Will Ryan bury his head in the sand again?

[johnnydakota]

Will Terry pretend that Cuban players cant help the Twins or will we have someone in Mexocali Mexico on january 5th ,to watch the 2 kids from Cuba work out? Alvarez is a 24 year old outfielder and Diaz is a 22 year old shortstop.

With Minnesota thin in both areas this year ,will we send someone down to watch and see if they are mlb players or have tools that could lead to a big leaque career? Or once again will Mr. Ryan bury his head in the sand like he did on Cespedes last year?

[Seth Stohs]

They had scouts watching Cespedes and Aroldis Chapman. With he new rules for International signings, of course they will. If only to get something in their reports on him for down the road.

[johnnydakota]

They had scouts watching Cespedes and Aroldis Chapman. With he new rules for International signings, of course they will. If only to get something in their reports on him for down the road.

 

I read an article last year about the teams that sent people to the Dominican Republic for the workout last year and questioned why no one from the twins went down, or at least why in the article that the twins representitives were not noted in attendance...

[darin617]

Does anyone know how much the Twins have left to sign any international players? That should be the first thing johnnydakota found out before he made this thread.

 

I'm not sure how much they do have but I am sure somebody like Seth would be able to answer this without much effort.

[old nurse]

I read an article last year about the teams that sent people to the Dominican Republic for the workout last year and questioned why no one from the twins went down, or at least why in the article that the twins representitives were not noted in attendance...

In regards to Cespedes, LEN once wrote at the strib the Twins had scouts watch him. LEN has been fairly credible. The Athletics offer blew all others out of the water. With it only being 4 years it sets him up for one big contract after two healthy increases at arbitration. He had a smart agent.

[PseudoSABR]

Will Terry Ryan leave the Guatemalan hacky sack league untapped? There's some guys who have arms and legs and can do athletic things with them. Likely TR will come up short again, and be satisfied with overhauling minor league pitching depth by acquiring two high velocity, high ceiling prospects, as if the Twins chances of success is somehow better in the future than it is now.

[johnnydakota]

Does anyone know how much the Twins have left to sign any international players? That should be the first thing johnnydakota found out before he made this thread.

 

I'm not sure how much they do have but I am sure somebody like Seth would be able to answer this without much effort.

they will be free agents not international players ....

[B Richard]

@darin

 

As I understand it, each team has 2.9M in bonus money to allocate as they please to international signings. After July 2013, the amount adjusts based on winning percentage. My guess is this would give the Twins more room to sign players. I'm not sure what the rules are, or if there are any, for salary totals outside the bonus rule. Here's a link explaining the bonus rule:

 

International Signing Bonus Pool | The Cub Reporter (TCR) | A Chicago Cubs Blog

[old nurse]

Will Terry Ryan leave the Guatemalan hacky sack league untapped? There's some guys who have arms and legs and can do atheletic things with them. Likely TR will come up short again, and be satisfied with upgrading minor league pitching depth, as if the Twins chances of success is somehow better in the future than now. Ha.

Sano, Arcia, Kepler, Liam Hendricks, Salcedo, Polanco. Yep, the Twins have done poorly in international signings.

[johnnydakota]

Sano, Arcia, Kepler, Liam Hendricks, Salcedo, Polanco. Yep, the Twins have done poorly in international signings.

 

wernt they Bill Smith signings?

[old nurse]

they will be free agents not international players ....

 

Without experience in an international major league they will be considered international players. Last July 2 the rules changed. None of these players were eligible before then.

[johnnydakota]

Without experience in an international major league they will be considered international players. Last July 2 the rules changed. None of these players were eligible before then.

I believe before january 5th workout they are expected to be declared free agents by the commisioneers office

[YourHouseIsMyHouse]

Without experience in an international major league they will be considered international players. Last July 2 the rules changed. None of these players were eligible before then.

 

Diaz and Alvarez will be free agents since both are 23 (Diaz's birthday is January 8th and he will be able to sign after) and both have 3 years of professional experience in Cuba. This was because of the previous agreement in early May (I believe).

