FEBRUARY 21: The Dodgers announced the completion of the deal. Sierra will earn a $6MM signing bonus and then salaries of $1MM, $2.5MM, $3.5MM, $4MM, $5.5MM, and $7.5MM, per another Heyman tweet. He will have the ability to opt into salary arbitration if he becomes eligible.
FEBRUARY 20: Sierra and the Dodgers are expected to complete their deal soon, Jon Heyman tweets. It will be in the $30MM-$31MM range.
JANUARY 12: The Dodgers have reportedly agreed on a six-year deal with Cuban righty Yaisel Sierra. Jon Heyman tweeted that a deal was in place after Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported this morning that agreement was close (Twitter link).
Per Passan, Sierra is expected to receive a guarantee of around $30MM. The Dodgers “pulled ahead” with an offer of between $30MM and $35MM over six years, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports (Twitter links). The other teams that have at least made a “strong push” for Sierra are the Marlins and Cubs, he adds. (Miami’s pursuit was recently reported.)
Needless to say, Los Angeles has been remarkably active on the international market, and the addition of Sierra only continues that trend. The club already added Japanese hurler Kenta Maeda in the new year, signed and traded Hector Olivera last spring, landed a number of high-priced July 2 prospects (led by Cuban hurler Yadier Alvarez) over the summer, and then continued to pay 100% overages on large bonuses to Cuban prospects Yusniel Diaz and Omar Estevez.
Sierra, like Maeda and Olivera, is more or less MLB ready, though he’s probably more likely to see big league action out of a pen in the near term. The Dodgers’ rotation is already arguably somewhat overloaded, though, so Sierra could factor as a 2016 relief piece while looking to tap into his starting upside down the line.
The 24-year-old seems to come with a fairly intriguing ceiling. While he didn’t post good results in his most recent action in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, he is said to have a mid-90s fastball with a good slider. The ready comp is Reds’ righty Raisel Iglesias, with Ben Badler of Baseball America explaining (subscription required) that Sierra has more physical tools but less polished command than did Iglesias when he signed.
Sierra boosted his stock with a showcase in late October that drew a throng of scouts. And recent scouting reports have suggested that the righty has shown improvement in cleaning up both his delivery and command. As Badler noted today on Twitter, Sierra looks like a potential mid-rotation starter at his best.
It’s easy to see the rationale here from the Dodgers’ perspective. Even as the team increasingly eschews large commitments to veterans, it is putting its admirable financial position to work by doling out huge bonuses on the international market. While Sierra won’t require the team to pay a 100% tax, as he wasn’t subject to international signing limitations, the investment still represents a significant up-front cost that probably won’t yield a commensurate return on the field in the immediate future (if it ever does).
Of course, that’s precisely the gamble that all teams take when they dedicate resources to amateur talent. But Los Angeles is uniquely well-situated right now to utilize cash to accumulate young, controllable assets. With the strict limitations applicable to the draft, and the organization’s coming two-year ban on international signings of over $300K, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if we see yet more outlays over the next several months.
That’s the last thing the Dodgers need is another Yasiel…. Lol
It Yaisel. Not Yasiel…
Yeah! Big difference! LoL
One can spell, one can’t. One’s a criminal, the other a crinimal
I hate grammar nerds caryloyd why correct a grown man in the smart phone era
I hate people who say they hate things. Nerd.
Braves will trade for him next year and hope he makes the impact like Olivera.
Why not wait and see what Olivera really brings before you start bragging
So this guy, Maeda, and Kazmir for less than Greinke 34M a year
I’d take Greinke over that trio easily. Kazmir is a good starter, but he was in the indy leagues not that long ago. Who knows if/when the wheels fall off again? The other two have done nothing in the bigs yet.. I think I will take the guy that has won a Cy Young and is almost always in the conversation when he doesnt win.
That sort of applies to Greinke as well. Aside from Cy Young year with KC he wasn’t all that great. He typical had an ERA in the mid-high 3’s….which is good, but not “ace” type. He almost retired due to social anxiety disorder. Almost always in the Cy conversation? He won 1, finished 2,7, and 8th….and hasn’t received votes in any other year.
Have you ever looked at Koufax’s stats for his first six years and compared them to his last 6 years? Though Greinke is no Koufax, his stats for the last three years may very well be the beginning of his rise to dominance. A 51-15 record with a 2.30 era made him the better choice over anyone LA signed in the aftermath of LA’s trainwreck decision to not sign Greinke.
