williams too. The Yankees are pretty deep with young talent and will still have payroll flexibility going forward. I’m not overly concerned about OF long term. These are positions that are easily filled imo and if you are ever going to have a place holder on the team, RF or LF is a great spot for a year.
What are the Yankees plans for the future? That is a no brainer. They will just steal all the best players from teams struggling to survive as usual. Cashman will continue trading all their minor leaguers for big names on the other teams so the fans are happy in New York, or he will throw twice the amount of money at guys, overvaluing them as usual, driving up salaries even further. No one complained when they threw 36M at Soriano, after one good season, yet everyone complains when Papalbon gets more and he is established in the major leagues. lol. No one complains when New York throws obscene amounts of money at players, but let someone else do it and suddenly it was a bad signing. lol.
Would it blow your mind if I told you the Reds signed a closer named Francisco Cordero to a 4/$46 mil deal or that the Mets signed a guy named F-Rod to a 3/$37 mil wih a $17.5 mil option (KKKAAABBBLLLOOWWWWIIIIIEEEEE)?
Every deal that one team signs sets the market for the others.
Zito——-Santana—–Sabatha….see how that works? At least the Yanks have passed out the $100 mil deals for the elite types and not the Zito’s and Carlos Lee’s of the world.
I found the video amusing, at least we know he and his agents have a sense of humor
Is it a sense of humor, or is it that he’s naive?
Maybe your naive. His job was to get ppl excited over his client. Mission accomplished.
Maybe “you’re” naive.
It’s interesting to see how easily excitable you are.
I never knew Peter Gammons was so well connected with the Dominican Republic…
…or anywhere outside of Boston.
BREAKING NEWS: Winesess say while giving a speech about nothing at a Jimmy Fund event Peter Gammons farted and turned into star dust.
That video was not released by his agents. In fact the agency representing him has explicitly denied that they were responsible. I could be wrong about this second part, but I believe the video was put out by the player development facility that he is currently working with.
There is no way he gets $50 million. Any org. offering him that deserves to be burned.
Even the Royals? Id give them a slap on the wrist
He’ll be compared against other international free agents and the player with the biggest pay day has been Chapman at just over $30 MM. He’s not getting any more than Chapman and I would guesstimate that he’ll be lucky to get half that.
Why do you think that he won’t get as much money as Chapman? He is supposed to be much better than Chapman. I doubt he will take any less than Chapman, and i doubt he will even have to consider doing so.
Chapman’s fastball and breaking balls were quantifiable – there was no disputing how hard they were. Plus quality pitching is ALWAYS in demand. Outfielders – especially corner outfielders as it has been hinted at – not so much.
Looking at Cespedes’ quantifiable tools – it is not the same thing as Chapman.His running can be quantified, but can Cespedes hit breaking balls, fastballs, etc. of ML quality? Can he drive them? The only thing you can do is compare Cespedes to other Cuban players and look at the small sample size of WBC competition as another measuring stick. He is a huge unknown. That is why I find it hard to fathom why his management team feel he is worth anywhere near Chapman in terms of a contract.
There are tons of guys that have been hyped over the years that were toolsy outfielders, but those tools didn’t translate into results. Why would a club want to throw so much money on a big question mark? It doesn’t make any sense to me. Even $15 MM is generous for a player like Cespedes.Has there even been a discussion where he would debut if signed? In the minors? Which level? How long would it take to get him to the Show? .
“He is supposed to be much better than chapman.” – Casey Hart.
Based on what exactly ?
Ever see Chapman hit, run or play OF?? Cespedes does all 3 better than Chapman..
id like to see the white sox in on him to be honest. 40 mil isn’t that much.
Im sure Adam Dunn and Alex Rios would agree
Chapman got a lot of money – but dont you all think its easier to transition pitching to MLB rather than hitting? When you are a pitcher with a crazy breaking ball and a FB over 100+ you have a leg up on many MLBpitchers and all you have to learn is where to throw it. Your stuff already is MLB quality. Now Cespedes has power, speed, yadda yadda ya…but how will it transition to MLB? How many guys have had these tools and done nothing in MLB?
Fellas, you’re under valuing the power of hype. Why do players with virtually identical numbers have such disparate career earning totals? Because of hype. Why is Nick Swisher only valued at around $6-8 million a season by most people and yet Vernon Wells is working on the high-end half of a $126 million deal when their numbers are virtually identical? Because of perception.
Wells’ stats since 2005: 167 HR’s/581 RBI’s
Swish’s stats since ’05: 183 HR’s/572 RBI’s
And yet Wells is paid like he’s mashing 40 HR’s a season. Now, granted, prior to ’05 he had a break out season where he drove in 100 runs, followed by a season in which he mashed 30 dingers and drove in 117 runs, but after that his averages dropped precipitously in both power and RBI’s.
