Outfield prospect Yoelkis Cespedes, the younger half-brother of Mets slugger Yoenis Cespedes, will be declared a free agent by Major League Baseball on March 18, Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com reports (via Twitter). The 22-year-old left Cuba last June and is planning showcases for MLB clubs in Arizona and in Florida later this month.
Yoelkis has previously played in the Cuban National Series and for Team Cuba in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, but he lacks both the age and the professional experience to be exempt from MLB’s international bonus pools. Players who are younger than 25 and have fewer than six years of professional experience are deemed amateurs under MLB regulations and are thus only allowed to sign minor league deals. Amateurs can still receive signing bonuses, which are deducted from a team’s league-allocated bonus pool, but the most recent iteration of the collective bargaining agreement prevented teams from exceeding their bonus pools under any circumstances.
Because bonus pools are now hard-capped, it’s at least possible that the younger Cespedes will wait until July 2 to sign with a Major League organization. Most clubs have already spent the vast majority (if not the entirety) of their 2019-20 bonus pools, but the 2020-21 signing period will kick off on July 2.
As Sanchez explores in a more extensive pieces on Yoelkis, his top priority is signing with a club that can provide a clear and relatively expedited path to the Major Leagues. MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo, meanwhile, spoke with Yoenis about the difficulty he had in leaving his brother and his family behind when defecting from Cuba back in 2011. The brothers had to go roughly eight years without seeing one another. They were reunited in 2019 when Yoenis was cleared to return to his home country, and the two frequently worked out together in the Bahamas this winter. DiComo adds that Yoenis purchased a house about five miles away from his own Florida home for his younger brother.
Scouting details on Yoelkis are rather sparse. Sanchez notes that he’s listed at 5’9″ and 205 pounds, with some believing him to be a potential five-tool talent. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs credited Yoelkis with an 80-grade throwing arm and “loud” tools last summer. Kiley McDaniel called Yoelkis “more of a high six- or low seven-figure [signing bonus] type of talent” back in November. Of course, that’s subjective, and Yoelkis hasn’t been seen by MLB scouts in quite some time. He’ll have the opportunity to showcase himself to all 30 teams in the near future, after which we’ll gain a better understanding of his potential price tag and market. He’ll surely require some time in the minor leagues to refine his skills and get back up to speed after a lengthy absence from game settings, but his age and experience place him in much closer proximity to the big leagues than most international amateurs.
Well I do declare !! I demand satisfaction!
Does anyone have a link for teams remaining bonus pool?
i waa a about to say there’s no way Yoenis was released
Looks like the Yoelk is on you.
Bravo.
thats so good
I was very confused for a second.
I was very excited for a second
This entire thread sums up my sex life
Mets should sign him
Maybe the Giants should sign him to go with Jonah Arrenado and Jacob Heyward.
Don’t they have Wongs brother too?
which Wong would that be ?
Two Wong’s don’t make a Wright
Yup, they claimed Kean Wong off the Angels.
Have him change his name 2 Yoenis and have the Mets pay him his contract
This feels like it has White Sox written all over it. Strong track record of heavy investment in fast tracked Cuban prospects with a built-in community in the team to help him acclimate, and a reasonable shot in 2021 and beyond at an outfield slot if he performs in the minors, after the Mazara reclamation project inevitably fails.
White Sox have a handshake deal with Cuban RHP Norge Vera for 1.5mil to sign on 7/2… so it wouldn’t be surprise to kep it going, but don’t how that affects their int’l pool money.
The White Sox really haven’t done much on the international market since signing Robert in 2017. They do have an agreement to sign Vera this summer but have also been linked to a few other top players. Hopefully the White Sox don’t trade/give away large portions of their international pool money as they have in years past because 2020 could be a great class for them.
A lot of that isn’t accurate. They have sugned some guys like Yolbert Sanchez and some others. They also have bit given away large portions of their pool. They traded some but not a ton and they traded it offload bad contracts to free up MLB FS money which they used this year.
Do they have the pool money? I agree the White Sox need another young OF not named Robert. They can also reunite him with Yoenis next year, and run with an OF of Cespedes-Robert-Cespedes, oh my!
Every team has money for the 2020-2021 signing period and can’t spend it/start signing players until July 2nd.
Technically they all have it… In reality handshake deals have already tied up a vast majority of that money.
