7 new international signings

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, DrungoHazewood said:

But not even remotely enough difference from a random population of humans to account for their short-term performance.  And if they were somehow insanely genetically predisposed to soccer how come they just figured this out in 2014-2018, give or take?

Too busy pillaging.

[atomic]

5 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

But not even remotely enough difference from a random population of humans to account for their short-term performance.  And if they were somehow insanely genetically predisposed to soccer how come they just figured this out in 2014-2018, give or take?

I don’t think they are vastly superior to other people. Just probably a much higher percentage of athletic people than say southern MD.  But they aren’t eating at McDonalds either.  Maybe it is all the fresh seafood they eat and active lifestyle.  

[DrungoHazewood]

7 hours ago, atomic said:

I don’t think they are vastly superior to other people. Just probably a much higher percentage of athletic people than say southern MD.  But they aren’t eating at McDonalds either.  Maybe it is all the fresh seafood they eat and active lifestyle.  

Or maybe it's that they hadn't really participated in any international sports in their entire history, wanted to change that, and decided to put a ton of resources (relative to their size) into one particular sport about a decade ago.

[atomic]

2 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Or maybe it's that they hadn't really participated in any international sports in their entire history, wanted to change that, and decided to put a ton of resources (relative to their size) into one particular sport about a decade ago.

That sport would be team handball. Which they have won a medal in the 2008 Olympics. I think your narrative is wrong. Athletic people who are very concerned with healthy living.  There are tons of huge public pools that are always packed.  Hiking trails everywhere. 

[DrungoHazewood]

28 minutes ago, atomic said:

That sport would be team handball. Which they have won a medal in the 2008 Olympics. I think your narrative is wrong. Athletic people who are very concerned with healthy living.  There are tons of huge public pools that are always packed.  Hiking trails everywhere. 

I've tired of whatever nuance there is between my position and yours.  Good day.

[Frobby]

Here’s an excellent piece from Steve Melewski giving quotes from Koby Perez about the seven recently announced signees, and some other tidbits.   https://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2020/02/another-look-at-the-orioles-recent-international-signings.html

[Frobby]

On 1/28/2020 at 11:44 AM, Frobby said:

I’d heard about Ortiz, but don’t think I heard anything about Rangel.   

Here’s some tidbits today about Ortiz and Rangel.   There’s other good  stuff about our international operations in the interview:

Quote

Perez on Ortiz: “He is a very good left-handed pitching prospect. He kind of embodies what we are looking for in a young kid, which is pitchability plus stuff. It gives us a good advantage when he can command that stuff at such a young age. He has a very good curveball and his fastball is consistently in the low 90s. He can get some extra when he needs it. He’s a mature body kid, physically mature for his age. The fact he can command pitches and go right after hitters, we’re super excited about him.”

Perez also spoke of right-handed pitcher Raul Rangel out of Venezuela, whose signing was rated No. 51. The Orioles gave Rangel (pronounced Ran-hell) a bonus of $150,000.

Perez on Rangel: “He performed really well in all the MLB events and the showcases. He was able to get a lot of strikeouts and get through his innings quickly. He continued that for us in the Tricky League. We were very fortunate to be able to get him. As he was getting these outs in showcases, at the time he was 85, 86 mph and teams were lukewarm. Later, towards the end when we got him, he started getting a little stronger and started touching 90, 91, 92 (mph). And that is where we were able to land the player. He has a ton of upside. He’s rail thin, probably about 160 lbs., and already throwing that velo. Once we get him on a good diet at the academy and our strength and conditioning group gets him stronger, those velocities could get near the mid-90s fairly quickly. His arm action and delivery is real good.”

https://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2020/02/more-on-the-orioles-international-efforts-with-koby-perez.html
 

[sportsfan8703]

First time I’ve seen a ranking with any of our signings. Perez at #51. That’s something different. 
 

 

[Frobby]

40 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

First time I’ve seen a ranking with any of our signings. Perez at #51. That’s something different. 
 

 

Perez at 48, Rangel at 51.

[Frobby]

Fangraphs has an article up about the J2 2020 class, which apparently is short on elite talent compared to 2021 and 2022.    Probably good for us since Elias and Perez have been telling us that 2021 is our first real shot at the top of the class guys.    I thought this comment about the practice of getting verbal commitments a few years in advance was interesting:

It’s tough to cover this market with precisely the right tone. Teams still make multi-million dollar verbal agreements with players who often are as young as 14 years old, which has long been a problem, but it’s behavior the current structure gives them incentive to execute. Clubs work hard to extract marginal value from every avenue of talent acquisition, and this is especially true when their spending has a hard cap, as it does internationally — a fairly recent rule, the impacts of which can be seen comparing Boston’s total expenditure for Yoán Moncada and the Angels’ total outlay for Shohei Ohtani.

 

Teams trust their scouts and cross their fingers that the player will grow into a $3-5 million talent in the time between when the deal is agreed upon and when the kid actually signs. A prospect and his trainer will value the security of having a $2 million deal in hand early considering it’s life-changing money for many of these kids and their families. While there’s at least a mutual benefit to early deals, it is still odd that 14-year-olds (and, candidly, it’d be weird if they were 16, too) are making long-term professional decisions.

But they do get to decide. There isn’t a clear solution for early deals that doesn’t involve a draft, but a draft would mean that players would no longer get to pick their employer and therefore have even less leverage in bonus negotiations. Additionally, the bust rate for players this young is too high for MLB to cry “competitive balance” without pretense.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/updated-july-2-prospect-rankings-2/

 

[weams]

From MLBTR a signing under the old rules.

Quote

Remember Rusney Castillo? Signed to a seven-year, $72.5MM contract in August 2014, the Cuban outfielder had a rough season in the majors with the Red Sox the next year and has barely appeared in the majors since. The Red Sox have minimized their luxury-tax bill by keeping Castillo in the minors, and he’s likely to stay with Triple-A Pawtucket this season, but he’ll be a free agent thereafter. The 32-year-old discussed his status with Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald, saying: “My goal remains the same: I want to make it to the big leagues. And if given the opportunity, give 100% to Boston. That’s the goal, to get up there.”  As Mastrodonato notes, there’s at least an outside chance Castillo will return to Boston late in the season if the team’s well under the tax threshold by then (he’s due a $14.3MM salary, so it could be a tall order to fit him in). Castillo will first have to impress in Pawtucket for that to happen, though. He wasn’t great at the highest level of the minors in 2019, when he hit .278/.321/.448 with 17 home runs in 493 plate appearances.

 

[DrungoHazewood]

31 minutes ago, weams said:

From MLBTR a singing under the old rules.

 

That's a nice loophole for the Red Sox.  I guess if you sign a guy to a minor league or split contract for $70M it doesn't count against the luxury tax as long as the guy is in the minors.  Rare occurrence, especially under today's rules, but good for them finding yet another way to exploit their massive resources.