Headlines

  • Braves Option Vaughn Grissom, Braden Shewmake
  • Jose Altuve To Undergo Surgery On Fractured Thumb
  • Rockies To Sign Jurickson Profar
  • Jose Altuve Leaves WBC Game After Hit By Pitch
  • Edwin Diaz Undergoes Surgery To Repair Patellar Tendon
  • Out Of Options 2023
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • Top 50 Free Agents
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2023
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Arbitration Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Jose Dariel Abreu Defects From Cuba

By charliewilmoth | August 12, 2013 at 11:28am CDT

11:28am: Dionisio Soldevila of ESPN Deportes tweets that Abreu is currently in Haiti after defecting from the Cuban national team.

MONDAY, 8:27am: Baseball America's Ben Badler cautions that it could be months before Abreu is eligible to sign with a Major League team. As is the case with all Cuban defectors, Abreu will need to establish residency in a new country and then be cleared by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) before becoming recognized as a free agent by MLB.

Badler adds that some Major League scouts are split on whether or not Abreu's power will translate to MLB. Some consider his bat speed to be merely "fair," and he also has unorthodox setup and double toe tap in his approach at the plate.

SUNDAY: Slugging first baseman Jose Dariel Abreu has escaped from Cuba and is elsewhere in the Caribbean, Jorge Ebro of El Nuevo Herald reports. It is unclear where Abreu is now (Ebro notes that various reports have placed Abreu in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti), but one agent with whom Abreu has had contact confirms that he is not in Cuba.

If in fact Abreu can make his way into the MLB free agent market, he'd have an enormous impact, likely earning the largest contract ever given to a Cuban player. The 26-year-old hit .453/.597/.986 in Cuba's Serie Nacional in 2010-2011 before hitting .394/.542/.837 in 2011-2012 and .382/.535/.735 in 2012-2013. Also in 2013, he hit .360/.385/.760 in six games for Cuba in the World Baseball Classic.

Those are, of course, stunning numbers, and ESPN Deportes' Jorge Morejon notes that Abreu will likely also benefit from a rising tide of good play by Cuban defectors like Yasiel Puig and Yoenis Cespedes. Grantland's Jonah Keri wrote in 2012 that Abreu "just might be the best hitter in the world," and Abreu's entry into the free agent market would surely be accompanied by a tidal wave of hype. Major League teams may not think quite the same way — Keri notes that Abreu isn't particularly athletic, which might dampen teams' enthusiasm somewhat. But he quotes Athletics assistant GM David Forst comparing Abreu to Ryan Howard, which would still make Abreu a very valuable commodity.

Since Abreu is over 23 and has played Cuban professional baseball for more than three years, he would enter the market as an unrestricted free agent. He would appear to be in excellent position to receive more than Puig, who got seven years and $42MM from the Dodgers last June.

Share 32 Retweet 64 Send via email0

Uncategorized Jose Dariel Abreu

MLBTR Seeks Mobile Website Developer
Main
Rangers Claim Adam Rosales
View Comments (0)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Braves Option Vaughn Grissom, Braden Shewmake

    Jose Altuve To Undergo Surgery On Fractured Thumb

    Rockies To Sign Jurickson Profar

    Jose Altuve Leaves WBC Game After Hit By Pitch

    Edwin Diaz Undergoes Surgery To Repair Patellar Tendon

    Out Of Options 2023

    Cade Cavalli To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Edwin Diaz Helped Off Field With Right Knee Injury

    José Quintana Out Until At Least July Due To Rib Surgery

    Trevor Bauer Signs With NPB’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars

    Craig Stammen “Highly Unlikely” To Pitch Again Following Shoulder Injury

    Diamondbacks, Corbin Carroll Agree To Eight-Year Deal

    Nationals Sign Keibert Ruiz To Eight-Year Extension

    Rockies Showing Interest In Jurickson Profar

    Andrew Painter Diagnosed With UCL Sprain; Ranger Suarez Dealing With Forearm Tightness

    Marlins, Jose Iglesias Agree To Minor League Contract

    Marlins In Agreement With Yuli Gurriel On Minor League Deal

    Carlos Rodon, Tommy Kahnle, Lou Trivino To Begin Season On IL

    Mitch Moreland Announces Retirement

    Astros Facing Gaps In Extension Talks With Kyle Tucker, Framber Valdez

    Recent

    Latest On D-Backs’ Rotation

    Matt Foster Diagnosed With Forearm Strain

    Adrian Houser Expected To Begin Season In Brewers’ Bullpen

    Competition Committee Evaluating Potential Alterations To 2023 Rule Changes

    Rockies Option Nolan Jones

    Braves Option Vaughn Grissom, Braden Shewmake

    Red Sox’ Joely Rodríguez Diagnosed With Grade 2 Oblique Strain

    Phillies Acquire Jordan Qsar From Rays

    Angels’ José Marte Shut Down For Four Weeks With Stress Reaction In Elbow

    Rangers Plan To Use Robbie Grossman As Primary Left Fielder

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Offseason Outlook Series
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Go Ad-Free
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2023
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2023-24 MLB Free Agent List
    • MLB Player Chats
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version