July 2nd INTL signings

[jacksonianmarch]

The day has arrived for those who follow the minors. July 2nd is the first day you can official sign an international FA. Most of these players are 16-17 yrs old and typically are from Venezuela or the DR. Last yr, the sox made a splash, landing power IFer Michael Almanzar, while the yankees landed power OFer Kelvin DeLeon and top pitching prospects Arodys Vizcaino and Manuel Banuelos. 2 yrs ago, the yankees signed Jesus Montero and highly touted pitching prospect Jairo Heredia (both are dominating long season A ball). For now, the rumors surrounding some of the top players are annoying.

 

The consensus #1 player, Michael Inoa, signed with the A's for 4.25mil. Apparently, the yankees agreed to a deal with this kid at 2.7mil, he changed agents, backed out of the deal and the yankees backed out of negotiations. That 1.5 mil could be the difference between a 6'7" young power ace and well nothing.

 

The consensus #2 is Yorman Rodriguez, a 16 yr old with 70 power and speed who switch hits and plays CF. Rumor has is, the Reds have agreed to a big bonus with this kid well in advance, as his agent stopped shopping him 2 weeks ago.

 

after these 2, it gets dicey

 

#3 Rafael Rodriguez- 6'5" power bat who is rumored to have signed with SF

#4 Adis Portillo- The second best power arm in the mix, he signed with SD

#5 Julio Morban has not signed yet, he's a small framed good speed, power combo OFer

#6 Luis Dumororo- corner OFer with varying grades on his stick, is rumored to have a deal with SD

 

That is the top 6, and while the yankees and sox have thrown their hats into the ring, it sounds like we didnt land any of them.

 

In terms of the rumors, the yankees have apparently landed BA's #7 and #9, both in the range of 1-1.4mil

 

#7- Yeico Calderon- Lefty power bat which grades out to either be good or very good. Some scouts have him better than #3 Rafael Rodrguez. He's got a strong arm and apparently can run a good amount too.

 

#9- Giancarlo Arias- 6' SS who is stocky, built like a Juan Uribe. Has below average speed, but good hands and a powerful bat. Likely profiles as a 2b or 3b. He's been rumored to NY for awhile now at 1.4 mil.

 

Most of the signings will be announced this afternoon, so I will update.

[jacksonianmarch]

The Yankees signed both #9 Arias and #7 Calderon.

 

They also added

 

Venezuelan catcher Jackson Valera who sounds like an advanced power bat and a very crude catcher

 

SS Anderson Felix who signed for 500K and apparently has an impact bat but a crude glove.

 

Ranked 11th on the above list, OF Ramon Flores who along with Arias is an advanced hitter in approach but a tweener in terms of position. Average speed which kinda negates CF and average power. His contact skills are apparently solid and he is considered to have gap power, but his position is as yet undefined

 

Overall, no pitchers in this class, even though we have had some success with Heredia, Banuelos and Vizcaino in yrs past. The theme seems to be high end bats. It looks like nearly all of them (e/c Calderon) will be in for a position switch. But as they say, if you can hit, they will find a position for you. And the fact that they nabbed 3 of the pre-signing top 15 is pretty nice. To this point, I dont have word on who the sox got

[jacksonianmarch]

Just wanted to refine my comments on this class. The Yankees signed 4 pitchers in February. Two of them, Alfredo Aceves and Manuel Banuelos, will be considered included in the 2008 signing list. Banuelos, who is 17, is dominating the GCL this yr and Alfredo Aceves, who is 25, has climbed from A+ ball to AAA and is knocking on the MLB door.

 

Aceves last start was a beauty. 6IP 3H 0ER 2BB 8K. Why is that significant? Because Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez and Josh Barfield were in the lineup. Not bad.

[jacksonianmarch]

Also, it looks like Sosa didnt make it to the states because his Visa didnt get through in time, so he had to stay in the DSL. De Leon OTOH was sent to the DSL partly because of the logjam, but also because he is a horrendous OFer to this point. He singlehandedly ended CJ Henry's spring training and the first 2 months of his season. Henry was in CF, he called for the ball, and De Leon (who is the size of a linebacker) just plowed him down, spraining CJ's neck.