They do still have money after Vera. They also have a lot of OF prospects not named Robert so Yorlkis is far from a necessity.
White Sox outfield seems pretty packed right now and it sounds like young Cespedes wants to play sooner than later. South Side is out!!!
Detroit could use some outfielders and have openings. Everyone is currently in pencil.
White Sox outfield till has a long-term opening in RF, where he’d fit perfectly with that cannon.
What part of the player wanting a clear path to play asap aren’t you getting? Mazara is in RF until the end of next year at least. Especially considering they gave up a top 10 prospect to get him. They also just re-signed Garcia for the same time period.
So far, both of those guys have been bad at baseball. Both of them can go away rather easily if they are bad at baseball yet again.
Mazara only has one year guaranteed and Walker wasn’t close to the bigs with several other prospects ahead of him. None of that eliminates the Sox.
Inaccurate.
Sox are well already well stocked with OF prospects having Micker Adolfo and Luis Alexander Besebe so I don’t see the clear and quick path to the majors that Cespedes wants.
Both of those guys are closer to being out of baseball entirely than they are to reaching the majors.
Innacurate. Both were in camp.
They have others as well but none are guaranteed.
So what’s he play? Only says he’s the potentially be a 5 tool player. If he really is that good and the jays were smart pick him up and throw him in centre by July once they’ve found a sucker for Grich
Clarinet
Fortnite
I think the Jays have a bunch of international pool money left. I think the started with ~$5m or so…and from what I can see they only spent about $2.5M of it? Could be wrong about this though.
Cannon arm and quick OF prospect with above average tools across the board? That does sound like someone the Jays could use.
Yes he plays OF from what I researched. But it doesn’t say where in the OF.
But if hes regarded as a 5 tool player I would assume CF would be a possibility.
Have him team up with Guerriel JR in the OF and use up the rest of the bonus pool if indeed we have 2.5 million remaining.
His age and profile fit exactly into the Jays wants and needs
man flute
Dead
If he has a rocket he’s probably suited for RF. I’d be surprised if a guy 5 foot 9 and 205 runs runs a 6.6 60-yard. But, crazier things have happened.
Guessing he waits til next signing period to sign. Doubt there’s many teams w month left this year. Be interested to see how he ranks
Doesn’t it say outfield prospect first 2 words?
Yep. It must take people a few words of reading to warm up before comprehension kicks in.
First two words, exactly. People are more concerned with puns than reading the article.
Tigers please lol there’s an easy path to the majors for you
Exactly, nobody playing OF for Detroit will be doing so in 2 years, save maybe Stewart, but he hasn’t shown anything yet.
Yoenis played in the D quite well, lots of Latino ballplayers have been through Detroit,learn from Miggy about hitting…it’s a good landing spot for him as between Daz Cameron and Parker Meadows (also two bloodlines guys), one likely won’t make it, and Riley Greene is the only “sure bet” as a bat in this system..
I’m thinking Victor Reyes will still be around, but not sure if he will be starting, yet.
Yeah, he could, but is 4th right now to Stewart, JaCoby and Cam Maybin.
Cincinnati should sign him.
even more outfield depth?! (no such thing as too many good players though)
No clear path in Cincy.
Good players make their own path
Very good chance Castellanos isn’t there next year. Winner still needs to prove himself. Who knows where Senzel ends up on the field. Only player that’s almost definitely in the Reds outfield in two years is Akiyama.
I got a short list of teams he could be starting on in second half of 2020 or 2021
Tigers
White Sox
Rangers
Royals
Blue Jays
Orioles
Marlins
Pirates
Indians
Mariners
Rockies
You listed more than a third of the league. That is not a short list. Besides, there is no way he would starting on the Rockies. They have 2 All Stars in the OF and several other decent options. I don’t know the other teams as well, but I’d wager he wouldn’t be starting on most of them either.
Not only is he just 22, but Cuban outfielders don’t exactly have a great track record. Big Bro Cespedes and Puig are the only two that immediately contributed and they were quite a bit older. Need I bring up Rusney Castillo or the 25 Dodger signees that weren’t Puig.
Lower your expectations.
Go back to math class. It’s exactly 1/3
Sick burn, nymetsking… now get yourself back to math class for some remedial fractions work ( 11/30 is not “exactly 1/3”).
Aw, give him a break. He’s a Mets fan. His life has already been tough enough.
