Latin America Signings Thread

[aso513]

Last year I used the power of Twitter to get the dish on the Buccos and all their Latin America happenings. I'll do the same this year and just post all the updates in this thread. And so it begins....



Can the mods delete the other thread please? Thank you.

[81omar]

   Anything yet Aso?  Its been 2 days and 5 hours already!


  Heres something you may have missed along with the official announcement of Wily Garcia which apparently everyone has missed including the people who did the signing

  From the Dominican Prospect League site:

Pirates Ink Sanchez and DeAza after All-Star Game Performance

The Pirates strike again!  Just as they did in the signing of Wily Garcia after the first DPL All-Star Game, the Pirates moved quickly to agree to terms with two eligible players after their performances in the recent 2nd DPL All Star Game.  The Pirates agreed to terms with Isaac Sanchez for $180,000 and Miguel DeAza for $150,000 respectively, a typical signing bonus for players in the 7th-10th rounds in the Rule 4 Amateur Draft in the United States.  Here are the scouting reports on each:


Isaac Sanchez, 17, is a RHP with an athletic 6'2" 180lb frame and clean arm action.  His #1 pitch is a barry-zito-like curveball while his fastball works from 89-92 mph.  Sanchez exhibits strong control of all pitches (FB, CB, and CH) and projects as an innings eating starting pitcher. 

 

Miguel DeAza, 17, is a left-handed outfielder who demonstrates 5-tool potential.  Although packaged into a smaller athletic body (5'11"), DeAza impresses with his above average tools.   He runs 6.5-6.6. in the 60 yard dash, demonstrates a 60 arm from the outfield and makes consistent solid contact on the ball and has an enhanced feel for getting the barrel of the bat to the ball. 

[gnarburger]

So they officially signed Wily Garcia?  I've been really confused on that one.

[81omar]

   The only people who are saying the Wily Garcia is officially signed are the people who run the DPL league so far,they were the one to break the original story and theyve never backed off that claim

[WTM]

I'd guess that ML teams don't especially like to make a fuss about Dominican signings because (1) added attention increases bonuses over the long term and (2) a disturbing % of these signings get voided later due to agegate problems.

[81omar]

   These kids in the DPL are supposedly age verified already and tested regularly so they should be fine in that regard.

   I wrote Dejan and he said he will ask Rene Gayo about this tomorrow so maybe we will hear something soon.

[IABucFan]

Who is Wily Garcia?  Anyone to get excited over?

[gnarburger]

Who is Wily Garcia?  Anyone to get excited over?

Hard to say.  Just a mid-level Dominican signing, so you never know how those turn out.  They were reporting the bonus as $280,000, though, so that's on the higher side of bonuses outside of the big time highly regarded guys, and one of the bigger bonuses for the Pirates thus far.  I think it would be behind only Cayonez and Carvajal.  Here's the DPL writeup on it:

Willy Garcia has become the latest D.P.L. player to go Pro, The Pirates signed Garcia to a $280,000 dollar contract this past week. Playing with Los Patriotas del Centro for Christian "El Niche" Batista for 3 months and coming off a great All-Star game showcase Garcia has shown much improvement in all tools. His Arm, Running ability, and Power potential made him an interesting asset to many organizations. Garcia has a long way to go before he is considered a true 5 tool player but he has enough to be a solid everyday guy in MLB. His projectable frame and tools handed him a well deserved opportunity to develop his skills as a professional ball player. We congratulate Willy Garcia and wish him the best in his quest to be a MLB player.

[IABucFan]

$280,000 huh?  That would slot in about the fourth or fifth round right?  And typically, LA bonuses would be typically a bit higher than a parallel slot bonus in the draft, right?  So, he would be about a sixth/seventh round talent if taken in the amateur draft?

[81omar]

   Heres the DPL link,scroll down and it has the top players from their league who will be eligible to sign on July 2nd but scroll down more and they have guys who are right now eligible to be signed. I saw we get a petition going and send it off to the FO to sign Kelvin Vizcaino right now....no reason they cant,they got the money in the budget,sign the kid,get him into the Dominican facility and on the field later this month when the DSL season starts

http://www.dplbaseball.com/

Look at his bat speed!

http://www.youtube.com/user/dplbaseball#p/u/6/lTv5wjCUUAg

[Babe Adams]

I saw we get a petition going

He looks a little like Roberto.  I'll sign.

[WTM]

$280,000 huh?  That would slot in about the fourth or fifth round right?  And typically, LA bonuses would be typically a bit higher than a parallel slot bonus in the draft, right?  So, he would be about a sixth/seventh round talent if taken in the amateur draft?

You can't directly compare.  Dominican kids are free agents, which helps them because they can negotiate with anybody.  But they also involve far more projection than drafted players, so there's more risk for the team, and that pushes bonuses lower.  Economic factors make the kids more desperate to sign, which also keeps bonuses lower.

If Latin Am. bonuses were uniformly higher, the record bonus wouldn't be $4.2M or whatever it was Michael Ynoa signed for.  The record straight bonus in the draft is a little over $6M.

[BuccoFla]

http://twitter.com/RobBiertempfel

"Pirates trying to sign two Dominican players -- rhp Isaac Sanchez and of Miguel DeAza -- but deals have not yet been finalized."

[81omar]

   Maybe theyre waiting until July 2nd to officially sign all these guys so it looks like theyre busy during the signing period. Honestly,how hard could it be to sign a contract,especially ones with dollar amounts already assigned to them. Maybe theyre working World Series MVP bonus clauses into each contract

[WTM]

   Maybe theyre waiting until July 2nd to officially sign all these guys so it looks like theyre busy during the signing period. Honestly,how hard could it be to sign a contract,especially ones with dollar amounts already assigned to them. Maybe theyre working World Series MVP bonus clauses into each contract

The way I understand it, teams are allowed to reach handshake deals before that date, they just can't make it official until then.  Handshake deals apparently are routinely honored in the DR.