Yoennis Cespedes

[The Moose]

It especially hurts that Sano tore up the Appalachian League, last year, to boot. I'd say he's got a real chance.

[gamecckfn]

Starting next year, the CBA will limit the amount teams can spend internationally and there's been speculation that the Pirates might try to do what they did in the draft last year, namely drop a bunch of cash on a high upside prospect before the rules change. No telling how many other teams might have the same idea.

I do not think these rules would apply to Cespedes even if they were in effect now.  I seem to remember an age limit for the restrictions.

[scrapiron]

The problem with getting Cespedes has very little to do with internal values being low.  For all we know the Pirates value on him is the highest.  The rub lies in that the highest bid is just the floor for the ensuing melee.  Once that high bid is out there, the moneyed teams can swoop in and offer even more.  We all know that the lower revenue teams cannot afford to make multimillion dollar/multi-year mistakes.  That is why they can't go over the value they place on a player no matter how high, or low, even if they can afford to do so at the time. 

[gnarburger]

Starting next year, the CBA will limit the amount teams can spend internationally and there's been speculation that the Pirates might try to do what they did in the draft last year, namely drop a bunch of cash on a high upside prospect before the rules change. No telling how many other teams might have the same idea.

I do not think these rules would apply to Cespedes even if they were in effect now.  I seem to remember an age limit for the restrictions.

The rule for Cubans is if they're under 23 and have less than 3 year professional experience they count against the international spending cap.  Cespedes wouldn't fall into that, but Soler would.

[steve19981]

Starting next year, the CBA will limit the amount teams can spend internationally and there's been speculation that the Pirates might try to do what they did in the draft last year, namely drop a bunch of cash on a high upside prospect before the rules change. No telling how many other teams might have the same idea.

I do not think these rules would apply to Cespedes even if they were in effect now.  I seem to remember an age limit for the restrictions.

The rule for Cubans is if they're under 23 and have less than 3 year professional experience they count against the international spending cap.  Cespedes wouldn't fall into that, but Soler would.

I don't think either will. Not until next year.

Also one beat writer seems to think Cespedes will sign for 4 years, 32 mil. I would be surprised if it's that low but it certainly could be in the Pirates range. I'm unique here, but I really think they could splash the cash on this one.

http://joefrisaro.mlblogs.com/2012/01/06/cespedes-still-on-marlins-radar/

[TNbucs]

In the past I would have given them no chance on a guy like Cespedes but given the new restrictions on draft and international spending, I could see them figuring that this is one of the few remaining ways to "beat" the system.  The risk would be fairly low--unless Cespedes completely bombs right away, there would be a trade market for him.  The more interesting angle is that if they sign him and he has a decent season, the next logical step would be to trade McCutchen or Marte next winter to fill a bigger need.

[izzman]

Starting next year, the CBA will limit the amount teams can spend internationally and there's been speculation that the Pirates might try to do what they did in the draft last year, namely drop a bunch of cash on a high upside prospect before the rules change. No telling how many other teams might have the same idea.

I do not think these rules would apply to Cespedes even if they were in effect now.  I seem to remember an age limit for the restrictions.

The rule for Cubans is if they're under 23 and have less than 3 year professional experience they count against the international spending cap.  Cespedes wouldn't fall into that, but Soler would.

I don't think either will. Not until next year.

Also one beat writer seems to think Cespedes will sign for 4 years, 32 mil. I would be surprised if it's that low but it certainly could be in the Pirates range. I'm unique here, but I really think they could splash the cash on this one.

http://joefrisaro.mlblogs.com/2012/01/06/cespedes-still-on-marlins-radar/

Honestly, The Pirates should consider up to 4 yrs $40M. It all depends on what your scouts say and how much trust you have in them. A reasonable floor for YC is a gifted fast OF who say hits 250 with 20 HR's. His ceiling and might I add we are getting him in his prime years is say 280 w/ 30-40 HRs which would normally fetch $15M a year easy . My only concern is why would he choose the Pirates over Miami? The Pirates will have to overpay by $5M or so. Maybe they can pitch the Roberto legacy, although I'm not sure that goes so far with the Cubans. My wish is they get either YC or Chen. Maybe Solis wouldn't be bad consolation. My gut filling is we sign the first Mongolian into pro-ball with a 3-year supply of Yak's Milk.

[izzman]

Any thin hopes I had of us getting YC just vanished
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/01/marlins-to-make-aggressive-run-for-cespedes.html

On the bright side Jeff Francis is still available

[steve19981]

Cespedes might be making a huge mistake by playing in Dominican Winter League.  It sounds like he's been pretty badly overmatched in his first few games. He should have left us hanging at the pig roast. If he doesn't rebound it might drive his price down nicely or drive the Pirates away from making a mistake.

https://twitter.com/#!/Enrique_Rojas1/status/159098095697801216