Short list lol
Tigers?! They already have Cam Maybin and JaCoby Jones! Anymore of that talent, the MLBPA might have to get involved!
“Most clubs have already spent the vast majority (if not the entirety) of their 2019-20 bonus pools”
Not the Phillies. They’ve got the whole three million plus to spend. I guess John Middleton needed a new liner for the swimming pool in Palm Beach.
It’s so hard to figure out why the Phillies farm always stinks.
Never change, ForestCobra.
Baltimore always has international money
They can spend stupid international bonus money
Don’t worry dynamite…..i gave your sister plenty of satisfaction last night
Yeah, by leaving.
Yet she paid him anyway.
Is there a list of remaining bonus pools anywhere? I’ve had a hard time finding good info on this.
Dex
I don’t think the Jays have $2.5 million left. They spent $1.2 million on Rekevlin de Castro, then another $3.55o million on some other higher profile guys, and I think signed 33 all together. Their bonus pool is $5.39 million.
Here is some info:
mlb.com/news/international-prospect-signings-july-…
There has been a murder you say. I do declare!
Perhaps it was Caleb Crawdad or Deb U. Tant…
After the Hector Olivera debacle in Atlanta, I say no thanks. He was supposed to be a five tool player also. He had no tools. In fact, he looked like he had never played baseball before. What a bum.
You’re not going to win 100% of the time. Yeah u had one failure, but recently Ozzie Albies and Acuna came from the same place. Just say no thanks, I failed so I should stop forever
So scouting details are scarce but some people believe he’s a 5-tool talent…
Really?!
I wonder how anyone came to that conclusion without actually scouting him. The Cuba obstacle aside, if teams wanted to know for sure where this guy is at right now in his career they’d damn well know.
My guess is that MLB scouts can’t admit or document scouting reports on him or other Cuban players, which is ridiculous in 2020.
Every time someone hypes a Cuban player, we must think of all the hype around Yasmany Tomas that lead Tony LaRussa and Dave Stewart to sign him to the largest contract in Dback history, which turned out to be the worst contract in major league history. The guy only does one thing decent, and not great. How difficult is it to see that he has no speed, weak arm, poor fielding? College programs wouldn’t want him. Maybe they were fooled because he was malnourished and they didn’t know he would have a hard time keeping weight off? He’s never been even worth a DH spot. We know that because the Dbacks have tried to give him away. He’s a below average, extremely overpaid minor leaguer, and the reason why Dave Stewart should never touch a front office.
Come on, heins. No need to sugarcoat it, tell us how you really feel.
Expect a package where Yoenisgets his money while Yorkis signs on with same team. Probably illegal so it will be Yankees, Boston or Astros.
what is that supposed to mean?
This is the type of prospect that Tampa would usually sign. With JBJ becoming a free agent after this year, the Red Sox (with Chaim Bloom) could be a legitimate match for this kid, as he would have a clear path to the majors after a season in the minors honing his craft.
A’s did it once, they can do it twice right?
I thought it was a typo and got real excited! . Nope, still stuck with Yoenis…
He’ll sign with the White Sox!!
Thumbs down
The White Sox have one of the greatest Cuban players of all time at the end of his productive years where he is also a widely respected veteran, so they are probably the best positioned to develop Cuban talent.
Rangers will probably sign him, and then not develop him right, and waste all of his talent and potential…
People need to stop hyping Cuban players!
Wow! Yoenis Cespedes and Kevin Youkilis had a love child. Who knew?
Anyone else picture Michael Scott saying, “I do declare free agency!”
The elder Cespedes had a strong arm. Should have thrown out a tagging runner at the plate. He threw from the base of the Left field wall. Perfect strike to the plate, young catcher out of position fuddled it up. Runner scored, should have been out.
At least you aren’t bitter.
One of the usual teams will sign him. Dodgers, Marlins
A 5’9″ outfielder? You mean a SS. Don’t tease me.
I think he’d be a nice fit for the Indians if he’s really a potential 5tool guy and not just being overhyped because of his name hed be a great fit for them outfield has been one of the glaring weaknesses for them
10k hang in single A. He’s no 5 took OF.
Keep him off of Yoenis’ ranch and away from wild boars and he should be fine.
This screams Orioles to me
They do still have money after Vera. They also have a lot of OF prospects not named Robert so Yorlkis is far from a necessity.