The Rays appear to be closing in on a deal with Cuban right-hander Sandy Gaston that will pay him a $2.6MM bonus. Jorge Ebro of El Nuevo Herald (Spanish-language link) reports that the sides are already in agreement, though Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times hears (Twitter link) they are still working toward a finalized deal. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweeted last night that the sides were nearing agreement on a deal.
If the contract hits the books, the 17-year-old Gaston will absorb the bulk of Tampa Bay’s remaining international spending pool, which had stood at $3.5MM. It is not entirely clear to what extent the organization’s proximity to Gaston’s homeland played into the decision, but it surely did not hurt their odds.
For their money, the Rays will get a player who was rated as the 24th overall international prospect by Ben Badler of Baseball America. Gaston is best known for his big velocity, which he showed off in a recent showcase for MLB clubs. That’s a loud tool for a young hurler, but Badler also notes that Gaston otherwise lacks polish. His offspeed offerings and ability to consistently command the baseball remain in question, though certainly he has plenty of time to iron things out.
Gaston will join several other highly-regarded players to round out the Tampa Bay recruiting class. Per Badler’s signing tracker, the Rays have also landed 13th overall prospect Alejando Pie as well as four other top-fifty talents and a variety of additional players.
With the news, the Orioles have now missed out on the three top prospects left on the international market — at least, by general reputation. The Marlins recently wrapped up deals with Victor Victor Mesa and Victor Mesa Jr., fellow Cuban players who had held a showcase with Gaston.
It’s a rather curious situation, as the Baltimore organization had prioritized the aggregation of bonus pool availability of late and has a hefty $6.5MM still left to spend, by far the largest sum in baseball. At last look, the club was said still to be chasing Gaston, even as it seeks a new leader for its baseball operations department. Ebro notes that there was close competition for the intriguing young hurler. The Orioles’ back-up plans remain unclear.
FIRE DUQUETTE!!!!!111!!!!!
Welcome to the experience of being a Red Sox fan ~16 years ago.
Ha Orioles get screwed
No one’s as tall as Gaston,
throws a ball like Gaston…..
A+ for you sir.
No one signs with a team in the fall like Gaston!
This is why I read the comments
Misses bats like gaston.
Is he the son of cito Gaston?
They are not related as far as I can tell. “Cito” is apparently a nickname, as his given name is Clarence Edward Gaston, which doesn’t sound too Cuban. Also, Cito is 74 years old.
He’s not a gangster, his real names Clarence. And Clarence parents have a real good marriage.
Eminem
The rap battle that made Anthony Mackie quit rap music, inspiring him to join the Avengers.
Guess they couldn’t compete with geography. Lost last top prospects to the two Florida teams.
What happens to the Orioles pool if they don’t spend it?
They’ll trade it around the league for 25 year old AAAA players.
Lose it, I believe.
It is just spending availability, so if they don’t use it (or trade it to another team that uses it) then it just goes away. And they also save the money they would have spent in bonuses.
So just to be clear, when teams trade IFA pools, there’s no money changing hands, correct? It’s just another team has the opportunity to spend 250k, 500k, etc of money out of their own pockets?
You’re correct.
Use it or lose it.
Orioles have been sitting out of the international market so long they forgot they’re supposed to spend the money. Oh well, baby steps.
Maybe Chris Davis should sign one….he has the money and not earning it.
For so long I have thought the Mets organization was the most poorly run organization….I really think it is the Orioles now! Granted every organization has its flaws I mean look what the Braves just went through this time last year! A very dark time in ATL. However, it just seems like every move the Orioles make is the wrong move. They have all this international money and can’t bring in the big players. I feel sorry for Orioles fans!
If we didn’t have that “dark time”, we’d still have Hart/Coppy in the organization, burning bridges around baseball. I appreciate his fervor, but I’m glad that the light at the end of the tunnel was handing the keys over to AA and parting ways with them, in addition to Blakeley – regardless of how muddied the international prospect waters were they were playing in. We are definitely in a better place now because of it.
