The Dodgers and Cuban second baseman Jose Miguel Fernandez have reportedly struck agreement on a minor league contract. He is set to receive a $200K signing bonus. Fernandez is exempt from international bonus pools due to his age and experience in Cuba’s Serie Nacional.
Fernandez left Cuba in December 2015, with Major League Baseball officially granting his free agency last April. He drew wide attention from scouts and evaluators during multiple showcases last year, with the Padres long thought to be one of the favorites to sign the 28-year-old and the Athletics also reportedly showing strong interest. Instead, it seems as if Fernandez will become the latest in a long line of Cuban talents to suit up in Dodger blue.
Back in April 2015, Baseball America’s Ben Badler ranked Fernandez as the third-best player in Cuba, with Badler praising the left-handed hitter’s approach at the plate, contact skills and plate discipline. Fernandez has slashed .319/.403/.423 over 2580 career plate appearances in the Serie Nacional, recording 263 walks against just 113 strikeouts. Badler felt Fernandez was only an “adequate” fielder at second base and graded his power and baserunning as below average, though overall, Fernandez was thought to be a player capable of more or less stepping right into the major leagues.
Thanks to a previous failed attempt to defect, however, Fernandez hasn’t played since 2014, so he’ll certainly need some time in the minors to get back into proper game shape. If he is able to regain his old form and stick at his old position — Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register notes that Fernandez has been mostly playing third base in winter ball action — he stands out as an intriguing possibility for the Dodgers’ wide-open second base spot.
With Micah Johnson designated for assignment recently, it seems at present that Enrique Hernandez, Charlie Culberson and Chris Taylor are the incumbent candidates on the Dodgers’ roster. Jack of all trades Austin Barnes might also factor in the mix. Helping Fernandez’s cause, perhaps, is the fact that all of those players — excepting Johnson, who’s in DFA limbo — hit from the right side.
Of course, the Dodgers could still look outside the organization. Though L.A. has been widely linked to Brian Dozier in trade rumors, those talks seem to have cooled of late. The Dodgers have also explored trades for players like the Rays’ Logan Forsythe and the Tigers’ Ian Kinsler, while Chase Utley is still available as a possible fallback option if a bigger-name upgrade can’t be acquired.
MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez first said a deal was close (via Twitter). Ben Badler of Baseball America reported the terms. Jon Heyman of Fan Rag said the agreement was finalized (via Twitter).
Photo courtesy of Alyson Boyer Rode.
I wonder how many other baseball players named Jose Fernandez there are
I guess we dont need the miguel anymore
Too soon
I’m sure you’re a very pleasant person to be around
Lol
@slimjones92’s reply
According to Baseball Reference, currently, none in the majors. In the minors, 12 including two active, and two played in the Negro League.
Are there any ball players left in Cuba? Seems like they all defected in the past few months.
They’re all with the Dodgers.
Thanks Obama
Ha!
This is an intriguing idea. I love getting a player on the cheap. Keep De Leon and possibly get a starting 2B with talent. Or this is a tactic to get Dozier with the price they want. As a Dodgers fan…any chance on getting better without giving up the future sounds good to me!!!
Does he bat right handed?
No he’s left handed but the scouting report is that he handles both sides more of a pure hitter just one without much significant power.
Bummer…Pure hitters are always welcome!!! I do hope we can get some Right handed bats in our lefty filled major league and farm teams. I know others don’t trust Friedman and co. But I think they are doing whats best for the Dodgers, and not the quick fix and sacrifice the future. We are spoiled Dodger Fans with our resources. Heck it’s not our money 😉
So they get that money from the baseball faeries?
I live in Nor Cal. I’m happy with MLB TV
Without “our money” where do they get “their money?”
Agree with you that it comes from Dodgers fans. I must speak for myself. My yearly cost is MLB TV and an occasional Dodgers gear. I don’t like to spend money. Therefore, it doesn’t feel like i invest a lot of money. I hope that makes sense, maybe it’s just me. I bleed Blue, and love the offseason. Hoping for a 2017 Championship.
MLB TV and a VPN subscription. Playoff games if they make it.
That’s about all they get from me living 90mins from LA.
Disclaimer: Those 90 minutes can easily turn 120 with weekday traffic.
I live about the same distance from the stadium but I am a season ticket share holder so I make that trip at least nine times a year. I also send the Dodgers my money though our cable subscription and whatever we spend at games. So maybe some of you don’t feel like one of the paying customers who make it possible for the team owners to spend “their money,” but I sure do.
That’s all? You’re lucky
I don’t follow your logic. How does this signing force minnesota’s hand in any way? They’ve been saying since before offers started that they’ll listen but they’d be happy to hold on to Dozier. Why would the twins say “huh they signed an international second baseman. I guess we don’t want to hold on to Dozier anymore”?
Doesn’t seem to be the tactic. Only a reach!!! Depth is the Friedman way.
