Article: Twins to sign Lewin Diaz

[Jeremy Nygaard]

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=2007-Twins-sign-Lewin-Diaz

[Red Bull]

Typical Twins signing, they take the cheap route. I mean they have cut 40+ million in payroll the last few years so they have saved a ton of money so why not spend all of your pool and then some ot get one of the top 5 players?

[howieramone1406390264]

Typical Twins signing, they take the cheap route. I mean they have cut 40+ million in payroll the last few years so they have saved a ton of money so why not spend all of your pool and then some ot get one of the top 5 players?

 

Maybe on their board he was. Twins had Stewart at #2.

[tcarlic]

@Red Bull - I feel the same way. I don't care about the cut payroll, but when you have one of the highest amounts of money to spend on the international market, you go with the 10th best prospect? Disappointed. Sign a top guy.

[Brad Swanson]

Takes two to tango, as they say. Sadly, fans are not one of the two. Plus, it's 5:30pm on the first day of the signing period. Who says they won't sign more guys?

[Monkeypaws]

Might it not be even harder to project 16 year olds than 18 year olds?

 

I'd like to see longitudinal data on the "best 16 year olds" after they play 10 years of ball.

[Ozziedavisfan]

you're all so negative this is um good news

[Seth Stohs]

Typical Twins signing, they take the cheap route. I mean they have cut 40+ million in payroll the last few years so they have saved a ton of money so why not spend all of your pool and then some ot get one of the top 5 players?

 

Because you don't want to throw all of your eggs in one 16-year-old basket. The success rate of international signings who signed for more than $1 million is not real high. Michael Ynoa, I believe, is still the highest international signing (not from Japan or Cuba) and he just got promoted to Hi-A. he may still be good, but we'll see. A lot of the successful international signings were not the highly coveted ones from there. I like the way they're doing this now, and I think it's smart to spread out the money.

 

Also, signings in the DR or Venezuela or wherever are based on relationships that develop with 12-13-14 year olds. If you develop that relationship with the right players that become the top players in a class, they're there.

 

I know that they were all signed in a year before the international bonus limit, but would you rather have just Miguel Sano, or Sano, Kepler and Polanco? In today's system, would you give Sano 100% of the limit, or sign him for what you're able to sign him for (less) and get other guys.

 

It's a tough system and you have to be wise with the money allocated, but you have to sign more than one or two. Also, the lists are just lists. At the end of the day, they're fun but don't necessarily mean much. We don't know what the difference is (or will be) between the #1 guy and the #10 guy and the #15 guy and the #20 guy. It's 100% about projection at this point.

 

And, as far as him being a singles-hitter in games despite power potential, look no further than Travis Harrison. he was drafted and signed to a big bonus a couple of years ago. Last year at E-Town, he hit for average and people wondered where the power was. When I watched him take BP and then talked to him and to Jake Mauer in April about his power, they talked about it being a process. Learning how to get back spin, learning pitches to go after, all of that is developed. that's certainly not going to be developed as a 15-16 year old.

[rickyhawaii]

love this signing, and Diaz is one of the top hitting prospects in this class. Hopefully he can develop into a legit power hitting RF or 1b. The plus side also is they can still sign some other good prospects. Haven't seen Mayky Perez or Jen-Ho Tseng signed yet. Hoping the Twins get one of those guys. The Dutch 3b seems interesting as well.

[Jeremy Nygaard]

How is paying $1.4m to a guy they really liked - when no one else was going seven figures - taking the cheap route? I still think we'll see the Twins sign a few more guys for half a million.

 

This signing period doesn't end until June 15, 2014 and many guys haven't turned 16 yet.

[CwK]

Like it. Not too bummed about missing out on the consensus "top guys" because #10 is still very good in my mind. Want some pitchers now.

[cmb0252]

How is paying $1.4m to a guy they really liked - when no one else was going seven figures - taking the cheap route? I still think we'll see the Twins sign a few more guys for half a million.

 

This signing period doesn't end until June 15, 2014 and many guys haven't turned 16 yet.

 

Nailed it. $1.4 million is a lot of green.

[East Coast Twin]

They've also signed Roni Tapia.

 

Twins Agree To Deal With Roni Tapia - BaseballAmerica.com

 

[h=1][/h]

[The Wise One]

There must be a couple of players the Dodgers want. They took on salary to get the some of the Cub's international signing money.

[kab21]

I love it how the team signs a top talent and people still complain about them being cheap. They have also said that they will spend all of their bonus pool money. This comes a year after signing Minier and Thorpe and spending all of their bonus money. I think some will never be happy.

[TheLeviathan]

I like them going after a 1B power prospect. I really wish they would've gone heavier after MI.

