MLB Pursuing New Signing Rules For Cuban Players
Major League Baseball has submitted a proposal to the U.S. Treasury Department to offer Cuban players a better route to sign with major league clubs, writes Ben Strauss of the New York Times. Presently, a U.S. embargo against Cuba forces defectors to establish residency in a third country before they can join the professional ranks. While relations have thawed between America and the island nation, the embargo remains in place and could create additional future challenges.
Agreements with baseball leagues in Japan, Korea, and elsewhere include financial compensation for when a player leaves to join the majors. However, the embargo of Cuba makes it a crime to transfer money to the Cuban government. These new talks are aimed at circumventing the embargo.
The proposed plan includes the creation of a non-profit entity to develop baseball and other public interests in Cuba. Teams would donate to this non-profit when signing away Cuban players – theoretically dodging the embargo since the money would not be directly accessible by the government. It’s not yet clear if the Treasury Department will agree with this interpretation for a host of reasons. A spokesman for the league defined the proposal as “opening the way for more substantive talks.”
The need for a new process was most recently made obvious by the reported travails of prospect Lazaro Armentaros aka “Lazarito.” Conflicting reports indicate that, at the very least, Armentaros’ former agent Charles Hairston of Culture39 was physically threatened by a Dominican buscone. His family refuted the notion that Lazarito or his family were in any danger. Regardless of the truth here, other major leaguers have detailed the often life threatening conditions experienced by a defector and their family.
As Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com notes, about 125 players have defected from Cuba in the last 20 months. The sooner baseball and the U.S. government can solve this humanitarian issue, the better.
MLBTR Seeking Agency Data
We do our best here at MLBTR to keep an updated agency database. However, there are always a few gaps. Currently, I’m working on a project to determine how much 2015 WAR is represented by each agency, basically an update of this post. However, we are lacking agency information for the 23 players listed below. If you know who represents any of these players, please email us at mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com. Also, if your agency has inaccurate info in our database, please let us know and we’ll correct it. Thanks!
Survey For Podcast Listeners
If you’ve listened to the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast before, we’d love your feedback. Please help us out and take this brief ten-question survey. Thanks!
Follow MLBTR On Instagram
Recently, MLB Trade Rumors launched a brand new official Instagram account: @TradeRumorsMLB. Each day, we’re sharing conversation-inspiring images about the hottest topics in baseball. From there, we invite you to give us a like, weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section, and even share the link with a friend.
On Saturday, immediately after news of the Orioles’ agreement with Yovani Gallardo broke, MLBTR’s Instagram gave fans a sneak peek at what he will look like in his new jersey. Just before that, MLBTR asked readers to predict the landing spots for Yulieski Gurriel and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. a.k.a. the Super Gurriel Bros. Another recent image asked readers to weigh in whether the Orioles would sign Pedro Alvarez or Dexter Fowler or instead trade for Jay Bruce.
So, what are you waiting for? If you don’t have an Instagram account, this is the perfect excuse to sign up and get one. Follow us on Instagram today!
Tony Phillips Passes Away At 56 Years Of Age
Long-time big leaguer Tony Phillips has died in Arizona of an apparent heart attack, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Phillips was just 56 years old.
His former teammate and current Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart conveyed the news. He noted the sad fact that Phillips was preceded in death recently by two other prominent members of the A’s 1989 championship club — Bob Welch and Dave Henderson.
Phillips was taken in the first round of the 1978 draft, cracked the majors in 1982 with the Athletics, and didn’t play his last MLB game until 1999 — at forty years of age. It took a broken leg in his final season to stop him, Slusser notes. Indeed, he put up a sturdy .244/.362/.433 batting line with 15 home runs and 11 steals in 484 plate appearances that year.
As Slusser notes, Phillips battled through drug problems (and resulting legal troubles) late in his career. But he seemingly bounced back and remained active in the game, even suiting up for some independent league action in recent seasons.
All told, over parts of 18 seasons in the majors, Phillips entered the batter’s box 9,110 times and contributed a .266/.374/.389 slash, 160 home runs, and 177 stolen bases while walking nearly as often as he struck out. He played all over the diamond, racking up significant innings at second, third, short, and all three outfield positions. The net output was worth fifty wins above replacement, per Baseball Reference, most of it coming with the A’s and Tigers. Phillips also spent time with the Angels, White Sox, Mets, and Blue Jays.
There has been an immediate outpouring of sympathy from around the game for the highly-respected Phillips. MLBTR joins in celebrating his legacy and offering its sympathy to his family, friends, and former teammates.
Follow MLBTR On Instagram
Recently, MLB Trade Rumors launched a brand new official Instagram account: @TradeRumorsMLB. Each day, we’re sharing conversation-inspiring images about the hottest topics in baseball. From there, we invite you to give us a like, weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section, and even share the link with a friend.
Shortly after the Diamondbacks signed Tyler Clippard to a two-year, $12.25MM contract, we gave fans an early look at how he’ll look in the club’s Throwback Thursday uniforms. Ditto for hurler Mat Latos as we put together a sneak peak of how he might look in a White Sox jersey. Speaking of the White Sox, we offered up a creative take on their interest in Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier.
So, what are you waiting for? If you don’t have an Instagram account, this is the perfect excuse to sign up and get one. Follow us on Instagram today!