I bring this up just because it’s a clear example of perception versus reality.
Cespedes is being perceived as a game changer, so he’ll get game changer money from someone, but in all likelihood he’ll turn out to be a 20-25 HR hitter at best, which come a dime a dozen in the big leagues, so all this hype could be for naut.
I get your point, but using what is generally regarded as the worst contract in the history of baseball kinda sucks the air out of your argument.
It’s not like the world thought Wells was worth the money…the deal was panned as a huge mistake from Day 1.
Okay, and granted the Blue Jays are notorious for their albatross contracts, but the point does still stand. I mean, even if he wasn’t give a 7 year deal averaging $18MM a season, people were still saying he was worth $12-15MM a season, which is still big time money.
Correction: J. P. Riccardi the twit was known for his albatross contracts. NO other Blue Jay manager is that stupid. Hey, Riccardi is now an employee of the Mets. I’m surprised he hasn’t influenced Alderson into signing Aramis, Reyes, Fielder, Pujols, Wilson to 30M contracts at 20 years yet. lol. The worst contract in history belongs to A-rod. Wells ranks a distant second. lol. I’m sure the Crawford, Sabathia, Werth contracts will overtake Well’s contract in a few years. That isn’t taking into account Pujols and Fielder yet. The jury will be out on those for at least three more years. lol.
Hype wha?
You’re basically ignoring the forest for the trees here. You’re looking at one little tiny bit of the big picture. You want to cite hype and then cite figures that completely ignore most of the story.
Wells was signed to his current deal after five full seasons in the MLB right after winning his third Gold Glove in a row. He had averaged 3.64 WAR across that time period and was coming off of a 5.8 WAR year in his age 28 season, just entering his prime. Along with his GG, he had two Silver Sluggers, a pair of All Star appearances and a top ten MVP finish to his name.
Swisher, on the other hand, was signed at the beginning of only his third full season in the MLB, one of which was only for 2.1 WAR coming off of a 3.9 WAR season in his age 26 season. Sixth place in the 2005 RotY voting was his biggest claim to fame (And he placed that in a season where a reliever won the award and Cano is the only other guy who got a vote in the AL who’s still any good).
One other huge factor you ignored: Wells was extended by Ricciardi, Swisher by Beane. Ricciardi’s, a notoriously bad GM as opposed to Beane, a notoriously cheap GM.
A more accurate contract parallel to Swisher would be Pedroia or Longoria, both of whom signed before they’d established their true MLB value. Wells was overpaid and everyone knew it, but he wasn’t expected to be as much of a bust as he was.
Hype had nothing to do with why Vernon got paid and Swisher didn’t! Wells was a true free agent that sign to stay with the Jays(Face of the team). Swisher signed with Oakland when he hit arbritration. His first contract bought out the 3 years of arbritration and 2 years of free agency. If Swisher would have waited he may not have recieved what Wells received (Terrible Average) but he could have easily double his pay day to 10 per year.
The first 5 season for both Wells 27 years old Swisher 28
Wells 456R 139HR 487 RBI
Swisher 426R 131HR 398 RBI
This is why Boras never lets his clients sign away free agent years!!!
Advanced metrics say SWISH NOT WELLS.
Fukudome got four-year, $48 million contract. Much rather have Cespedes for that money.
Its a lot easier to say that when you already know how Fukudome turned out.
Yep. When Fukodome was coming out people thought he’d be a more powerful, less speedy Ichiro with a lower BA, or a faster Matsui with less pop and a higher BA.
Without trying to sound rascist here..Cause I aim not as many here know from all of my posts…
Every time I see the Cuban ball players who defect and get these huge contracts, it takes me back in time…
One of the ships I was on while in the USN participated in picking up “boat people” from the so called Mariel boat lift back in 1980.. Those people were (for the most part) scraggly and just GLAD to get picked up and headed for the USA with a many times over better standard of living, even if some did have to be temporarily watched. Some, later on became MLB players, like Jose Canseco.
I shake my head at some of these later arriving super talents, leaving a highly oppressed society such as Cuba, just for the $$$ and nothing else.
Its a fair point worth noting and it does speak about ones character. They don’t have the professional athlete thing down yet. I think the number is grossly overstated by Gammons and I wouldn’t expect this guy to get more than $22mm-$26mm and I have a feeling front offices will stick to this. The only real reason why he can even obtain anywhere near this much is due to age and experience.
how can you even begin to judge his character?
Is he married? Does he have children that he has left behind? Chapman had a kid. Others have exchanged their families in Cuba in return for millions.