Yeah because all Hart/Coppy did was refuse to trade Acuna/Albies, draft Soroka/Riley, swindle AZ for Swanson/Enciarte, trade for Culberson/Newcomb. Hart definitely made some bad professional decisions but he’s also a big reason why ATL made the playoffs.
I appreciate all Coppy did for ATL, and they’re a big part of the current success, but knowing some of the tactics they used I’m glad where we’re at now.
This saves the Orioles the trouble of finding reasons for the international players to fail their physicals.
No one wants to play in Baltimore.
Apparently no one wants the office positions either.
So much was done to try to sign these three players. In another time, are any of them worth this much money? I feel like this was a timing thing.
Wow if I were an Orioles fan I would seriously consider not supporting them at all until huge changes were made. Incompetent!
No one knows the Orioles backup plan, because no one knew that they had a plan in the first place.
The Rays have really been cleaning up the International market the past couple of years. Wander Franco’s probably the #1 prospect in all of MLB once Vlad Jr. graduates to Toronto; Hernadez, Brujan, Gomez at low-A are easily projectable prospects.
It’s a 3 year-wait, but the results here could be huge, even with the natural attrition of prospects. Nice job being done down there. And , really, it’s the only way for them to go. There’s natural skepticism, since they always sell the future, but this time they may really be onto something.
Oh Orioles you don’t want to sign international talent for years? Would like to know the real reason behind that Angelos, please tell us.
And guess what, now the players and agents know that you don’t deserve them.
This is the definition of stupidity. You have Gausman away for trash prospects to save money. Now you don’t have to spend your IFA money. This is going to be a long long rebuild if we don’t change. There’s no excuse for this. I’d love to see what angelos and co. Have to justify this
If you get beated by miami and tampa bay, you know ur in Baltimore
And if you have won 2 championships since 1900, you know you are in Philly.
That statement is true of a few locations, not just Philly.
+1 for brooksy. TB is ahead of philly in terms of talent despite the fact that they play with a 2nd division payroll. As for Gaston, it’s not even about the player. Will he be any good? Maybe not. Even if we signed him it’s not speeding up our time frame but you need to make changes. You have this IFA and you dealt for more, use it. Sign the top talent available.
Combine TB and Mia and you have 47 seasons played total. They have won 2 WS over that time
The Phillies over the last 47 years have similarly won 2 WS
Meanwhile his O’s over that 47 year time frame have won …you guessed it, 1 WS
And of the 3 groups, Baltimore is the one least likely to add to their total next season as well
Brooksy shouldn’t get a +1 here. He’s in a glass house throwing stones
No glass house when the philly fan started the nonsense. That’s simply a retort to his sarcastic comment. Btw dark star your boy Zimmermann up in Detroit finished the year out real strong….if they could get someone to take 20 million dollars off that deal they wouldn’t blink.
Oh yeah, you’re in a glass house here. Even worse than just what I said earlier as well. Afterall;
Rays 1st season is 1998. Since then:
TB – 1 WS appearance
MIA – 1 WS appearance, 1 Win
PHI – 2 WS appearances, 1 Win
BAL – nothing
So attack the Phillies all you want, but of the 4 in question it is still your franchise which is bringing up the rear
And why would I care about Zimmerman? Not even sure why you’re trying to change the subject like that – oh wait, I do know why; you’re desperate to get the conversation off how bad your club has actually been, and sadly for you, continues to be.
No not really. I haven’t had the opportunity to hammer you for your comment about how the tigers would never eat that much money on Zimmermann’s deal after he had thrown 80 decent innings in 3 years. I was never arguing about how good the orioles were either. Your Philadelphia loving buddy up there said, “if you get heated by gettiNg beat by Mia or TB, You know you’re in Baltimore.” Brooks’ comment was a comeback and it was funny. The Phillies have been rebuilding for 7 years now congratulation on getting 80 wins. The orioles won how many games from 12-16? We didn’t make the World Series but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have any success. Phillies have missed the playoffs 7 straight years. I’ll get back to you when the orioles number is that high again. It very well might be but you have no recent success to hang your hat on.
