The Tigers have reached agreement on a minor-league deal with free-agent Cuban shortstop Luis Valdes, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America. Bonus information isn’t known, but Valdes was not subject to international spending limitations.
Valdes seems to be more of a veteran utility option than an interesting prospect to watch. He’s already 28 years of age and ought to open his tenure with the Tigers in the upper minors, per Badler, but there doesn’t appear to be much reason to believe that he’ll ever challenge for more than a reserve role in the majors.
Over his seven seasons in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, Valdes owns a .275/.316/.392 batting line with 24 home runs over 1,267 plate appearances. Though his last season was by far his best, it also came way back in 2014. Whether his bat can keep up at the game’s highest level isn’t yet clear, Badler suggests, though Valdes holds greater promise in the field. Per Badler, the infielder “is a smart, fundamentally sound defender with an average arm that plays up because of his extremely quick release.”
Tigers need to work more on getting younger players internationally. This signing is good because the team needs infield depth in the upper minors but I believe the Tigers should have allowed themselves to exceed their bonus pool at some point in order to improve the farm system. I am disappointed with the teams’s international work.
I agree with you, there international signings (or lack of), is poor. It understand that they had a high payroll for awhile, but they didn’t even seem interested in a lot of these players. They need to open up more and try and get some of these younger international guys.
Interesting…..
Tigers history of international signings is to sign a lot of guys that fly under the radar, will sign cheaply. They tend to avoid the splashy signings that would get them penalized by MLB and hamper their international signing pool. Unfortunately they have not hit big on that method yet, but they have some guys that are close: Moya, Machado, Jimenez, and Rondon just to name some you might recognize. By my last count, they have over 30 players in their system that are international signings.
Valdes does nothing for the Tigers other than system depth. Their current MO helps stock the system but has yet paid dividends at the major league level. It probably will with Rondon and Jimenez, and maybe with Moya and Machado. But they may need to stick their necks out some and get some higher ranked, higher quality international players to compliment their current methods.
Yep you’re exactly right. Can teams exceed their bonus pools under the new CBA agreement?
No, not at all
That’s what I thought, Hopefully that helps the Tigers get more talent but in theory it’ll just make players less likely to come to US
The international market isn’t a sure thing. There are a lot more misses than hits. The Tigers did come in 2nd on Cespedes, though they lost out to Oakland. They also came in second on Rusney Castillo, luckily. Still, a few more prospects with tools would be nice. Avila seems to be avoiding talent with tools other than Mahtook this offseason.
Who’s winning the CF competition?