My reference to Koufax was a rhetorical question. I believe that all Dodger fans have seen the lefty’s career stats.
Koufax was the best pitcher of all time, he just was abused by the Dodgers throwing him over 300 innings.
Err, Walter Johnson, Pedro, and several others beg to differ on Koufax being the best of all time.
Pedro is not in the same discussion as Koufax
When you consider the run scoring environment that Pedro pitched in, you are correct. He is on another level that Koufax couldn’t touch and did it for longer.
Yep. Koufax pitched in the best pitching era of all time. Pedro pitched in the worst pitching era since the 1930s – and put up numbers close to Koufax’s. Pedro was a far better pitcher, in context, than Koufax.
Trainwreck decision? Greinke is 32 years old. At that age, a pitcher is likely to either pitch like garbage, pitch mediocre, or not pitch at all. Look at Roy Halladay who is a better pitcher than Greinke fell off after his age 34 season. Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez were not the same anymore once they passed their age 33 season. If I were an owner or GM, I too wouldn’t have given Greinke that type of contract that the D-Backs gave him. For all we know, Greinke can pitch like a God for the 2016 season than never pitch again the following five years. That’s the risk of signing someone in their 30s. Secondly, Koufax couldn’t pitch anymore after his age 30 season.
Just because they are Zack doesn’t mean they won’t be good to equal what Zack did. If kc can win with the rotation they had then the dodgers can with this one. Plus from the past WS the last one to have two ace like pitchers I believe it was with the Philly’s
Of course you’d take Greinke over that trio in 2016. But what about 2021, when the D-Backs are paying him like an ace at age 37? What about 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026, when the D-Backs are paying him $12.5M each year not to pitch for them?
His k:bb ratio is not impressive. Seems to be a bit wild for that much money.
166 walks in 300 innings too in Cuba. Only 221 strikeouts. Not to mention that MLB competition is obviously better than Cuban hitters
Sometimes I wonder if the Dodgers are bidding against themselves, with other teams knowing they will overpay anyway.
They have spent 150 million in 2015 alone on international talent the penalties obviously are not working, since they will still land Lazarito on top of this guy. The “brain” trust is just exploiting a flaw in the system why spend 150 million in free agency on one player when you can sign 8-9 cost controlled guys who should be in a draft.
I know this guy is not accountable toward bonus spending limits and would be a normal free agent, just getting it out for when they also sign Lazarito.
As with most Cuban players LA seems to have first dibs. But in Lazarito case since he is only 16 he will spend a couple of years in the Dominican. I could see him signing with a team with top facilities the Indians, Pirates, Mets, Cubs, and M’s I know have with new or recently upgraded academies in the DM. As long as the $$ are fairly equal. From what I’ve seen the Dodgers facility in the DM is substandard and looks like an old motel 8.
*emails Dodgers -upgrade domincan republic facility now!
You do realize however that the Dodgers will be out on the 2016 and 2017 classes and there will probably be new talent that everyone is raving about that they can’t have any reasonable chance of landing because of the $300k cap they will have to spend on any one international prospect? Additionally the likes of the Giants, Cubs, Angels, Red Sox and Yankees will all be out in 2016 as well. The Braves will have relatively little competition (aside from the Phils) this coming year and you will most certainly not be complaining when they spend on international talent. Furthermore, the Dodgers aren’t spending on free agents really, and they are trying to build a strong, youthful core. Will all these international prospects pan out? Definitely not. But when you have money to spend, why not spend it exactly on what your front office and ownership stated they would spend it on: rebuilding the farm system and developing strong youthful talent that leads to sustainable success that can be complimented by smart free agent acquisitions over the years.
Exactly. They have a greater margin of error for busting bc they have more guys and they only need 2-3 to hit to be worthwhile.
Of course they are.
Off topic, but Dodgers related:
Is anyone concerned with the lineup the Dodgers are putting out there?
Second base is kind of a hole with Utley and Kike, Grandal and Pederson slumped big time in the second half, Puig is a wild card (who may be suspended) who was benched in the NLDS in four games, Gonzalez/Ethier are about to be 34, Seager is an unproven rookie.
Maybe I’m nitpicking, but it seems like alot of question marks for a 300 million dollar team.