Applause for savedby2sticks. That tactic is what Andrew Friedman said he’d aim for. Instead it was buy old farts that are way over there prime and luck out with a few signs. So far the only shot in the dark we lucked out on is Justin Turner. Everyone else are multimillion projects stuck on the DL. Seager, DeLeon, even Pederson; these guys should be our future. Not McCarthy, Anderson, Ruiz (when we had him)
By the way, Turner was a Colletti signing- not Friedman
So we’re Seager, DeLeon, and Peterson and the rest of the squad that was wining divisions
I get the point, but your examples are way off. Anderson is gone, and so is Ruiz. Heck, Ruiz was a rental for a few weeks – are you actually torn up about that?
He batted 4 in game 5 of the NLDS tied at 2 cause Friedman couldn’t make a Trade
A minor league deal? So many teams could use this guy. Makes no sense to me.
Insurance policy. I love the depth!!! No other team in MLB could have done as well as the Dodgers. For example: lets say Samardja was the only healthy starter all year for the Giants. That’s what we had with Maeda. That would have crippled any other team
Meh. Cleveland fared pretty well in the playoffs with 1 start.
And would not have been able to replicate that in the regular season because they would not have been able to rely so heavily on their pen for an extended period of time especially with the fewer off days that exist between games during the regular season.
Since the person you are replying to noted “all year” in his comment, I assume he is referring to a team being able to withstand major sp injuries for the duration of the season.
However his example doesn’t really work because Kershaw started 21 games and provided 6.5 war in those starts, more than maeda’s 3.3 in 32 starts.
Dodgers still got a 5.6 WAR out of Kershaw. 10.5 of their pitching staff’s 14 total bWAR was Kershaw, Maeda, and Jansen…
what do you mean “many teams could use him”? if hes signed by the Dodgers, he only plays in their org
he meant there is a lot of teams that could use him on their team if they signed him
He has a clearer path to playing time with the Dodgers. Most other teams are set at 2B. Plus I’m sure there biggest minor league offer on the table comes from LA.
Can he pitch? #JF16
How about adding him to the offer for Dozier? Twins want prospects.
That’s what I was wondering. But then again, why wouldn’t he twins just sign him if they wanted him? I hope that we can still get Dozier but if we do not I like the idea of bringing back Utley for a year and possibly letting this guy take over after sitting in the minors for a year.
Twins may not have been able to afford the signing bonus so struck a deal. Doubt it, but it has happened before
He’s not prospect. He’s 28 going on 29. He’s a lotto depth piece really no other value beyond that.
doubt adding a 28 year old will change the deal by that much
Twins want pitching that’s MLB ready or close to it
Lifetime .403 OBP and 2/1 walk/k rate is impressive. Wonder how that will translate to majors after two years off.. No speed or power, apparently.
Where has Alex Guerrero gone? Just another $16 million blown, eh?
He is in Japan as of now.
Don’t worry, this guy will end up having the same career path as Guerrero.
He was highly regarded a few years back. Wounder what changed that
Not playing for 2 years and the majority of big name Cubans deals flopping.
I’d say it looks like we have moved on from Dozier. I was okay going either way. It looks like we are going a platoon at 2B with Johnson/Hernandez/Fernandez/Culberson. If need be we should trade for a 2B at the deadline and keep De Leon.
I think your right on this one
Good call, one of those 4 should have a good year hopefully. If all of them bat .190 in the first half, pull the trigger on a 2B from a non contending team. Hopefully we can get a good deal since we’ll be the only buyers at the auction, barring injury ofc.
I’m wondering if this is the Dodgers telling the Twins to keep Dozier. It will be interesting to see how the Twins move Dozier in the offseason now. I’m wondering if the Twins overplayed there hand here. There just aren’t many teams that need a second baseman. If Dozier plays with the Twins and plays like he did last year then it won’t matter someone will pay the freight on him at the trade deadline.
They did. They wanted to squeeze the market dry to get an even better deal than what was in front of them. Blew a beneficial chance to upgrade in prospects.
According to reports, they missed out on 1 prospect with injury history. Again, twins made it clear from the beginning they love Dozier and they weren’t shopping him but were willing to listen. There’s no fault at all in holding on to the best player you have on a cheap contract if it’s not a like-value return. I can’t wrap my head around this mentality that the twins are foolish for not taking whatever offer they get. There’s no need to move Dozier. Only if it actually significantly upgrades the future.
While not foolish to not take whatever they are offered, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to hold onto dozier since he is gonna be a fa before they are good. It’s probably in their best interest to trade him at some point. Whether they can get better than deleon or not remains to be seen.
I can’t be the only one on here with a JDF16 tattoo right ?
No, you probably are the only one.
This is the guy I wished would be in the news when I saw Jose’s death headline… I have a mentally i unstable mind
This reeks of Alex Guerrero all over again.
Except this is minor league worth a whopping 200K. This really has no barring if it fails. It’s a lotto ticket no more no less.
Guerrero was a better hitter than Fernandez, while Fernandez is a better fielder, but not by much. At least Guerrero was able to contribute w/ his bat a little. I doubt Fernandez will even do that…
How much are they paying for a guy who “hasn’t played since 2014”?
