Twins Acquire Two Prospects For International Bonus Money

I don't know where to put this so I'm putting it here:

http://www.startribune.com/twins-just-missed-on-coveted-baseball-prospect-kevin-maitan/462600173/

"Multiple sources have confirmed that the Twins were in the hunt for Maitan, considered the top international prospect in 2016 when he signed with the Braves in for $4.25 million. He's a switch hitting shortstop with a strong arm and good power potential. According to MLB.com, some early comparisons were to Miguel Sano.

Maitan signed with the Angels for a reported $2.2 million. Indications are that the Twins offered significantly more than Los Angeles. But someone in Maitan's camp, either Maitan, his family, his agents or a combination of all of them, looked at the Twins farm system and decided to go elsewhere."

There is also more words on the two new guys under the link.

And you all beat me to it.

Why didn't we get a pitcher or two? I'm not impressed with either of these two though they are still babies.

Except thanks to MLB rules, only a few of the other 29 teams could even offer him that much right now. I'm not sure the lack of a deal for Marte at the moment is all that meaningful of a data point.

Neither is a handful of people on here speculating the Twins are being shady with ZERO evidence.

That's not quite right. People were pissed that the Astros were using the injury as a way to secure a third player (after Jacob Nix) named Mac Marshall out of Aiken's bonus. The medical issue they saw was similar to other picks and those picks had their bonuses lowered by several hundred thousand dollars, not 1.5m, which coincidentally happened to be Marshall's demand. Nix and Marshall's agreements were therefore locked into a third party (Aiken). Nix filed his grievance against the Astros and won (Astros settled for 1m+ before the arbitrator ruled against them). 

 

I'm hoping that the Twins didn't **** over Marte on the hopes of getting a better prospect but I think they did. 

I thought the deal was that the Astros had an agreement with Aiken for less than slot, they were going to use the extra money for Nix.  But when Aiken's physical came back, they weren't willing to pay as much as agreed upon and they then didn't have any extra money for Nix.  So if they wanted Nix, they essentially were paying for him and a damaged Aiken.  Pretty sticky situation all around....

Agreed the optics are certainly complicating the matter. If Marte does resign it'll raise more questions. Obviously it's all conjecture at this point but: 

 

Why would the Twins be interested in resigning him if the eye condition is as serious as others are convinced it is? If they're certain he won't be a big league player why waste the remaining money resigning him? 

 

I can't get past the timing; the apparent non release of the contract being voided and the announcement for the availability of the money coinciding with Ohtani making his way to the states just seems odd. 

 

If the Twins are going to resign him doesn't that hint that the eye condition might not have been as disastrous as portrayed? If that's the case can the actions of the Twins be viewed as some sort of tampering? Marte's value clearly would have been affected and potentially the reason other clubs have been hesitant to sign him. It's clearly the most sinister scenario but is it the craziest thing in the world to think a team would sacrifice a player like Marte in order to have a shot at Ohtani? 

 

Another part I can't get past though is that if Ohtani had decided to come to MN this wouldn't have been an issue. Even if the Twins had f***ed this kid over the Ohtani signing would have overshadowed anything done to get him here. I can't I wouldn't have overlooked it myself. 

 

Or you know, it could just be a condition the Twins aren't comfortable with so they decided to move on, i.e. business as usual. 

I think that it's conjecture to the extreme. Has it been reported anywhere that the vision problem rules out a potential MLB career? Is the 100/20 vision report false? Is a physical just a charade? As I see it, until facts prove otherwise, a defect was discovered that lowers his value to something less than $3 million dollars. It doesn't mean that he isn't worth signing at all. It just means that his market value has dropped following a customary physical. Due diligence is a good thing. 

I think he got good advice.  The Twins are pretty loaded at Short and he has a path of least resistance through the Angels system.  Should give him a faster path to the Majors if he is as good as advertised.

If I were a young shortstop, I'd probably look at Lewis, Gordon, Javier, and Palacios; then take a quick gander at the nobody that the Angels have in their system; then I'd probably pick the Angels too.

Though given the Twins' depth and the Angels' propensity for trading prospects for fading veterans, he'll probably be wearing a different uniform by the time he hits the majors anyway.

After Dee Gordon to Mariners deal it's time to fire up the Falvine HotLine

Hello Jon Daniels....$1.2Mil for Yohander Mendez

Line 2...Billy Eppler...Jahmai Jones or Jo Adell (the rest of your guys are...um...not worth the Monopoly Money)

I think that it's conjecture to the extreme. Has it been reported anywhere that the vision problem rules out a potential MLB career? Is the 100/20 vision report false? Is a physical just a charade? As I see it, until facts prove otherwise, a defect was discovered that lowers his value to something less than $3 million dollars. It doesn't mean that he isn't worth signing at all. It just means that his market value has dropped following a customary physical. Due diligence is a good thing. 

Yeah man, I said as much...."Obviously it's all conjecture at this point."

Have you read a single post that claims anything the Twins have said is false? I haven't. What I've said is the timing of events seems funny. 

An unlikely MLB career, the "good relationship," with the team and the lack of noise from other clubs have all been used as evidence the Twins didn't do anything out of the ordinary. That all could be true. However, isn't that speculation as well? It's far from firm evidence. 

I don't see any definitive claims that the Twins are "playing dirty," but I do see questions about the circumstances, and I don't think it's wrong to ask them. 

Yeah man, I said as much...."Obviously it's all conjecture at this point."

 

Have you read a single post that claims anything the Twins have said is false? I haven't. What I've said is the timing of events seems funny. 

 

An unlikely MLB career, the "good relationship," with the team and the lack of noise from other clubs have all been used as evidence the Twins didn't do anything out of the ordinary. That all could be true. However, isn't that speculation as well? It's far from firm evidence. 

 

I don't see any definitive claims that the Twins are "playing dirty," but I do see questions about the circumstances, and I don't think it's wrong to ask them. 

Sorry but this is ridiculous. 'Asking questions' can be a way to level completely fictitious and unfounded accusations, which is exactly what you are doing here. 'Sure, there's zero evidence of anything amiss, but since I can make up a conspiracy theory out of thin air, it makes sense to discuss it.'

I don't understand why this line of inquiry is even being allowed by the mods. It's pretty much the same as accusing Falvey of having a drug problem or any other completely made-up smear. 

Do we actually know the timing of the failed physical though? All we know is when it became public, and that was only found out when a national writer posted available international pools due to Ohtani becoming available.

If they voided the contract in August or September, which seems likely, there would be nothing especially fishy about that.

No, and it's a fair point. I said as much in my OP, this could all be nothing and the Twins could easily clear it up. I do think it's odd that he would sign in early July and not have a physical until November. I also think it's weird not to announce he failed it during the summer if they knew the information would eventually be made public.