The Dodgers have notified several significant members of their international scouting department that their contracts will not be renewed, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez and Ken Gurnick report. While the team’s future plans remain unknown, it now seems committed to overhauling its international operations over the coming months.
Included in the cuts is vice president of international scouting Bob Engle. Originally hired a few months after the team signed Yasiel Puig back in 2012, Engle was the man chosen to lead the club’s broader efforts to ramp up its presence in the baseball hotbeds around the world.
Despite significant front office turnover in the interim, international spending has continued to be a major element of the organization’s efforts to leverage its nearly-unmatched financial might. Key players such as Puig, injured starter Hyun-jin Ryu, and top pitching prospect Julio Urias have come from abroad. Most recently, the Dodgers inked the since-traded Hector Olivera and paced the league in July 2 spending (including a $16MM bonus for Cuban righty Yadier Alvarez).
Engle is the top executive who the team is parting with, but hardly the only one. Per the report, the Dodgers have also dismissed Latin America scouting coordinator Patrick Guerrero, who came with Engle from the Mariners. “The only explanation I got was that they wanted to go in a different direction and nothing else,” Guerrero told MLB.com. “I understand. That’s baseball.”
Also left looking for new jobs are Dominican Republic scouting coordinator Franklin Taveras, director of international and minor league relations Joseph Reaves, special advisor for international player performance Rafael Colon, senior manager of international scouting Hidenori Sueyoshi, and Latin America field coordinator Bruce Hurst.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and GM Farhan Zaidi continue to remake the organization on and off the field. With a ban on significant July 2 spending forthcoming for the next two signing seasons, the front office seemingly decided it was an opportune moment to turn over the team’s international operations.
Do your thing Anthopoulos.
what better time to start fresh, than after trusting them to break the ifa spending record.
Let’s see if we can make any sense out of:
1. They let Logan White leave, then they
2. Allow their international scouting team unprecedented spending, then they
3. Fire most of them.
Once the guy who knows what they’re doing leaves. ya need to make off for his lost production. How do they do they? They go after the big fish (Olivera, Alvarez).
Maybe Detroit’s new GM Avila can pick up some fresh blood from this firing in the international scouting department. Experienced scouts with different contacts can add a new layer of resources.