Cuban center fielder Eddy Julio Martinez’s free agency has been surrounded by controversy, but the 20-year-old has officially signed with the Cubs, reports Baseball America’s Matt Eddy.
Expectations for Martinez were high heading into this year’s international free agency period, with some outlets estimating that he’d sign a $10MM+ bonus. Martinez rumors went quiet for an extended period of time, though, before it was reported that he’d hired new representation and is now represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council. Martinez agreed to a $2.5MM signing bonus with the Giants — an agreement which GM Bobby Evans publicly acknowledged — but it was soon reported that Martinez wouldn’t sign with the Giants and instead sought a $3MM bonus.
That bonus materialized shortly thereafter, as the Cubs swooped in and reached a reported agreement. However, it was soon revealed that that Major League Baseball was determining whether or not the Giants’ agreement was binding. At the heart of the issue was that Martinez had multiple agents negotiating on his behalf, with his BHSC reps striking the deal with the Giants via a series of texts and emails. Martinez was also employing multiple “buscones,” or street agents, who brokered the deal with the Cubs. Had the agreement with the Giants been ruled to be binding, it would have superseded Martinez’s larger agreement with the Cubs.
That, clearly, was not the case though, as Eddy and MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez have both reported today that Martinez will go to the Cubs. He’ll add to an impressive crop of international talent signed by the Cubs, who spent $8.65MM on July 2. That means they’ll be taxed at 100 percent on their $3MM signing of Martinez, meaning they effectively paid $6MM to secure his services.
Of course
Simple future solution (assuming this isn’t exactly what they ruled): Nothing is binding until it is in writing with the player’s signature on it. There’s no reason this should be anything close to this convoluted.
4 out of 5 stars for sketchiness
Zito should write a book or something. He’s always interesting to listen to with how open he is about the ups and downs of his career.
This sets a bad precedence for any team dealing with a Cuban player. There needs to be an International draft instituted.
Or, just, don’t announce signings before they are binding.
Giants thinking it’s binding when it wasn’t though leads one to question if the agent(s) involved were really negotiating in good faith.
Definitely horrible communication between BHSC and his Cuban “agents”
the Giants do enough international spending to know a deal’s not a deal until there’s a signature on it. They shouldn’t have announced anything until then.
The Giants were asked specifically about the EJM rumor that was swirling at the time of the press conference that they were holding, so they didn’t announce that he was signed, they answered the question by acknowledging that an agreement had been reached, which still left wiggle room for the deal collapsing once you get to the details, like a physical.
Given that they were negotiating with his new agent BHSC, any team should have felt safe to announce the agreement had been reached.
It appears to me that since EJM did not actually sign a deal yet, the MLB kowtowed to the player and agents and gave him to the Cubs and the better deal. But what use is working with his “agent” and coming to an agreement when there are other parties working at the same time? For all we know, the Cubs used the leaked information (most likely by his agents, as the Giants do not leak much of anything out) and upped their “bid” in order to sign EJM. That’s not fair rule of law.
I don’t care too much that this fish slipped off the hook – there has to be very good reasons why he went from one of the expected top bonuses ever to a bonus a quarter of the size, so obviously there are huge developmental risks with him – but the MLB needs to fix this, how can anyone run a business where you have multiple representatives running around, and any deal you agree to with what appears to be his legitimate “agent” ends up being leveraged into a higher bid with other “agents”?
so did mlb step in and say martinez’s agreement with the cubs is binding or not? the article and the one related to where mlb will step in is confusing.
Still hesitant to announce anything as official on this one until both organizations shake hands like at the end of a Stanley Cup series.
I blame the Patriots.
Does not matter how many Latin players the Cubs sign and how great they are, as a Cub fan, watching the Cubs Latin players hitting for an average of .130 in New York in the NLCS, it’s apparent they are having a difficult time hitting in the cold weather and last I remember, 50 degrees to the Cubs Latin players in October, is COLD! But as a resident of Chicago for 55 years, 50 is BALMY to me.
I hear Theo is sending them all to play in the Alaskan league as soon as the season is over. All should be well. Now for a couple of Cuban pitchers
This is also a very young team with very little playoff experience. The pressures and atmosphere are very different and guys like Bryant, and Rizzo are having trouble adjusting. To this point Soler and Castro the Latin players have more hits than Rizzo and Bryant.