LA DODGERS: Come to be blocked from the majors, Stay for the money.
They should have some tough 40 man decisions coming over the next few years, But they also have a lot of expected turnover at the big league level. I think everyone is hoping the 40 man roster is a big enough equalizer to stop this stock piling.
honestly they just need to Designate Crawford and Guerrero thats 2 unnecessary roster spots on the 25 man roster
I don’t see why! They only have EIGHT big league OF’s on the 40 man!
The Mets should have been in on him. these cost-controlled int’l signings have a lot of value (thus lowering some of the risk) based on the FA contracts being doled out for SP/RP the last few off seasons. Sandy was asleep at the wheel, again. I like the guy, but he has sucked in the int’l market.
Oh yeah cause I really want the mets to have ANOTHER cheap and awesome starter. You go straight to hell sir. Respectively.
So the Yankees are banned from spending on the international market because they went over the limit last year, and the Dodgers will be banned next year so they’re buying everyone they can….so what’s stopping these two teams with all the money just keep doing this every other year?
They get in the penalty box for two years.
it is a 2 year penalty limiting spending to a max of $300K per player, but I think we will see some significant changes to international signings in the next CBA (current agreement expires Dec. 2016)
I know he hates this but this is Keith Law’s scouting report of Sierra back in November/
“Sierra is one of the top Cuban free agents still unsigned and not subject to MLB’s international bonus-pool limits. He has a very quick arm, coming from a high three-quarters slot with a 93-97 mph fastball and a hard cutter-like slider that flashes plus but is nowhere near consistent enough. He has no changeup to speak of yet and well below-average control.
Cuban free agents outside the bonus pools have become very hot commodities, so I expect him to be wildly overpriced, but I think he profiles as a quality middle reliever if and when the command and control improve.”
So basically sounds like a guy who has two pitches (not a starter) and can only control one of them, “he profiles as a quality middle reliever” (so he isn’t good enough to be a closer).
Maybe this works out for the Dodgers, but I could also see him being in the same situation as Alex Guerrero in a few years.
Apparently every player can be called “overpriced” these days, pretty much no matter what.. Quite a stretch in this case. If the numbers being discussed are correct, he’d be getting journeyman bullpen money.
Spot on analysis! Baseball America report: He got moved back to the bullpen his final season in Cuba, when he got lit up for a 6.10 ERA with 55 strikeouts and 31 walks in 70 innings. He also led the league with 11 wild pitches, rather remarkable for a reliever. The main culprit is Sierra’s poor command and pitchability. He’s prone to allowing free baserunners, then when he gets behind in the count—especially if his slider flattens out—even bad Cuban hitters were able to do damage against him.
The Dodgers may as well buy all the international players they want right now. There’s no luxury tax on the international money, plus after July 2 they won’t be able to sign anymore for year.
Sierra qualifies as a professional free agent so international spending limit does not apply
Does anyone else not see why this guy is so highly rated?
Assuming the dollars and years are close to right, I don’t see him as being highly rated. More like probably useful and potentially improvable.
6/30 is pretty high rated
$5M/year is not huge in any baseball universe I know about.
He essential has a live arm and love fastball. Like he said they don’t throw sliders in Cuba. So a slider is new to him along with a change up. His slider looked impressive didn’t see much of his change up. That really marks him towards relief. It sounds like the way the used in Cuba could have contributed to wildness. It’s unheard of in the US to have a guy close 3 innings and have him start the next game.
Great point. Excited to see what the Dodgers do to him and what a great option for relief.
The Dodgers will eat his contract most probably. Nobody gives out a 6 year deal for a pitcher that is “unfinished” and needs to learn now to throw a slider in the bigs.
a 6 year contract for a potential relief pitcher that has to learn pitches????
Really!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dodgers do love them some Cubans. If they cant get top mlb talent. Then why not try to.win with talented international players.
Yasiel
Yaisel
Yoenis
Yoan
Yasmany
Yunesky
Yadil
Yunel
Yuniesky
Yikes.
Yowsa.
What about Yadier?
Looking at Yaisel #2 stats I don’t see anything that leads me to believe he’ll be anything to write home about. baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=sier…
Well it’s a good thing the Dodgers did more than look at the stats before they doled out the contract.
Yeh, sub .500 in the Cuban leagues….a real horse at the front of the rotation!
