A bit slow to the party....

[Frobby]

Roch's entry this morning, and then an update:

I wrote yesterday that the Orioles hadn't scouted Cuban right-hander Yoan Lopez. However, I'm told that they plan to do so, perhaps within the next week. They definitely have interest in him.

The Orioles know that he's got a live arm and a fastball that touches the upper 90s.

Update: Forget Yoan. Baseball America reports that he's signing with the Diamondbacks and will receive a $8.25 million bonus.

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2015/01/minicamp-leftovers-for-breakfast.html

[webbrick2010]

Why do we bother to scout any of these high dollar guys? Caribbean vacation for the scout(s)?

[waroriole]

The Orioles had interest in ___________, unfortunately they felt the asking price was beyond where they were willing to go.

[hoosiers]

A lot of prior Os regimes have been late to the party as well. Not going to stand on any soapbox and say this is inexcusableas may have been done by some here in the past, but I would like to understand how this guy was scouted and signed by a non-big market team before we could even scout him. If we had interest, how was this not conveyed timely to his agent? This just has the appearance of an organization asleep at the wheel.

Obviously the signing bonus is of an amount the Os have not gone anywhere near for these international prospects, but we don't know the value here or how good this prospect actually is. It may be the case that our FO does not have this kind of $ available under any circumstances, but that is speculation.

[clapdiddy]

Why do we bother to scout any of these high dollar guys? Caribbean vacation for the scout(s)?

I wasn't going to put it with sarcasm, but I have to question why we attend the high-profile guys as well. It has become pretty apparent that we aren't going to be involved with them.

[neveradoubt]

DD is waiting for Ryan Howard to get to the bottom of the dumpster

[Can_of_corn]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/arizona-signs-yoan-lopez-but-may-pay-very-high-price/

However, by signing Lopez, they just punted the opportunity that comes with having the most money to spend, because the $8.25 million bonus that they gave Lopez pushed them way over their limit for the current signing period. The penalty for exceeding their pool allocation is a 100% tax on their overage and an inability to sign any player for more than $300,000 during either of the next two international signing periods, so while the Diamondbacks will be given a bonus pool in the range of $5 million for the upcoming July 2nd crop of talent, they won?t be able to spend it; there just aren?t enough legitimate prospects who will want to sign with Arizona for $300,000 apiece for them to use up their ~$5 million allocation.

And realistically, the 2016-2017 signing period will probably be similar.

[Can_of_corn]

I wasn't going to put it with sarcasm, but I have to question why we attend the high-profile guys as well. It has become pretty apparent that we aren't going to be involved with them.

To get an early start on the scouting reports.

[stomperspc]

Why do we bother to scout any of these high dollar guys? Caribbean vacation for the scout(s)?

Even if you are not going to sign the higher priced guys, scouting them provides valuable information. It gives the O's a bench mark when evaluating other Cuban or international players. It is all useful information information that can be used in making other decisions regarding player acquisitions.

[LookitsPuck]

This is the one thing that really bothers me about this organization. They keep signing Cuban players that have no impact on the team and most likely will not in any meaningful fashion. Why even bother attending these workouts?

[hoosiers]

Arizona appears to have paid a steep price for Lopez for those not reading the article - including a 100% tax on the overage from their current international allotment of $2.3M - pushing the AZ cost to nearly $15M. The DBacks will be limited on their next two bonus pools through 2016-17 of about $5M each year to signing only prospects under $300k. The Dbacks, however, could trade this bonus pool $ which could net a decent return.

I would prefer to see the Os at least scout these opportunities and judge for themselves - particularly when the Os claim to have interest - instead of seeing these guys signed before we even see them.

Separately, there appear to be about five teams or more that have spent big $ on international prospects over the last year and are limited by rule in going after the higher $ talents - providing an opportunity for the remaining teams including the Os - though we've never really played at the higher end of the market.

[Camden_yardbird]

This organization is all about assets, options and opportunity costs. Maximizing assets (players) means distribution of budget (i.e. no big FA signings). Maximizing options means creating roster flexibility by utilizing player options and, again, not locking in to restrictive contracts. Reducing opportunity costs means not spending over the international spending cap and incurring penalties. Unlike many owners who made their money in business by taking chances, our owner is a lawyer, who by their nature are risk averse. The organizational philosophy mirrors that.

[Frobby]

This organization is all about assets, options and opportunity costs. Maximizing assets (players) means distribution of budget (i.e. no big FA signings). Maximizing options means creating roster flexibility by utilizing player options and, again, not locking in to restrictive contracts. Reducing opportunity costs means not spending over the international spending cap and incurring penalties. Unlike many owners who made their money in business by taking chances, our owner is a lawyer, who by their nature are risk averse. The organizational philosophy mirrors that.

While I think it is fair to say that lawyers tend to be risk averse, that's a lot less true of contingency fee lawyers like Angelos.

[incubus]

This organization is all about assets, options and opportunity costs. Maximizing assets (players) means distribution of budget (i.e. no big FA signings). Maximizing options means creating roster flexibility by utilizing player options and, again, not locking in to restrictive contracts. Reducing opportunity costs means not spending over the international spending cap and incurring penalties. Unlike many owners who made their money in business by taking chances, our owner is a lawyer, who by their nature are risk averse. The organizational philosophy mirrors that.

Slight stretch there in that analogy. Angelos is a toxic torts plaintiff's lawyer who works on contingency. There is a lot of risk involved in that, its a constant gamble. If they lose a huge class action case and receive no money, after thousands of man hours invested, they could be forced to close their doors. In fact, this exact senario is currently happening to another firm in Baltimore.

[Camden_yardbird]

Slight stretch there in that analogy. Angelos is a toxic torts plaintiff's lawyer who works on contingency. There is a lot of risk involved in that, its a constant gamble. If they lose a huge class action case and receive no money, after thousands of man hours invested, they could be forced to close their doors. In fact, this exact senario is currently happening to another firm in Baltimore.

Disagreement for the sake of disagreement produces nothing. If you are willing get to back the argument that Angelos is not risk averse then we can talk, but you would have to disprove a mountain of evidence (spending patterns, voided contracts due to physicals) that says otherwise.

The Orioles will always be late to the party as long as the strategies of the front office reflect a plodding and methodical owner. I'm not saying that's always a bad thing, it's just how things are.