7:02pm: Baseball America's Ben Badler reports that Lupo will receive a bonus in the low-to-mid six figures.
1:41pm: The Mets made their first foray into this season's post-July 2 international prospect market yesterday, signing Venezuelan outfielder Vicente Lupo and infielder Leon Jackson Canelon, reports Miguel Bastidas at El Informador de Barquisimeto (link in Spanish). Mets scout Hector Rincones told Bastidas the Mets considered the two among the top talents in this year's bumper crop of Venezuelan prospects, though he didn't announce the terms of the contracts.
Lupo is the more-heralded of the pair, as the Royals and Mets have both been reported to be pursuing him. He ranked 25th on Baseball America's list of international prospects, and Rincones gave a frank appraisal of what put him there: "Vicente Lupo is so strong," he said, repeating it twice for effect. "That drew much of our attention." Canelon, on the other hand, is a contact hitter whose soft hands and speed appealed to Mets scouts. Both players will now head to the Mets team in the Dominican Summer League.
