The Giants have signed shortstop Javier Alexander Francisco, a prospect from the Dominican Republic, as @GiantsProspects first reported (Twitter link; hat tip to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle). The value of the bonus is unknown at this time.
Shea notes that the 16-year-old has been working with former big leaguer Fernando Tatis Sr., who compares Francisco to his son, Padres star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. This comparison seems at least somewhat suspect, given the timing of this agreement. Many well-regarded international prospects have handshake deals worked out in advanced of their eligibility and then sign on the dotted line as soon as the signing period begins each year on July 2. Tatis Jr., for instance, signed with the White Sox on July 2, 2015, receiving a bonus of $700K. If Francisco is indeed at that skill level, he could have theoretically received a larger bonus by waiting another few months until teams would have their bonus pools reset to their full amounts.
Regardless of how Francisco develops personally, this move is consistent with a larger push in the Giants organization to focus on improving their farm system. Since Farhan Zaidi became the president of baseball operations in November of 2018, there has been a greater emphasis on upgrading the talent pipeline that flows into the major league club. Baseball America recently ranked the Giants farm system as the 14th best in the majors, after it checked in at 28th going into the 2019 season.
the Javier Alexander Francisco Giants
Sounds like tampering “handshake deals”. Better make him a free agent and give away the Giants international signing rights for a few years as well as some MLB draft picks. Get on it Manfred!
The Giants.Lol
I think the point is, this guy has been eligible to sign since last July 2, and didn’t. Meaning, if he’s so good, why didn’t he sign for the past 7 months?
This doesn’t fall into the handshake deals, that’s for prospects who agree now and then have to wait until July 2 to sign. This is quite the opposite of that, so bravo Giants, you exercised some of the biggest restraint we’ve ever seen!
Great signing! Farm is really headed in the right direction.
I like it a lot
“This comparison seems at least somewhat suspect, given the timing of this agreement.”
But it *is* perfectly normal for the giants-hype-machine that is the SFBay baseball media. They have no idea what to do if they don’t have a ‘big signing to come soon!’ or a ‘future superstud’ to sell giants fans.
You seem bitter
I would be too if I was an A’s fan
Ccctl, you are absolutely correct. The Bay Area media hype machine is at it again.
National media, not locdd Sac l media, has the giants farm system in the top 10. They have 5 picks in the first 78 (if there is a draft) and a national writer wrote the original story saying tatis sr compares Francisco to tatis jr. It’s all a Bay Area media conspiracy.
You got on the bandwagon in 2010, and now you whine cuz you’re bandwagon embarrasses you. Time to get off
*not local media
Pay walls are annoying.
Most of the Giants top prospects were in place before Zaidi was hired. As many bad moves as Evans made, his group did have the system going in the right direction when he was removed. That being said, I’d be afraid if he were still in place he’d be trading these young prospects for players closing in on the downside of their careers with huge contracts (Longoria/McCutchen).
Hype machine? The Chronicle writer simply quoted Tatis Sr who compared him to his son. The player trains with Tatis Sr who it appears has some sort of academy in the DR.
It’s unclear if Tatis Sr is his rep/buscon (agent)
FWIW Tatis Jr was not a heralded international signing when he signed, $700K is not elite money and what press that was given to his signing was would have been far less if not for his blood lines. Remember these are 16yo kids high school sophomores that teams are trying to project. It’s not even an exact science when prospects a 21`yo college juniors.
As the MLBTR indicates the timing of the signing is odd. Team’s international budgets are “refreshed” on July 2. Teams spent the lion share of their international $ last summer and their are hard caps on $’s so maybe he did not get much.
End of day you added someone to your system, it’s another lottery ticket. Probably not a powerball ticket but it’s still another ticket. Bonus point he’s in the system 3-4 earlier than the norm.
Y’all get farm system are to support the MLB team in its quest to win World Series. Giants won 3, There are no parades for having a top ranked system ask the Dodgers or Padres. BOS, HOU, CHC and KC all won `1 WS and their farms are not that good either
GTFO with that tiredass ‘3 World Series’ talk
Last WS was over a half a decade ago. First one was a decade ago. Lol.
The Giants for the last 3-4 years have been straight horse manure. They just booked their 3rd straight below .500 losing season and you’re pounding on your chest about how the Giants won the World Series. Geez, This isn’t a San Francisco Giants fanzine site.
The Giants are Terrible.
He was talking about overrated farm systems that , in his opinion, are overrated due to the fact that ONE title does not warrant the designation of farm system greatness.
Dude, you twist everything so that you can just have an opportunity to bash the giants and their fans. We still don’t know which team you like. But I’m guessing they’re superior….lol
Get off this page if youre gonna act like that
@sfjackcoke: Good post. I thought it odd the timing on this signing as well. I don’t think we had much $ left for this cycle. But I won’t complain either after watching the kids video, looks to have plenty of upside. I too agree there are no milb parades–however we will need several of those kids down on the farm to develop before we’re competing for any hardware.
I found sfjackcoke‘s comments very insightful and thorough.
it’s the kind of stuff I’d like to read on this site, rather than inane comments from people who think they have insight not just in baseball – but life.
I guess you guys are having fun doing this banter…
I’m just encouraging more posts like sfjackcoke’s
My guess is jack coke and jimmy ray hart (in my opinion one of the most underrated giants of all time) and similar posters have been giant fans for A LOT of years. As I have.
I agree with you Jimmy, more jackcoke posts please. And more Jack and Coke in general
Giants suck