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International Notes: Yankees, Vargas, Mesa, Marlins, Orioles

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The Yankees have been one of the most aggressive teams on the international free agent market for the past several seasons, and they’ve already put the considerable amount of international funds they acquired in trades with the Cardinals ($1MM) and the White Sox ($1.5MM); New York announced today that it has signed Cuban righty Osiel Rodriguez and Cuban shortstop Alexander Vargas. Rodriguez’s $600K signing had previously been reported, but MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports (via Twitter) that the newly signed Vargas received a whopping $2.5MM bonus. Vargas, 16, ranked eighth on MLB.com’s rankings of this year’s international prospects, drawing praise for his range, arm and instincts both at shortstop and in center field.

A few more notes on the international market…

  • Sanchez also recently took a lengthy look at the latest on the market for top outfield prospect Victor Victor Mesa. While the Cuban-born star has yet to be declared a free agent by Major League Baseball, there’s a fair bit of intrigue as to where he’ll sign once eligible. Victor Victor and his younger brother, Victor Jr., are both training in the Dominican Republic at present, according to Sanchez, but there’s no indication that either has established residency in another a country — a requisite step before being declared a free agent by MLB. Sanchez runs through the teams that are plausible landing spots for the brothers and takes a look at their potential timelines to signing.
  • Interestingly, Sanchez further notes that the Orioles and Marlins could be in line to make a significant play for Mesa (Twitter links). Both teams acquired international money prior to the non-waiver deadline and are interested in increasing their spending on the international front. The Orioles have a hefty $8.25MM they can offer, though it’s worth noting that GM Dan Duquette has suggested they could sign some international prospects as soon as this week (link via MASNsports.com’s Steve Melewski). With the Mesas yet to reach free agency, that’d suggest that they’re not earmarking their entire pool one or both brothers. The Marlins, meanwhile, have $4.35MM to work with at present — the second-most of any team that is not limited to $300K signings. The Athletic’s Emily Waldon reported recently that the Orioles were working hard on a deal with the elder Mesa brother (Twitter link). MASNsports.com’s Byron Kerr tweeted that the Marlins are indeed planning a run at him as well, though he added that the Orioles could be closer. Of course, no deal can be announced until the league declares the Mesa brothers to be free agents, and there’s no real way of knowing when that process will be complete.

Yankees Notes: Rodriguez, Outfielder, Rotation

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The Yankees have utilized some of their newly found international funds (acquired in trades with the Cardinals and with the White Sox) to sign Cuban right-hander Osiel Rodriguez, as Jorge Ebro of El Nuevo Herald tweets. Rodriguez, the No. 5 international prospect on Baseball America’s rankings and No. 9 on MLB.com’s list, received a $600K signing bonus. MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez first suggested (via Twitter) that the match was likely, adding that the Yankees are also expected to add a young shortstop by the name of Carlos Verdecia for another $325K. New York added $2.5MM (and first baseman Luke Voit) in trades that sent Chasen Shreve and Giovanny Gallegos to the Cardinals and left-handed pitching prospect Caleb Frare to the ChiSox.

Here’s more out of the Bronx…

  • The Yankees are on the lookout for an additional outfielder with Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Clint Frazier all sidelined in the short-term, tweets Fancred’s Jon Heyman. While they’d prefer a right-handed bat in order to replace some of the thump lost by that trio of righties, Heyman adds that former Yankee Curtis Granderson could also be in play as a target. The Blue Jays are known to be marketing the Grandy Man (among several others), who is hitting .233/.334/.419 with 10 homers, 15 doubles and a triple through 253 plate appearances in a part-time role with the Jays. Granderson is earning $5MM this season and is still owed $1.67MM of that sum through the end of the year. Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News tweets that the Yankees have also been scouting catchers with Sanchez on the shelf.
  • In a full column, Ackert writes that the Yankees are still scouting rotation help even after acquiring J.A. Happ. The Yankees have been scouting Mets righty Zack Wheeler in recent weeks, she notes, and they’ve recently been in touch with the Rays on Chris Archer as well. Luis Severino has struggled over his past four outings, and while the Yankees obviously aren’t planning on replacing him in the rotation, his rough patch could create a desire to further deepen the starting mix. Separately, Heyman lists the Yankees as one of four teams to have “shown the most interest” in Wheeler, though it seems that no one has yet come close to meeting the Mets’ price (Twitter link). The New York Post’s Joel Sherman recently dubbed the Yankees a “long shot” on Archer, whose market is reportedly intensifying.

Quick Hits: Osiel Rodriguez, Gloves, Framing

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15-year-old right-hander Osiel Rodriguez may be the top international pitching prospect in the 2018 class, Ben Badler of Baseball America writes.  The young Cuban pitcher threw 96 MPH at the Nations Baseball Showcase this past Thursday, striking out three of the five hitters he faced while retiring the other two on ground balls. Rodriguez threw 13 of his 17 pitches for strikes at the showcase. Badler notes that Rodriguez led Cuba’s 15U league with a 0.39 ERA across 69 innings in 2016 while striking out 127 hitters. He is eligible to sign beginning on July 2nd of 2018 and will certainly garner heavy attention from MLB teams.

Some other items across MLB…

  • In another piece at Baseball America, Tim Newcomb sheds some light on the work of Ryan Smith (product manager for Wilson baseball gloves) to continually evolve the “colors, patterns, lengths, designs or features” of gloves. The trends are defined mostly by the needs of MLB’s top players. “There is no way we could be as good as we are if we didn’t have pros so in tune with their glove working on their craft daily and giving us feedback,” Smith says. The piece mentions Todd Frazier, Dustin Pedroia and Ivan Rodriguez as players who have had particular influence on Wilson’s products.
  • Framing data is flooding baseball, Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs opines. The standard deviation between framing runs accrued by MLB teams has declined significantly over the past ten seasons, as Sullivan shows us. Also in his piece are graphs depicting called strikes above average; graphs which show that year-to-year relationships are disintegrating. “A good framer in 2016 was still likely to look like a good framer in 2017, but that couldn’t be said with very much confidence. The data is getting increasingly random,” Sullivan writes. The piece is fascinating for anyone interested in advanced defensive statistics and baseball trends.

Featured image courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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