 

 

"For the next two years, Cubans will be exempt as long as they are 23 and have played in a Cuban professional league for at least three seasons. Beginning in 2014-15 Cubans must have five years of pro experience to be exempt." -Ben Badler, BA

 

"Exempt" from the International Signing status that is. The five year pro experience mandate is already required for Japanese players.

 

 

[righty8383]

That being the case, the Twins have no excuse not to be giving these guys a serious look. With the payroll having dropped, they should be able to make a competetive offer.

[Jeremy Nygaard]

Neither will be subjected to bonus pool and will be looking for Puig/Soler type money from what I've read. The Twins will be there but I don't anticipate them being very aggressive in pursuit of either, unfortunately.

[Jeremy Nygaard]

Also the Twins have a few hundred thousand dollars left in their international spending pool.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Neither will be subjected to bonus pool and will be looking for Puig/Soler type money from what I've read. The Twins will be there but I don't anticipate them being very aggressive in pursuit of either, unfortunately.

 

This is the one arena where Smith really succeeded and I will be disappointed if Ryan goes back to his cheapskate ways in the international market. The Twins should be there and they should be aggressive. I'm not saying they need to sign either of them because I've never seen them play but the Twins should be strongly considering throwing money at one of these guys.

[Winston Smith]

Let's hope they send Tony O down with the scouts. He is still a hero in Cuba and could be a big help signing either of these guys. If the SS can play at all they should go hard after him.

Be interesting to see if TR will go cheap after Smith actually spent money for these Int. guys. It's one thing Smith did a good job on.

[Mike Sixel]

I think it would be great if the Twins signed good free agents, If these guys are good.

[darin617]

Neither will be subjected to bonus pool and will be looking for Puig/Soler type money from what I've read. The Twins will be there but I don't anticipate them being very aggressive in pursuit of either, unfortunately.

 

So that mean the Dodgers are the front runners to sign them both.

[bird]

wernt they Bill Smith signings?

 

The Twins have dozens of professionals in their scouting department. Bill Smith had almost nothing to do with the actual signings.

 

Perhaps Terry Ryan is not the one with his head buried in the sand, johnny dakota.

[Mike Sixel]

The Twins have dozens of professionals in their scouting department. Bill Smith had almost nothing to do with the actual signings.

 

Perhaps Terry Ryan is not the one with his head buried in the sand, johnny dakota.

 

We actually have no idea what role Bill Smith played, other than we know he was in charge when the Twins made decisions to spend big on a few international FAs, something they did not do before that often. I'm not sure how you can say "nothing to do with the actual signings", unless you have inside information on how decisions were made.

[drjim]

The Twins have signed a $1.4 mil and $500k guy in the current International period and have tapped most of their international budget. They aren't going cheap.

 

It would be great for the Twins to sign one of these guys but I really wouldn't count on it. This is one of the few chances teams have to spend unlimited dollars on procuring amateur talent and other teams (with significantly higher revenue streams) will blow the Twins out of the water with their offer.

[Jeremy Nygaard]

This is the one arena where Smith really succeeded and I will be disappointed if Ryan goes back to his cheapskate ways in the international market. The Twins should be there and they should be aggressive. I'm not saying they need to sign either of them because I've never seen them play but the Twins should be strongly considering throwing money at one of these guys.

 

If I'm Diaz, I'm looking for a similar contract to what Puig got (7 yr, 42 m). Alvarez is older and not as good. He's probably a 5 yr, 10 m, not quite what the Rangers gave Martin type guy. Purely speculative based on recent signees.

 

So far I've not seen specific teams listed as leaders, but wouldn't count Dodgers or A's out.

[YourHouseIsMyHouse]

I'd be happy to sign Diaz, but I understand if they don't sign either. It's high risk, moderate reward. Diaz could just end up being a higher paid Nishioka. Not making a comparison between the two, but both could be flops.