MLBTR Podcast: O’s Late Moves & Under-the-Radar Deals
Host Jeff Todd and MLBTR’s Steve Adams break down the latest chatter around the Orioles — in particular, the club’s reported interest in qualifying offer-bound free agents Yovani Gallardo and Dexter Fowler.
Then, they talk through some of their most and least-liked, under-the-radar moves of the winter thus far. Among many other transactions discussed, Steve likes the Mariners’ addition of Nori Aoki and the Rangers’ move to bring Tony Barnette back stateside, while Jeff questions the Rockies’ signing of Jason Motte. The addition of veteran righty Tyler Clippard by the Diamondbacks, meanwhile, is a source of debate.
Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and please leave a review! The podcast is also available via Stitcher at this link.
The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast runs weekly on Thursday afternoons.
Cafardo’s Latest: Clippard, Thornton, Cobb, Lee, Free Agents
It’s easy to buy into Spring Training hype, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe notes in his latest column as he looks at some of the major Red Sox storylines heading into camp. While the Sox have drawn mostly approval for their offseason dealings, Cafardo warns that pundits were saying the same thing last year prior to Boston’s last place season. Here’s some more from Cafardo’s piece…
- The Astros have asked about Tyler Clippard. Houston has already made a couple of big offseason moves to reinforce their bullpen in trading for Ken Giles and re-signing Tony Sipp, and adding Clippard would only further deepen a relief corps that also includes Luke Gregerson, Will Harris, Pat Neshek and Josh Fields. Clippard’s market was fairly quiet for much of the winter, though as Cafardo notes, things have started to heat up for the veteran righty with at least six teams (including the Rays and Diamondbacks) showing interest.
- Matt Thornton is drawing interest from around six teams, though the veteran lefty may have to settle for a minor league contract. Thornton turned 39 in September and has a 1.98 ERA over 77 1/3 innings in 2014 and 2015, though with only a 5.9 K/9 in that stretch, ERA predictors such as xFIP (4.19) and SIERA (3.79) are less enthused with his performance over the last two years. The Braves, Pirates and Twins were all rumored to have some interest in Thornton earlier this offseason.
- The Rays are likely to keep their pitching, despite “quite a bit of interest” from other teams about Alex Cobb.
- Teams have considered signing Cliff Lee, though they’re wary of giving him a contract in the range of $6MM-$8MM (plus incentives).
- Dan Uggla‘s agent says that teams have called about his client, though no side has made any commitments. The veteran infielder is another player who is likely to only find a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite.
- “It’s just so slow out there” for the large number of veteran players still on the market, one agent tells Cafardo. This offseason has been the apex of a growing trend in recent years for teams to spend on a few high-salaried stars and then rely on young, cheap talent for the rest of the roster rather than spend more on established veterans. This not only goes for the rank-and-file veterans looking for bench jobs but also for would-be starters like Ian Desmond, Dexter Fowler and Yovani Gallardo, all of whom have had their markets slowed by the qualifying offer-attached draft compensation required to sign them. “The [draft-pick] compensation issue is a factor, no question, and we have to do something about it with our collective bargaining talks because this is hurting good baseball players getting jobs,” the agent said.
- An AL general manager, however, implies that some agents should perhaps be a bit more realistic about their demands. “The agents are still asking for major league guarantees for players who should be grateful for major league invitations and minor league deals,” the GM said. “I hear the agents blaming the teams, but I think a lot of teams are willing to add these players. But we’re in February, and quite frankly the signings need to be on our terms at this stage of the game. Eventually, these guys will break down and sign minor deals but we’re close to spring training and there hasn’t been a lot of bend.”
MLBTR Podcast: Happy Extension Season!
After running through the week’s quick hits, Jeff welcomes back MLBTR’s Steve Adams to talk about the upcoming extension season. Chatter on new deals tends to reach a high point over the months of February and March, with all kinds of players — from pending free agents to exciting youngsters — fielding offers from their teams.
What kinds of deals could come together this year? Are there any trends to keep an eye on? What are some intriguing names to watch? Who are the likeliest players to re-up early in 2016? Those questions and more are covered in this week’s episode, which includes discussion of Bryce Harper, J.D. Martinez, Adrian Beltre, and many more. Tune in below:
Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and please leave a review! The podcast is also available via Stitcher at this link.
The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast runs weekly on Thursday afternoons.
Follow MLBTR On Instagram
Recently, MLB Trade Rumors launched a brand new official Instagram account: @TradeRumorsMLB. Each day, we’re sharing conversation-inspiring images about the hottest topics in baseball. From there, we invite you to give us a like, weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section, and even share the link with a friend.
Shortly after the Tigers signed Justin Upton to a six-year, $132.75MM deal, we gave fans an early look at how he’ll look in his new threads. Ditto for new Rockies outfielder Gerardo Parra, recently-signed Marlins hurler Wei-Yin Chen, and Royals pitcher Ian Kennedy. We also asked followers to weigh in on the futures of free agent shortstop Ian Desmond as well as 29-year-old outfielder Dexter Fowler.
So, what are you waiting for? If you don’t have an Instagram account, this is the perfect excuse to sign up and get one. Follow us on Instagram today!