It would be hard not to judge a player’s character when he does something like that.
america’s so great, he should be thankful that we’d even be willing to let him come here to play baseball for so much as a cup of coffee and a sandwich, right?
c’mon now…what should he have done? stayed home while his talents and dreams of greatness languished in that “highly oppressed society”? a society that jails players families when their teams travel in an effort to prevent the players from defecting…who cares what his motivations are for bailing!?
personally, i hope the bidding war gets completely retarded and cespedes, or “the grasses” as i like to call him, gets 60 million. talk about a good “coming to america” story!
“I shake my head at some of these later arriving super talents, leaving a highly oppressed society such as Cuba, just for the $$$ and nothing else.”
I’m shaking my head at your post. Just for the money and nothing else? How about the freedom to make his own choices? I wouldn’t say you are rascist! I would say ignorant or maybe jelousy! He has a talent that some team is going to put a monitary value on. He will get paid and good for him.
You, as well as one other above misconstrued my entire post. jealousy? Hardly…
It is as if the American dream is just a side step now.
You should have seen those poor souls we pulled aboard rickety make shift floating debris back in 1980 and would not be questioning me at all friend.
So you think it’s easy to leave your wife, kids and family behind to come to America in hopes that you can get make it and then fight to try and bring the others over too?
I agree that it’s silly to give a Cuban defector or a HS or college player crazy money before they are vetted in the minor lge food chain, but there’s just as much greed from the Cespedes’ of the world as their are in the rest of the sport. The fact that the “Cespedes” can negotiate with anyone is the only difference.
Cubbies should be all over this. If he’s as good as he sounds- he’ll definitely put this rebuilding on a fast track.
marlins will get this guy because of several reasons.
1. they got killed locally the last time they missed out on a cuban “sure thing” – chapman
2. they want to make a splash in free agency to bring people in their new stadium.
3. look at there center field options. rotating cogz and petey pipes is fun, but not the caliber cf that should be out there.
4. most of their offers to big name free agents probably will not pan out.
I would offer him $42 million over 7 years. You would have him for his physical prime for about 1/3 the cost annually of established MLB outfielders who have hit free agency at his age. Sure, it is a lot of money to guarantee someone who has not proven he can produce in the bigs, but I would prefer it to paying Alfonso Soriano, Jason Bay or Jayson Werth.
Lot of coin for a 26 yr old with no MLB experience. Anyone not named Ichiro, and maybe Alexei Ramirez to a lesser degree (he’s a solid/average MLB player IMO) seem to find it difficult transitioning to the US.
Alexei Ramirez has been worth 7 wins over the past two years, so he’s a bit better than average.
Meh. .279/.323/.429 is solid/average production I’d say. If he bumps up his numbers, I would consider him good. But if his numers were to dip below this, he would be bad. So yes, I consider him average.
I’m no Sox fan, but Alexi Ramirez is much better than average. .279/.323/.429 is a VERY good line for a 2011 shortstop; this ain’t 2003. Ramiez was a 4.9 WAR in fangraphs and a 3.3 WAR in B-R last year. Only 3 other SS’s were rated ahead of him, and he should have won the GG instead of Aybar. That’s not average.
Meh. .279/.323/.429 is solid/average production I’d say. If he bumps up his numbers, I would consider him good. But if his numers were to dip below this, he would be bad. So yes, I consider him average.
Jose Contreras did pretty well too.
He’s a pitcher. I was only referring to hitters, which is what Yoenis is…
He’s a pitcher. I was only referring to hitters, which is what Yoenis is…
really? That’s all you could come up with for players that made successful transitions to the US? Am I missing some other criterion here? What about players like Cano or Felix Hernandez?
I was only talking about hitters that come straight to the MLB. Cano spent time in the minors before becoming a major leaguer, as have many players from foreign countries. However, at 26, Yoenis is obviously looking for a MLB contract. Andwith his age and his contract wishes, it would be hard to justify signing him and placing him in a minor league camp.
I’ll buy him for my kids little league team “Joe’s House of Pizza.” I want to see “Joe’s House of Pizza” listed with the other 13 teams who have interest in him in the next Mlbtraderumors article.
Indians should offer maybe 30 mil for 5 years. Sounds like a nice gamble. Probably won’t bite. But tons of upside, and Haf’s K coming off the books after next year.
Who the hell would guarantee eight years/$60M to someone who has never played ball over here?
Red Sox?
I don’t buy into all this. Cespedes does not set the market for himself. The teams do. Nobody is giving someone who has never played an MLB game an 8-year $80MM deal. It’s just not going to happen.
This guy and his agents risk seriously alienating fans everywhere before he even sees his first pitch. Why not drive in a run or throw somebody out before making ridiculous demands?