Btw I’m a big fan of the city of Philadelphia and I attend quite a few Phillies games every year. I was never attempting to talk sht about the team. You started that narrative. But you’re living on the glory of the Jroll Utley days because it’s been a long rebuild ever since. Things look brighter for you now but you’re definitely not WS contenders either. They’ve been penny pinching for years so now is the chance to spend some money this offseason. I hope they sign the right guys and are successful because it will be a years until the orioles are back in October but it took the Phillies years to get where they are now.
I honestly can not figure out what the heck you’re even talking about in much of your post
First, I do not believe I have ever talked about Zimmerman anywhere at all, so you now spending so much time talking about him in multiple posts is just crack head level crazy to me
Second, while maybe you, being an Orioles fan yourself, thought the Brooks comment was funny; it was also a critique that can’t hold up at all once his arbitrary period is removed. Over the last 47 years (number of seasons TB & Mia have played), both the Phillies and TB/Mia combo are better at doing what he said was the criteria to prove superiority. Over the last 21 years (the timeframe TB existed) the Orioles are also the worst of the 4 teams according to his definition of success.
The original ‘beaten by TB&Mia means you’re in Baltimore’ is a dramatically more accurate statement, whether O’s fans like it or not. That is true both regarding the signing of the prospects that spurred the sentence, and the goal Brook’s set in his reply (the WS) when an actual meaningful timeframe is applied. Brook’s might as well have just said “well you’re a poopy head” – it would have held as much weight
I’d also say that even you now are throwing out these completely arbitrary marks to try to make yourself feel batter, saying ” Phillies have missed the playoffs 7 straight years” – cutting it off at 7 so you could ignore the fact they not only went to the playoffs the prior 5 seasons, but even went to the WS twice and Won it once. Every team needs to rebuild after a period of success, so you try to isolate just the years the Phillies were going through that and ignore the great success that spurred the rebuild. That’s rather pitiful.
If you really honestly want to talk about rebuilding periods though, well then would you like to talk about the time between Riken’s streak ending and the next time the Orioles made the playoffs? That is a 14 year span, twice as long as the Phillies current streak. 7 year rebuild after 5 years of winning is nothing compared to how long it took you guys to go from just 2 years of above 500 teams/playoff births in 96-97 to that small “12-16” run that didn’t even result in a single ALCS game won
Third, I’m anything but a Phillies fan so all that stuff you said was not needed at all
Lastly, I never started any narrative – Brooks did, by injecting a glass house throwing stones argument that falls apart completely when meaningful time periods are introduced. I merely pointed out that is exactly what he had done, and how bad his team actually is under his own success marker.
Lol. Crack head level crazy? That’s a good one buddy. Maybe I’ll find that post one day in my spare time but we can drop that one for now. How is the last 7 years not relevant? Of course you have to rebuild eventually but does it take 7 years? That’s the most recent data for the Phillies. It’s been 7 years of futility since making the playoffs. You don’t go around and sht on other organizations when you haven’t done a thing in 7 years. Is that how long a rebuild takes now? The orioles have had plenty of problems in the past I never argued that. Is 47 years a meaningful time frame now? I don’t really care what any team did back then. What has your organization done since they blew up their team? Nothing. You can talk about how great philly is once you build that team back up. It’s not 1981 or 2008. It’s 2018 and the Phillies haven’t had a winning record in 7 years.
mlbtraderumors.com/2018/08/jose-iglesias-francisco…
I’m just crack head level crazy, You just like living in the past. Maybe the phillies can get Zimmermann and his track record of great success to anchor that staff? 130 innings of 4.88 FIP ball is worth well more than 2/20 isn’t it?
Okay, so lets unpack this nonsense
“Of course you have to rebuild eventually but does it take 7 years?”
