Fangraphs: The Gurriels (Yulieski now FA)

[weams]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-gurriels-another-problem-for-mlbs-international-system/

It's not too hard to imagine what a package deal for the Gurriels might look like. The older Gurriel can sign for whatever he wants, and because of the vast differences in evaluating older players from Cuba, pretty much any size signing bonus can be rationally defended. Just making numbers up - I have no idea what these guys are going to get - let's say the market settled on $70 million for the older Gurriel and $20 million as a fair price for his younger brother, which would impute a $40 million total cost to the signing team if he signed before he turned 23. A team signing both would be on the hook for $110 million, but only $90 million of that would go to the Gurriels; that creates an incentive for some creative accounting.

If a team wanted to try to convince Lourdes Gurriel to sign before he turns 23, they could potentially structure the contracts so that Yuliesky Gurriel got an $85 million contract, with Lourdes Gurriel signing for a $10 million bonus with the same club; given what lesser Cuban prospects have gotten recently, $10 million would seemingly be Lourdes' floor, so as not to make it too resoundingly obvious as to what was happening. In that scenario, the Gurriels gets $95 million between them, while the signing team only pays $105 million in total, as they'd pay a $10 million tax on the younger brother's signing. The team would save $5 million on the two players, but the brothers would receive $5 million more than if they signed separately while Lourdes was restricted by the bonus pool system.

Of course, there are all kinds of reasons why something like this probably won?t happen. For one, it seems likely that Lourdes' contract multiplier is much higher by waiting until he reaches free agency, and can compare himself to guys like Yasmany Tomas and Rusney Castillo, arguing for something north of $50 million himself.

[tntoriole]

So what teams play in this end of the pool?

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[OFFNY]

o

The Georgia Gurriels.

Might have been a good name for an A.B.A. team.

[Orioles4Life21]

I've been a big fan of Yulieski since the '06 WBC. He's a stud. Lourdes will probably turn out to be just as good. Too bad we don't have a spot for either of them unless we dump Hardy and move Manny to short.

[weams]

So what teams play in this end of the pool?

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You would assume that all teams could.

[srock]

Yulieski Gurriel is now a free agent.

3B, ready for MLB after a little 'summer training' in the minors. Yankees could really use a 3B but he will be pricey.

Younger brother Lourdes (23) is not yet available. He will likely wait until October so he can be a free agent without the the whole international slot money issue.

[sportsfan8703]

We have no spot for him. Plus we need to save all our money to resign Machado and Schoop. We're pretty good on offense.

Now if this was a 32 year old SP that needed a month in the minors then we'd have a match.

[srock]

Unless hardy is out (does not look like it) but if Manny becomes the permanent SS we do have a spot.

His little brother is intriguing. I'd like to have him in Bowie for a year, see what he can do.

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