Though much of the offseason baseball calendar has been shuttered by the lockout, the next international signing period will still open as scheduled on January 15. This will technically be the 2021-22 signing window, as both this upcoming signing period and last year’s period were pushed back from their normal July 2 date due to the pandemic. Since many of the eligible international players long ago entered into unofficial agreements with their future teams, there isn’t much mystery about the landing spots or even the signing bonuses for these top amateur. As such, Baseball America’s Ben Badler is able to rank the top 50 players in the market by their expected signing bonuses in his preview of the 2021-22 int’l market.
Cuban outfielder Cristian Vaquero leads the way, as the 16-year-old has already been linked to the Nationals. The 16-year-old is a bit of a work in progress at the plate, as Badler notes that Vaquero only somewhat recently became a switch-hitter rather than a pure left-handed hitter, though he does swing well from the left side. As for glovework, Vaquero is “a dynamic center fielder with plus speed, a strong arm and good defensive instincts for his age.”
More from around baseball…
- “I think bringing back [Justin] Verlander is probably going to go down as the Astros’ biggest move of the offseason,” The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan writes as part of a reader mailbag. The exception might be if a notable remaining free agent was open to the type of short-term, high-average-annual-value contract the Astros seemingly prefer, yet barring such a move, it doesn’t seem like Houston would pivot towards a longer-term deal. To that same end, this would seemingly indicate that the Astros won’t pursue Trevor Story or a reunion with Carlos Correa, and instead head into 2022 entrusting rookie Jeremy Pena with at least a share of the regular shortstop job. Though there’s some obvious risk involved, Kaplan notes that the Astros tried this same tactic last season when George Springer left in free agency, and the club found adequate in-house center field replacements in Myles Straw, Chas McCormick, and Jake Meyers (Houston even had enough depth at the position to deal Straw at the trade deadline). The Astros could acquire a lower-tier veteran shortstop to provide some extra backing for Pena and utilityman Aledmys Diaz.
- The Nationals have spent the last several months looking to overhaul their player development practices, and they went in-house to elevate De Jon Watson to the role of director of the player development department. In a two-part interview with The Athletic’s Maria Torres (part one, part two), Watson discusses the many steps both already made and in the works, plus he also shares his thought on some of the Nats’ most interesting prospects.
When Correa misses his usual 60 games/season (not during contract year, obviously), doesn’t Bregman usually slide over to play short? Not saying he’d be a perfect fit for a whole season, but he is capable of handling the position.
There are enough options still available on the cheap that the Astros don’t have to move Bregman. Give Pena a shot or sign Iglesias or Simmons to give the kid more time in the minors.
Probably some SS available via trade too.
That would be viable if they had any decent prospects to trade…
The Astros have said they’re not planning to move Bregman to SS, but he’s certainly available to play there on occasion. That means they need a new SS.
Bryan Reynolds was moved out of his natural position in 2021 and into CF. Now he has a Gold Glove. Anything can happen.
Reynolds does not have a Gold Glove. He was a finalist but lost to Adam Duvall, Tyler Oneill, and Harrison Bader.
D’oh. Thats right. If he had won the GG, he would have been traded, lol.
Max wants the Mets to sign Kyle Schwarber
Al, thats ok as long as the NL gets the DH
All reports are that it’s Will be universal
If the Astros are out on Correa and Story where do these guys end up?
On the outside, looking in.
Probably on one of the other 29 teams…
Somewhere else…..
Not in Houston
Depends on the new CBA. If the lux tax increases, Yankees will get Correa, Story maybe to Phillies or Mariners. If it doesn’t, Correa will end up with a slightly lower than expected contract but with an opt out or two, with a rebuilding team that wants to stick a post in the ground to attract other players. Sort of what the Rangers and Tigers have done, except Correa’s younger so it makes even more sense. I can see Twins, Orioles, Rockies, Dbacks, Cubs, Nats. All of them have money.
I respect the Astros stance on player contracts. Springer was a bad deal and 10 years for Correa and almost any other player will be too after 5-6 years. Just because that’s the “market rate” doesn’t mean you have to pay it. Go Stros! Let him walk!
I Usually side with the players on most issues except when it comes to lockouts. Obviously we don’t know all the details of the discussion but from what’s public Nothing the players are asking for seems reasonable except maybe an increased minimum salary and free agency at 29 or 6 years whichever comes first. Just my two cents…
I would like to see players paid more on performance in the earlier years so they don’t use that to justify being overpaid in their later years
I would agree with this.
Its human nature and fair is fair.
Many players make considerably less than they actually make their owners or than veteran players with similar or less production make.
Owners want their cake and to eat it too.
They want to continue paying lesser salaries to younger players but ONLY pay to their production level ( or expected level) once they hit free agency.
Players want longer contracts into their later years, and beyond their primes.
Neither is good but overall I side with the player.
Look at almost any star player with 6-10 years service time. Almost all of them have drastically outperformed their career earnings so far.
Its not until they get past years 12+ that even the largest contracts with highest AAV start to catch up.
Lets use Francisco Lindor as an example.
He has 31.1 bWAR in 6.118 years of service time. He has made $52.09 mil.
He has average 4.6 bWAR per season and paid $7.75 mil.
It is accepted that over all MLB about $4 mil per WAR is what a player makes. Thats $4 bil in total salary divided by 1000 WAR available each season.
Lindor has made $1.67 mil per WAR.
At $32 mil per year, if he is a complete bust and only gets 1.5 WAR per year ( half of what he did in 2021, less than 1/3 of his career avg) his career salary per WAR would still only be $4.15 mil or 1% higher than average after 2024 as he approaches 10 years of service time (44 days away)
@casor
Owners lockout, players go on strike. The blame game seems pretty easy on this one. Especially with how horrible of a job Tony Clark did on the last CBA.
The old school view is players staying the vast majority of their careers with one organization.
The new school view is players moving to as many as a dozen teams in a career.
I am all for players making money and having control over their careers.
But I would like to see some incentives that benefitted teams and players for NOT moving on.
At a certain point, standing pat after losing guys like Cole, Springer, and Correa won’t bring the kind of returns you’re looking for. Still, as long as you’re in it come October, anything can happen…
Anyone have a projected trade that can get Springer to the Padres to take over in Right Field since Wil Myers contract expires at the end of next season? While we signed Nomar Mazara for outfield depth (which is good), we are hungry for a starting outfielder who can replace Willie Myers!
Yeah….five Toronto some prospect AND take on all of his salary! I mean as long as Springer doesn’t have a no-trade clause in the contract you can definitely overpay Toronto for him.
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