They are giving him a $200K signing bonus per Sanchez. I don’t think this guy should be counted on to be the solution at second base. That price to me says depth piece and a potential lottery ticket.
Just some info on Fernandez… While his stats are gaudy, you have to keep in mind that the Cuban league is a very offense-friendly league. By comparison, Fernandez’s numbers are not nearly as good as the Dodgers’ other Cuban signees, Puig, Alex Guerrero, or Hector Oliveras. He’s also bad defensively. He made 57 errors in 470 games, which translates to almost 20 errors in a 162 MLB season.
Going solely off of Fernandez’s numbers compared to the other guys, his poor defense, the fact he hasn’t played competitively in 2 years, & the fact that he’ll be 29 years old early next seasons, I’d say he’s not going to be a contributor next season at the MLB level, & I have my doubts whether he’ll ever be able to contribute to the Dodgers…
Both Puig and Guerrero are different hitters than Fernandez… all he does if make contact. He actually had higher averages and obp than both of them, oh and a minuscule strikeout rate. He’s also been playing in the Puerto Rican league so scouts have seen he’s still got it. He still could be the next arruabarena but he’s worth a shot
Or scouts have seen that he doesn’t still have “it.” Hence the reason he’s apprently signing for so cheap, and there’s a lack of competition for his services…
A light hitting second baseman that doesn’t have blazing speed and isn’t a good defender. Not a ton of appeal there. I suppose at this price, it’s worth the “risk” for a second baseman-needy team like the Dodgers. I don’t see it helping though. No idea why they aren’t just adding a couple low level flyers to DeLeon. I’m sure the Twins want a substantial second piece, but I’d be willing to bet they’d be fine taking quantity over quality on the backend.
The twins aren’t looking for low level flyers it’s seems they are looking for three substantial pieces. Im leaning towards this team would be better off piece mealing 2b and taking a double take at their rotation. There will be 2b options available at the deadline. The great fear is this rotation is tremendously fragile.
Re. Puig & Guerrero being “different hitters,” Fernandez is definitely more of a contact hitter than either Guerrero or Puig (or Olivera), but that didn’t necessarily translate to a significantly better BA or OBP. In terms of BA & OBP, Puig, Guerrero, Olivera, & Fernandez’s numbers were fairly close, esp. Olivera & Fernandez.
Puig .311/.410
Fernandez .319/.403
Guerrero .303/.386
Olivera: .323/.407
The big difference is that Puig was only 19 yrs. old, & was bound to get better whereas Fernandez (like Guerrero & Oliveras) was basically in his prime years in the CNS, & is probably as good as he will ever be. Guererro & Oliveras are middling or below average hitters in MLB, & if their comparable CNS stats are any indication, Fernandez will probably will be, too, minus the power. Add the fact he’s a defensive liability, & there’s really no reason to believe that he’ll ever contribute at the major league level.
Looks like the Twins will NOT be cashing in on Dozier anytime soon- unless St. Louis trades for him for some reason.
Cuba, the Dodgers new affiliate
I think Kike Hernandez should handle 2b pretty well. Focus on Bullpen help!!!!
That would be a waste of his super-utility skills.
If Hernandez plays anything like he did last season, he would be a waste of a roster spot.
Being from Cuba is now to MLB what being 7 feet tall is to the NBA
I get what you’re saying but now that isn’t enough to get you in the NBA you need to be able to shoot the 3 ball even if you’re 7′ tall
Tell that to Andre Drummond, DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Howard, etc.
I was referring to most teams shifting to a smaller lineup and playing a more up tempo style…you win a prize for naming 3 NBA centers that don’t shoot the 3! Congratulations!
Dodger get starlin Castro , Yankees get puig or
Dodger get starlin Castro and Mateo, Yankees get joc Peterson
I know the yanks have too much outfield depth but joc could do some damage in Yankee stadium and it allows them to trade Gardner maybe judge (probably not)or hicks for prospects or a solid 4th starter
Dodgers get a second baseman who will hit .260-.280, 20hr, 60-70 RBI with athletic ability to improve defensively
No
Castro for Puig maybe but there would be no way Joc goes for anything less than a kings ransom
He’s not that good lol
top 10 cf with control? That’s pretty good
He also happens to be the starting cf on a contending team with no clear replacement.
AddisonStreet just likes to stir the pot
Wilmer Flores? He might be a good fit for an ok price
That’s an outside of the box idea and the stats back you up. Wilmer Flores slaughters lefties, and would be a nice fit if the acquiring team is fine with so-so defense. He batted .340 and had an OPS of 1.093 last year against lefties (in 49 games). I think the Mets hold onto him bc D. Wright and J. Reyes are both part-time players for them, and he can play multiple positions. Flores’ main issue is that he has limited range at any of the infield positions. I wonder if he could be swapped for a BP arm? If the Mets can sign Kelly Johnson, it could be a win/win for both clubs.