Call them the Los Angeles Cubans…
Makes it all the sweeter when the Dodgers keep gagging
Has anyone told the Dodgers that spending the most money doesn’t get you a championship? It’s getting kind of ridiculous to the point that we almost need to set a salary cap in baseball. Every other sport has one. They are turning into the Yankees of the 2000’s.
That’s why they spent the money to resign Greinke.
Plenty of teams are spending nine figures a year on payroll.
It;s business.
Not based on an eyeball evaluation of the actual talent pal.
This guy could be a huge bust. His numbers in the Cuban leagues don’t translate to $30 Million plus.
They are spending money to fill up the minor leagues and create a god tier farm system that will eventually help the future ball club. This is exactly what every rich club will be doing if there was a salary cap. That extra money they make will go directly in making their farm system into the Dodger’s farm system. I’m not even a dodgers fan and even I can see this is the right thing to do. They don’t work out? Get someone else. Don’t be jealous because your billion dollar owner isn’t willing to open his wallet and your team doesn’t have a smart FO.
Yes, a salary cap. Because the owners need to make even more money….
Right there with Hittingnull. The vast majority of their moves/signings/trades/etc have been more focused on building our internal farm system. They have yet to commit more than $50 million guaranteed to any one player. Don’t believe me? Look at their major signings from last year and this year:
-McCarthy – $48 million, 4 years, $12 mi AAV
-Anderson: $12.4 million in 2015 by reaching incentives; accepted $15.8 million QA for 2016
-Utley: $7. mill one year
-Kendrick: $20 million, 2 years
-Kazmir: $48 million, 3 years, opt out after 1 year
-Maeda: $25 million guaranteed, 8 years, worth up to $106.5 million if he hits ALL of his incentives (which is highly unlikely, though I will gladly accept a scenario where he hits all the incentives)
I believe that is all their major free agent signings. All pretty small contracts considered the mega deals major pitching free agents have received.
They shouldn’t have salary cap. If they do revenue sharing becomes even more of a joke. How many leagues do big market teams finance smaller market teams out of their tv contracts and revenue. Especially when some smaller market teams use that money to finance a majority of their payroll. You can’t cap major and minor league spending. I think there should be an international draft. That draft will still not include Cuban players, Japanese, and KBO players so it’s still some of the same dynamic. A draft wouldn’t benefit them and would destroy their established leagues. The Dodgers are working out of a Colletti mess that coincided with a terrible owner spending pennies and trading away prospects to try and not spend money. The same former owner that now receive 14 mill of the parking lot profits each year. Baseball is fine. The fact will always remain that bigger market teams have more capital than smaller market teams. Teams are starting to realize that winning free agency doesn’t guarantee you anything if there is no foundation. Off my soap box now.
The international signing system is so dumb. Monetary penalties aren’t going to stop the high spending teams from signing EVERYONE. And yes, I know that they are “banned” from signing players to higher salaries for 2 years and blah blah blah. But now they’ve just created a cycle where the Dodgers will spend like crazy one year, the Yanks/Red Sox the next, and then some random team will probably jump in the following year and blow by the “limits.” And that doesn’t even mention handshake deals that the banned teams can have to make prospects wait until they are technically able to sign. Their needs to either be some sort of draft or have some sort of draft pick compensation attached to these larger salaries, like a QO.
Then again, I’m sure the league doesn’t REALLY give a crap about the big money teams signing most of the best international talent. They’ll happily sit back and just collect all the additional tax money.
All taxes on international spending are re-directed into the international development fund, I believe.
Thanks to Hittingnull for starting this discussion yesterday and to the rest of you for weighing in with insightful and unbiased thinking today!
Wow the Dodgers are spending money like drunken sailors these days.
$30 million plus for a sub .500 pitcher in the Cuban leagues?????
Crazy!!! And we hope his command comes around?????
Somebody above called them the Cuban Dodgers and that is a pretty apt description of the team payroll these days. Nothing here other than evaluating potential talent guys!
All of these Cuban ballplayers have never played an inning for any team in the majors yet they seem to command untold ritches when it comes to cashing in on all these “”showcases” they seem ready to hold for “scouts” !!! really.
When are major league teams going to learn not to keep all of us fans paying for their horrible decisions!!!
A potential mid-rotation starter for $5M/year. Wow, that is way over the line!
As a Dodger fan I hope they keep stockpiling arms. You can never have too many.