Norge Ruiz

[Cory Engelhardt]

Ruiz tonight; 5ip, 1 bb, 2 hits, 5 k, 0 runs. Better results to say the least

[The Wise One]

 

What does any of that have to do with Norge Ruiz?

Why would a team bother to sign a player that you could draft the equivalent of in the later rounds of the draft for more money than a late round draft pick?  The description  of him as a pitcher is Masterson on Blackburn. Why would you spend more money on middling talent?  Just what the Twins need, more back of the rotation starters

[nicksaviking]

Why would a team bother to sign a player that you could draft the equivalent of in the later rounds of the draft for more money than a late round draft pick?  The description  of him as a pitcher is Masterson on Blackburn. Why would you spend more money on middling talent?  Just what the Twins need, more back of the rotation starters

I must be missing the point. Nick Blackburn was the #56 prospect in 2008, Masterson was #64. Any GM unwilling to consider a signing bonus of 500K for a top 100 prospect has no business being a GM.

[diehardtwinsfan]

If 500k is the asking price, I think someone would have done it by now.  I have no problems with the signing if they chose to do it.  He's not going to be guaranteed a roster spot.  The team needs pitching. It needs it now, not later. The more guys like that that they can add, the better chance they have of finding someone that can stick.

[Cory Engelhardt]

I see the names Masterson and Blackburn thrown out there. Are those comps that were given to him by scouts, or were they comps given to him by commenters on this board who looked at a stat-line and threw names out? Just curious. Even for height/build comparisons, Ruiz does not look ANYTHING like those two.

Is it because he is a groundball pitcher, so to speak, and those are two AL central pitchers we have seen pitch in the recent past?

Why not compare to a LOT of other pitchers?

[old nurse]

 

I must be missing the point. Nick Blackburn was the #56 prospect in 2008, Masterson was #64. Any GM unwilling to consider a signing bonus of 500K for a top 100 prospect has no business being a GM.

The  chance of a prospect in the  50-75 range accumulating  over 3 war in 6 years is almost 30% That is, most prospects in that range have a career worse than Nick Bleckburn's.  (3.3 bwar for a career)  How much grief has been heaped on who ever signed Blackburn to  4/14 contract?    It sound like a big deal to be a top 100 prospect, but the statistics say more likely to bust as be a success in that range.  A half million bet for a prospect in the draft, great.  The Cuban prospect getting an mlb contract with that upside would cost how much?  Likely enough to alter whatever the team can spend the next year on the IFA market.  A player needs a higher ceiling.

[old nurse]

 

 

I see the names Masterson and Blackburn thrown out there. Are those comps that were given to him by scouts, or were they comps given to him by commenters on this board who looked at a stat-line and threw names out? Just curious. Even for height/build comparisons, Ruiz does not look ANYTHING like those two.

Is it because he is a groundball pitcher, so to speak, and those are two AL central pitchers we have seen pitch in the recent past?

Why not compare to a LOT of other pitchers?

Thyrlos set the comparison  to Blackburn based on skill set reported by others.    Feel more than free to do some research

[sthpstm]

 

I see the names Masterson and Blackburn thrown out there. Are those comps that were given to him by scouts, or were they comps given to him by commenters on this board who looked at a stat-line and threw names out? Just curious. Even for height/build comparisons, Ruiz does not look ANYTHING like those two.

Is it because he is a groundball pitcher, so to speak, and those are two AL central pitchers we have seen pitch in the recent past?

Why not compare to a LOT of other pitchers?

I think those are comps from people on this thread based off of the Prospect Pipeline scouting report. Amazing that they can comp him from that, eh?

In 2015 Badler tagged him as having potential for 3 above average pitches (fastball, + change up, slider) and that a splitter that was more like a change up. He describes him as a strikeout pitcher who gets a lot of ground balls. He listed no comps.

He goes in depth on him here (paywall): http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/top-20-prospects-cuba-1-10/#T4KpWZObKh8hR4VR.97

Badler also had him well above Perez who didn't make the top 20 and was going to get $5M+ from the Astros till the recent rescinding of that offer. While that may have changed, $500k is not going to get it done. And if being under 23 and subject to the pool hurts his market that much, I imagine he would hold out until 3/15/17 when he turns 23.

Now that he's more easily viewed by scouts I imagine we will hear more.

