Headlines

  • Blue Jays, Bo Bichette Agree To Three-Year Deal To Avoid Arbitration
  • Royals Re-Sign Zack Greinke
  • Dodgers Sign Miguel Rojas To Contract Extension
  • Jake McGee Retires
  • Orioles To Decline Five-Year Lease Extension At Camden Yards, Seeking Longer-Term Agreement With Maryland Stadium Authority
  • Mariners, Dylan Moore Agree to Three-Year Extension
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • Top 50 Free Agents
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2023
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Arbitration Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Astros Sign Cuban RHP Elian Rodriguez

By charliewilmoth | June 15, 2017 at 3:00pm CDT

JUNE 15: The signing is now official. MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart tweets that Rodriguez’s exact bonus is $1.9MM, so he’ll cost the team a total of $3.8MM when accounting for the 100 percent luxury tax they’ll pay.

JUNE 6: The Astros have agreed to sign 20-year-old Cuban righty Elian Rodriguez for $2MM, Baseball America’s Ben Badler reports. The move will be subject to MLB’s rules regarding international bonus spending and will be part of the pool period that ends June 15. As such, the Astros will have to pay a 100% tax on the signing, bringing the total cost to $4MM.

There isn’t much English-language information about Rodriguez that’s widely available, but Badler reports the 6’4″, 205-pound righty has added velocity since leaving Cuba and can now touch 97 mph with his fastball. Rodriguez also throws a slider and curve, along with a changeup that Badler says he doesn’t use much yet. He pitched briefly for Camaguey in Cuba’s Serie Nacional in 2014.

The Astros have been active in the international market this signing season, inking prospects like Anibal Sierra from Cuba; Freudis Nova, Nerio Rodriguez and Deury Carrasco from the Dominican Republic; and Yorbin Ceuta and Angel Macuare from Veneuzela. (They also signed Yuli Gurriel from Cuba, although his signing was not subject to international bonus pool rules.) Houston had already incurred penalties for its signing totals, meaning the Astros were already ineligible to sign any player for more than $300K in either of the next two signing periods, the first of which begins on July 2.

With a bit more than a week to go until the signing period comes to a close, it’s possible that the Astros could try to sneak in one more signing. They’ve been loosely connected to 19-year-old Cuban shortstop Jose Israel Garcia, though there’s also very little in terms of readily available info on him.

Share 0 Retweet 3 Send via email0

Houston Astros Transactions Elian Rodriguez

Neil Walker, Matt Harvey Expected To Be Out “Several Weeks”
Main
Athletics Designate Trevor Plouffe For Assignment
View Comments (21)

Comments

  1. white_sox9195

    6 years ago

    Is he even good ??

    Reply
    • start_wearing_purple

      6 years ago

      Well for only 2 million he’s clearly not someone the league was drooling over. Other than that I wouldn’t be able to say since I’ve never heard of him. Consider him like any other prospect lottery ticket.

      Reply
      • Dalton1017

        6 years ago

        2 mil is not bad for an international prospect

        Reply
    • Strauss

      6 years ago

      Is ROBERT?

      Reply
  2. Astros2333

    6 years ago

    Hard slider and mid-nineties fastball. The system will build him up and hopefully he can help the club in 3-4 years.

    Reply
  3. troll

    6 years ago

    pay a 100% tax, not an 100% tax.

    Reply
  4. thegreatcerealfamine

    6 years ago

    Where’s DN that cries racism?

    Reply
    • mikehawk120

      6 years ago

      Get that BS outta here

      Reply
  5. Astros_fan_84

    6 years ago

    Cool. I’ll be interested to see if he makes the top 30 prospects list anytime soon.

    Reply
  6. BrandonGregory74

    6 years ago

    Wasn’t he part of “The Race Draft” on The Chappelle Show?

    Reply
    • dudeness88

      6 years ago

      that was Elian GONZALEZ..reach pick by the Latinos. White delegation probably threw in a smokescreen.

      Reply
  7. Polish Hammer

    6 years ago

    Is this the 87th Cuban ball player to sign in the past few months? Anybody worth anything substantial has already fled the island.

    Reply
  8. Polish Hammer

    6 years ago

    “Pitching for Camaguey in Cuba’s 18U national league in 2015, Rodriguez in seven games (three starts) threw 7.1 innings and allowed 19 runs (12 earned) with seven strikeouts and 16 walks.”

    Impressive!

    Reply
    • rocky7

      6 years ago

      Wow, definitely worth $3.8 Million of the fans money!
      A definite PHENOM!

      Reply
      • stl_cards16

        6 years ago

        Maybe he was 3-1 in those, and a real winner, huh?

        Reply
        • JDGoat

          6 years ago

          Lol destroyed

        • Polish Hammer

          6 years ago

          He averaged an inning an outing, they don’t give Wins to starting pitchers for an inning of work.

      • dudeness88

        6 years ago

        chump change

        Reply
  9. rycm131

    6 years ago

    Was this the young child on the news in
    Florida that got sent back to Cuba years ago?

    Reply
    • BSPORT

      6 years ago

      Exactly what I was thinking. Elion the Cuban kid washed up on Florida coast?

      Reply
  10. Polish Hammer

    6 years ago

    Read the latest ESPN magazine for an interesting article on these Cuban ball players. More players have fled and signed in the past three years than the previous 50 years under Fidel combined!!! To say the talent has been diluted is an understatement.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Blue Jays, Bo Bichette Agree To Three-Year Deal To Avoid Arbitration

    Royals Re-Sign Zack Greinke

    Dodgers Sign Miguel Rojas To Contract Extension

    Jake McGee Retires

    Orioles To Decline Five-Year Lease Extension At Camden Yards, Seeking Longer-Term Agreement With Maryland Stadium Authority

    Mariners, Dylan Moore Agree to Three-Year Extension

    Blue Jays Sign Chad Green

    Rays Extend Yandy Diaz

    Dexter Fowler Announces Retirement

    Mets Sign Jeff McNeil To Four-Year Extension

    Red Sox, Marlins Swap Matt Barnes For Richard Bleier

    Darren O’Day Announces Retirement

    Braves Extend Manager Brian Snitker Through 2025

    Rays Sign Pete Fairbanks To Extension

    Royals Sign Aroldis Chapman To One-Year Deal

    Athletics Sign Jesús Aguilar

    Orioles Acquire Cole Irvin From A’s

    Astros Name Dana Brown General Manager

    Rays Extend Jeffrey Springs

    Royals, Red Sox Swap Adalberto Mondesi For Josh Taylor

    Recent

    Trade Rumors Front Office: Q&A

    Tigers, DJ Peters Agree To Minor League Deal

    Cardinals Acquire Anthony Misiewicz, Designate James Naile

    The Phillies’ Fifth Starter Possibilities

    Mike Minor Likely To Throw For Teams Later This Month

    Read The Transcript Of Our Chat Hosted By Former MLB Pitcher Brandon Beachy

    The Opener: Giles, Arb Updates, Player Chat

    Blue Jays, Bo Bichette Agree To Three-Year Deal To Avoid Arbitration

    Orioles Notes: Means, Stowers, Ownership

    Players That Could Move To The 60-Day IL Once Spring Training Begins

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Offseason Outlook Series
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Go Ad-Free
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2023
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • MLB Player Chats
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version