[clutterheart]

Great. I've never seen him play a game, and I have no idea about his tools, level of competition he faced, mental make up, or anything else. Just some reports from a few guys who are probably regurgitating the same stuff. Many folks need to remember agents/other teams/scouts/families often play games by what they say to the media.

 

So....Hope he pans out. What else can/should be said about this?

[drjim]

I missed this thread until now. Is there a reason it doesn't go directly to the minors section? I often don't see the front page articles, and feel like I was wasting my time posting links on the majors page.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I love it how the team signs a top talent and people still complain about them being cheap. They have also said that they will spend all of their bonus pool money. This comes a year after signing Minier and Thorpe and spending all of their bonus money. I think some will never be happy.

 

This.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I like them going after a 1B power prospect. I really wish they would've gone heavier after MI.

 

I'm hoping they have a couple of SS before this signing period is over. They have a lack of decent options at that position and that's something that Latin American in particular seems to naturally develop.

[Kwak]

It's difficult to get excited about 16 year-olds whom I know nothing about. I wish them well.

[AlwaysinModeration]

I think it is obvious this Diaz kid will be the best Intl FA signed this year. Why is it not obvious to everyone else here?

[YourHouseIsMyHouse]

Maybe it's just me, but I never hear much about international pitchers being signed for good money. Or it could be that the Twins never get a pitcher as the centerpiece of these signings. I don't think foreign pitchers make up a good pool of the MLB though, so I'm not really complaining. Felix Hernandez and Ubaldo Jimenez (for a time) are a few I'm familiar with, but not many other names come to mind.

[Seth Stohs]

This signing period doesn't end until June 15, 2014 and many guys haven't turned 16 yet.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if they haven't turned 16 by July 1, they can't be signed until next July 2 (or whichever July date it is)?

[YourHouseIsMyHouse]

6'3 195? Same size Sano is LISTED at. And he's a power hitter? Hmmm.. Granted his signing bonus was half of what Sano's was and there's probably zero chance he'd ever be near the prospect, but I see what the Twins are doing here. Even a poor man's Sano is a good thing.

[2wins87]

Typical Twins signing, they take the cheap route. I mean they have cut 40+ million in payroll the last few years so they have saved a ton of money so why not spend all of your pool and then some ot get one of the top 5 players?

 

@Red Bull - I feel the same way. I don't care about the cut payroll, but when you have one of the highest amounts of money to spend on the international market, you go with the 10th best prospect? Disappointed. Sign a top guy.

 

 

The point of the pool isn't to blow it all on one guy for no reason. Here are the players that have signed for more than Diaz's $1.4 million so far this year:

 

Jose Almonte - TEX - $1.8 million

Gleyber Torres - CHC - $1.7 million

Micker Zapata - CHW = $1.6 million

 

There are a few top prospects left still, so this list will get a bit longer. But clearly the Twins aren't being cheap, they are signing the guy who they believe is the best.

 

Earlier today it was reported that the Rangers wanted to trade for some of the Twins international pool but the Twins turned them down because they intend to spend all of it. So it sounds like they intend on doing exactly what you want and yet you are still on here complaining.

[nicksaviking]

No reason to complain really unless you know quite a bit about these guys. This isn't like the Rule IV draft, these guys are largely unknown. If you look at the various rankings "experts" have of these guys you'll see they are in no way similar, and how could they be? None of these experts have the resources to see all these guys play in person; I'd wager that most of their knowledge comes from second hand intel and shoddy video.

 

Besides, MLB has Diaz ranked 10th, would people feel better about not getting their 4th ranked player if the Twins also signed Perez who is ranked 9th?

 

Regarding Diaz, he excites me because reading between the lines, he is not a one tool player. The reports I've seen all say his size indicates the power will come, but actually at this point he is actually just a very strong hitter.

[kab21]

In addition to different rankings by different teams and online 'scouts' I also think it is better to sign many guys in the 500K-1M range than just targeting the top guy. So far the Twins have one of the top guys and they have signed 1 more mid range guy with enough bonus money for 3 more mid range guys.

 

One reason that I think the Twins zero'd in on Diaz is that he fits the classic slugger profile. The might lack MI and SP'ing prospects but they don't have a lot of classic slugger prospects either. Everyone on the team doesn't need to be able to sprints...

[johnnydakota]

Maybe on their board he was. Twins had Stewart at #2.

 

And every other team had the big 3 rated above Stewart.

So does that make us smarter or dumber then the rest?

[Jeremy Nygaard]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if they haven't turned 16 by July 1, they can't be signed until next July 2 (or whichever July date it is)?

 

I'm pretty sure the cut off is September 1.