[Doomtints]

Getting Cuban players was problematic and often players had to defect to play in the majors.  Oliva predates this.  Of course Griffith would not want to deal with that hassle, and no other GMs from that era did either.  In the years that Griffith owned the team, only 2 players defected from Cuba to play in the majors.  

The Pohlads also don't seem like the types who would get involved in such shenanigans.  It was not until 1993 where the floodgates opened and we saw many players defecting to play in the MLB.  Before then, only 3 players had defected.

 

It should not be a surprise that the Twins are sending scouts to look at players now that these barriers are being lifted.

 

I should also point out that one's nationality does not automatically make one an MLB superstar.  There are many Cuban players who did not play well in the majors.  We should not harp too much on his nationality nor should we expect much based on where the kid was born.  The conversation should be about his ability to pitch, which thankfully most of the participants in this thread understand.  

[alarp33]

Hilarious to log-in and see people complaining about the Twins potentially looking in different areas to improve the pitching in this organization.  

 

The amateur scouts should also try to get a line in to Falvey and make sure he knows that Nick Blackburn threw sinkers and wasn't good, so he should never sign someone with that repertoire 

[Doomtints]

 

Hilarious to log-in and see people complaining about the Twins potentially looking in different areas to improve the pitching in this organization.  

 

The amateur scouts should also try to get a line in to Falvey and make sure he knows that Nick Blackburn threw sinkers and wasn't good, so he should never sign someone with that repertoire 

 

Yep.  Nevermind that Blackburn was not the worst pitcher on the Twins, even in the era that he played.  Calling him out but giving a free pass to the many who have been worse than him doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

Jim Hoey is brought up constantly too, but nothing was expected out of Hoey.  Hoey was not good in the minors either.  There are too many words written about a guy who was emergency filler.  

 

 

 

[old nurse]

 

Hilarious to log-in and see people complaining about the Twins potentially looking in different areas to improve the pitching in this organization.  

 

The amateur scouts should also try to get a line in to Falvey and make sure he knows that Nick Blackburn threw sinkers and wasn't good, so he should never sign someone with that repertoire 

Hilarious that no one has said not to sign him.D

o not overpay. There is a difference that you missed by a long way

[Linus]

If this guy was from Topeka nobody would care. I think we are excited about the Cuban aspect of this.

[Cory Engelhardt]

Last night in Ruiz's third start, he got the win. 5 innings, 7 hits 3 runs (all earned) 3 walks, 2 k's and he gave up a homerun to Aneury Tavarez, a prospect in Boston's system. Not his best start by any means.

 

So far on the year, Ruiz is 2-1 with a 3.77 era. in 14 1/3 innings, he has given up 14 hits, 6 runs (all earned) 11 k's and 5 walks. He also hasn't really competitively pitched since 2014, so there's that.

[nicksaviking]

 

If this guy was from Topeka nobody would care. I think we are excited about the Cuban aspect of this.

 

I have no idea if this guy is any good, but you have to break the seal sometime. It seems to me that teams that sign one Cuban player end up getting involved with other Cuban players as well.

 

Off the top of my head I can't think of any Twins players from Kansas. If they have been unnecessarily cautious of that pipeline as well I'd be good with them breaking the seal there too. Getting good players is only half the battle in this organizational rebuild. Changing philosophy/strategy is also important.

[alarp33]

 

I have no idea if this guy is any good, but you have to break the seal sometime. It seems to me that teams that sign one Cuban player end up getting involved with other Cuban players as well.

 

Off the top of my head I can't think of any Twins players from Kansas. If they have been unnecessarily cautious of that pipeline as well I'd be good with them breaking the seal there too. Getting good players is only half the battle in this organizational rebuild. Changing philosophy/strategy is also important.

 

Not to mention, if he was from Topeka we wouldn't be discussing him as a free agent... He'd be subject to a draft

[d-mac]

 

I have no idea if this guy is any good, but you have to break the seal sometime. It seems to me that teams that sign one Cuban player end up getting involved with other Cuban players as well.

 

Off the top of my head I can't think of any Twins players from Kansas. If they have been unnecessarily cautious of that pipeline as well I'd be good with them breaking the seal there too. Getting good players is only half the battle in this organizational rebuild. Changing philosophy/strategy is also important.

 

Mike Pelfrey was from Kansas. Wichita State. Yuck. 

[The Wise One]

 

Mike Pelfrey was from Kansas. Wichita State. Yuck. 

Pelfrey, like the Cuban  many here are casting a lustful eye at, is a sinkerball thrower.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Signed with the A's for a minor league contract...