A’s To Sign Vicmal De La Cruz
9:22pm: De La Cruz will get an $800K bonus, according to Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (on Twitter).
8:51pm: The A's agreed to sign De La Cruz, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America. Badler writes that the 16-year-old center fielder has impressed scouts with "some of the best all-around tools of any prospect from this year's international signing class."
8:18pm: The A's are likely to sign top Dominican amateur Vicmal De La Cruz, according to Jorge Arangure Jr. of ESPN.com (on Twitter). When Blake Bentley ranked this year's crop of July 2 prospects for MLBTR, De La Cruz topped the list because of his tools and star potential.
The contract details are not known, but it would not be surprising if the A's offered De La Cruz a seven-figure bonus. As MLBTR's Mike Axisa noted when reviewing Oakland's biggest bonuses, the A's "spend like financial powerhouses when it comes to young talent" despite being a small market team.
Odds & Ends: Antonetti, Harper, Embree
Links for Wednesday…
- ESPN's Jerry Crasnick looks at nine revolving door positions for various teams, such as Red Sox shortstop and Braves' left fielder.
- RotoAuthority looks at a few potential buy-low candidates on the young fantasy season.
- Murray Chass takes USA Today to task for publishing inaccurate salary data.
- Jim Callis ranks Baseball America's #1 prospects from the last ten years, putting Jason Heyward behind only Matt Wieters and Josh Beckett.
- MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince looks at the background of the Indians' GM-in-waiting, Chris Antonetti.
- ESPN's Keith Law agrees with Ben Goessling of MASN, saying the Nationals have "more or less settled on Bryce Harper." Law says the Nats would be nuts to take someone else.
- MLB.com's Ian Browne tweets that Red Sox GM Theo Epstein has been in touch with Alan Embree's agent, perhaps regarding the lefty's April 15th out-out date.
- Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star notes that the Blue Jays have to place Adeiny Hechavarria on the 2013 25-man Opening Day 2013 roster, or else place him on waivers.
- SI's Melissa Segura tweets that the Twins were impressed by outfielder Vicmal de la Cruz, "perhaps the jewel of the 2010 July 2 class." Click here to view Kiley McDaniel's video of the kid.