Why would it alienate the fans? If people are willing to pay, why wouldn’t he want to secure the best contract he can? I’m not sure why the fans would care.
When I go in for my McDonald’s raise meeting every year I ask for 50 mil too!! Just because they are asking doesn’t mean anyone needs to give it to him.
a contract of this length only makes sense if his agent worries he’s overrated. otherwise i’d seek a short-term deal, maybe three years, then ask for my $200M mega contract after it expires if i’m as advertised.
Sorry, length of contract is a giant red flag for me. Much like a Japanese player coming over, there’s always risk about whether his skills will play against ML pitching. I think he is probably worth a flyer, but who would want to commit 8 yrs to a player who has never played in the majors? Add to that the fact that Cubans are like dogs when it comes to age (so really he might be 65 for all we know) and I don’t commit longer than 3 yrs. The very fact that his agents are pushing for such a long-term deals leads me t believe that they themselves aren’t that sure he’ll succeed, so they’ll trade reward for security. If I’m convinced that I will destroy ML pitching, then I look for a 2 yr deal worth $25 million, and then I’m a FA at age 28, and cash in big-time.
I can’t say for sure, but I’m pretty sure that Cuban players have never had a problem with lying about their age. I feel like I hear about it more with Dominican players. Cuba’s infrastructure is actually very good, regardless of what we are lead to believe because of the embargo against them.
you might be right. I just know alot of folks were skeptical about Jose Contreras’ age as well as Juan Miranda’s. But I am more than willing to eat those words and just go with the countless other reasons why a long-term deal is too risky for my taste. Didn’t even mention the relatively poor track record of recent Cuban hitters (with Martin and Viciedo the only folks in the last 20 yrs with a decent shot at success)
The $35-50MM estimate for Cespedes may be light. A GM tells Gammons. Cespedes’ people told one club they already have an offer with $10MM up front and eight years.
First of all, why does anyone tell Gammons anything, anymore?!? Second, Vlad Guerrero’s people told the Orioles he had an 8 million dollar deal waiting, if the O’s weren’t going to cough it up. So my sense is this, if some club really offered that to him $10MM up front and eight years, then take it you fool! I am curious as to which team did it? The Sillies, maybe the Cubs? Who? Which team has that kind of money to throw around and needs a CF’er. Heaven knows it’s not the Orioles nor the Marlins! Gammons you better start eating fish, especially since Legal Seafood is a big deal in the Boston area! You clearly need the Omega 3’s, your mind is going!
Buffoonish response.
Yeah, I’m quite sure Gammons doesn’t talk to anyone in Major League baseball circles.
Fact is there are more than a few front office execs who talk to Gammons and pretty much no one else.
In any event, a couple years ago the Red Sox signed Cuban SS Jose Iglasias to a 4 year, $8 million deal but it took giving him $6 million up front to get it done. Maybe that’s how these guys prefer to operate; with a big chunk of the cash as a signing bonus. If that’s the case, this report may not be inaccurate.
I also agree that if that offer’s out there, Cespedes needs to jump on it.
Do they really expect people to believe any club is going to offer this guy 8 years when he’s never played at any level of major league baseball?
The price is too high if this is true. I hope it’s just agent garbage.
Last June, all 30 MLB teams spent a combined total of $236 million on drafting North American talent in the amateur draft. This “kid” now wants more than 25% of that total. I don’t have any problem with that, but just pointing out the amazing difference between being a true free agent or an amateur draftee. MLB treats foreign players better than Americans.
I represent the “The Cespedes Is to D@mn High Party”.
Now that’s funny!
I think he is probably going to be a star and the team that gets him most likely gets an all-around five tool talent.
But the money eliminates most teams from having a chance.
But a surprise team might pay it.
Cespedes…I think this guy is over rated..the hype last year was Chapman that signed with the Reds he really didn’t do much & the Cubs invested in the Japnese Hukodome..He could not hit…so they traded him…I’m not downgrading anyone player…Players do have down years…look a Dice-K HE was injured most of the year..If I were a G.M…I would send a scout but not look into signing this player..pending on the teams needs…their are alot of good players 2 choose from..He might be a Hukodome type player…then be traded then theirs a big waste of money when the money could be spent on other postion players…then again roll the dice..take your chances…
He is 26 for sure, he started playing with the Cuban team very young, you can check the age by just goggle this guy, that was the first thing I did and it took me to the Cuban National Series, all his stats were removed but not his age, actually if the Cuban government wants to make his life miserable they will release his age if the one that he gave wasn’t the real one, there is an article buy this guy Peter C. Bjarkman, good read and you can check all the stats of present and old Cubans players after 1959…