Well the Phillies didn’t really start accepting they were rebuilding until 2015, just 4 seasons ago. But regardless, yes! Teams hope for 5 year rebuilds (what the Phillies seem to be on pace for) but it sometimes takes a few more or less than that depending on how it goes. It’s not like they are anywhere near the 14 years it took the O’s to rebuild (and still fail to win a single ALCS game before needing to rebuild again)
“Is 47 years a meaningful time frame now? I don’t really care what any team did back then.”
Yet here you are trying to have a conversation in defense of a completely arbitrary 100 year period Brook’s pulled straight from his rear. 47 seasons is at least not arbitrary (its the number of seasons TB+Mia have played) – and over that amount of seasons the pair, like the Phillies, have won more WS than the O’s (again, meaning Brooks is in a glass house throwing stones, as my original comment stated)
Lastly, wow, you did remember me making an absolutely correct observation about the Tigers Zimmerman situation. My two take aways are this;
A) bit creepy you still think about that random conversation 3 months later. It was such an obviously correct throw away statement at the time, I completely forgot even having to have a conversation about it. (so yes, remembering it so obsessively is more speed freak than crack head I guess)
B) what I said in the conversation is still 100% accurate. The Tigers are still paying his full salary, exactly as I said they would be. They didn’t eat millions to just take other teams junk, exactly as I said. So, do you even have a point in bringing it up now?
I’m assuming you were born in 61. If you manage to still be around maybe we’ll revisit this in 5 years. No actually 6 considering the orioles didn’t start rebuilding until 2018 based on your definition of a rebuild. No, actually 6 and a half since we didn’t trade until mid season???? Zimmermann is still on the tigers because I overshot the amount someone would take on his contract. He has a NTC as well so I don’t know what your logic is with that. If any team was willing to take that much money off his deal Zimmermann would be gone before you could come up with another bad insult. You were sitting back loving all over the guy after 77 decent innings. The tigers could replace his production for pennies on the dollar. Anyway, see you in 5-6 years big man.
Let me say, it is very difficult to figure out what you think your point even is – a problem since the start, as you yourself have indicated you do not even believe in what you started this entire conversation over
Born in 61? I can’t figure out what that means at all. Are you just again reintegrating that Brooks’ comment was meaningless throwing of stones in a glass house gibberish? (but if so, again, why exactly are we having this conversation when you just keep supporting what I had said??)
Then it seems as if you are now trying to act like the Phillies did not start their rebuild in 2015, and instead started it at the beginning of the first year they failed to miss the playoffs? I honestly don’t know if that’s what you are trying to say though; that merely seems to be your point maybe? But if that is what you are saying, that is also flat out wrong, as they have only been rebuilding for about 3.5-4 seasons.
And yes, I would not be holding my breath for the O’s (with one of the worst teams, worst systems, to this point still no real international scouting team and almost no analytical staff) to be good; it will likely be a very painful rebuild and take multiple seasons longer than the Phillies have done (Phi is currently on pace for 4 years after their first full season of rebuild after showing signs of competitiveness in their 3rd full season)
And on Zimmerman, all you seem to be doing is attacking imaginary strawmen as you didn’t even come anywhere near the ballpark of what I actually said. What I said was:
“8th highest paid player this season with about 57 million still left on contract, who is off two miserable years and is currently pitching like an average at best starter – not exactly a great line for trade value … If they can’t get anything of value in return there is zero reason to trade him. So yes, they will clearly hold onto him unless a team is willing to offer something intriguing in an attempt to get Detroit to eat cash.”
You are attempting to act like I called him this great pitcher – I specifically said the opposite. You are attempting to act like I said his contract was not bad – again, I was specifically saying the opposite.
What I said regarding his value on the field the Tigers control was this:
“the Tigers can just keep Zimmerman and likely get 3-5 WAR, if not even more … about the same amount of money spent either way, and for that cash the Tigers can either have A) 3-5 WAR in a hard to fill rotation spot or B) about 0 WAR in an easy to fill position”
3 WAR over 2 seasons = bit below average
4 WAR over 2 seasons = average
5 WAR over 2 seasons = bit above average
and that there is a slim possibility he gets healthy and exceeds that value
So is that realistic? Well the last 3 seasons he was hurt and missed a lot of time, but ended up with about 2 seasons worth of IP combined (395) …and had a 3.2 WAR
A healthy Zimmerman is right where I said he is, and unless the expected return to the Tigers increases their on the field value above the expected 3-5 WAR he will provide, they have zero reason to be eating a ton of salary – just as they didn’t do the remainder of the way, and exactly as I said in the conversation you brought up months later for who knows what reason.
Majority of these Cubans are not worth the money and just like Pete Rose said – they don’t have cutoff men in Cuba – and basic Baseball isn’t taught on the islands. AZ Rookie league several players didn’t understand 3rd base coaching signs – ask Bart about that…. build through the draft stop throwing money at guys that don’t deserve it and don’t understand the work ethic it takes to make it to the bigs – God given talent gets a door open – hard grinding work gets you there.
I agree to an extent. At the end of the day, you still have Puig, Yuli and Cespedes coming out of Cuba who were rather good. That being said, why not just do ONE DRAFT with everyone
Talent is talent.. lots of good players coming from there, it’s up to the FO and scouts to accurately asses the value, it’s those people who run up these huge signing bonuses. There are X amount of money for X amount of players. And the penalties are high for going over.
On a quick rough count, we are seemingly talking around 10-15 Cuban born players signed from the International pool each season (this year saw 16, last year just 6, according to the BA lists I found)
If a high side 15 is a good guess for an average yearly pool signed, that makes 75 over a 5 year period. Meanwhile 27 (non-drafted) Cuban born players have debuted in the MLB over the last 5 seasons
If that 36% success rate is even remotely accurate, then Cubans seem to have a dramatically higher chance of reaching the majors than drafted guys (I believe only around 10% of drafted guys manage to make it)
And if Cubans are making it to the Majors at something even close to a 1 in 3 rate these days, then ignoring them seems the most illogical possible option available to teams
They should be part of the draft it’s a crime to athletes born in the states that have to go through the draft and can’t be signed – imagine Harper or Bryant In that scenario- they would have commanded ten times what they had to sign for.
Youre changing your argument to try and find a point. I was replying to this
“build through the draft stop throwing money at (Cuban) guys that don’t deserve it and don’t understand the work ethic it takes to make it to the bigs”
That statement seems to be comically inaccurate, as Cuban born players appear to make it to the Majors at a dramatically higher rate than drafted guys
And in reply to your new arguments, they aren just as inaccurate.
Bryant and a Harper would not have gotten 10x the money theese guys are if under the current International signing rules – the total amount of money available is capped and even the teams with the highest accumulative totals have less than Bryant alone signed for. He would have to take a cut in his bonus in this system
And very few Cuban players even sign for “millions” – most of these guys get relatively little at all. You act like they all get mega million dollar contracts when at best, only a couple are getting the equivalent 1st round draft bonuses.
Lastly, I believe more money is likely wasted on drafted players than foreign players each season.
Your complaints being both so inaccurate and all over the place leads to a sad conclusion as to why you’re ranting against them…
Many players get their cup of coffee – maybe five out of all those players made it worth the millions signed for.
Exactly the point, no matter where they are from, most of the players are not worth any of the money they are paid to sign. They are lottery tickets, the more talent they have, the better the odds.
“stop throwing money at guys that don’t deserve it and don’t understand the work ethic it takes to make it to the bigs ”
This can also be said about players drafted early..
Agreed
The love child of Sandy Alomar, Jr. and Cito Gaston?
Or of Sandy Dennis and Alphonse and Gaston?
“After you, my dear Alphonse.”
“No, you first, I insist, dear Gaston.”
“The Orioles’ back-up plans remain unclear.”
It remains unclear whether the Orioles have any plan at all….