Nats lose a top-ten prospect...

[Lt Melmo]

... to LIES!

A top Washington Nationals prospect and recipient of the largest international signing bonus in team history is not who he appeared to be. Esmailyn Gonzalez, who is listed as 19 years old on the team's roster, is actually 23-year-old Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo, four sources have told SI.com.

He was ranked #10 in BA's Washington rankings. He went from being a 19 year-old in the GCL to a 23 year-old in the GCL, which pretty much drains all of his prospect status.

If this happened to Brandon Erbe (#10 ranked by the OH), this board would explode.

[Scrat1]

Man, tough times for the Nats.

[Scrat1]

I bet some Nats fans are going to have a fit:

http://www.thenatsblog.com/2009/01/some-say-one-of-biggest-failures-for.html

[crawdad]

Yeah, we had him rated 8th in the system . . . now, not so much. I wonder how it is going to play with the ethics probe. Either this is an isolated issue or it may turn out that some money shifting is going on. The front office was involved in international ethics probing this past year.

Not sure how Bowden keeps his job. He does not do anything particularly well.

[Frobby]

This, and the failure to sign Crowe, are two pretty big blows the Nats have sustained in the last 6 months.

[howie14]

I'm going to admit to being dense on this one. How is the player falsifying his age a breach of ethics on the part of the Nats (as I inferred from the SI article)?

Is there a reason they would go out and intentionally overpay for an overaged player?

[TGO]

I'm going to admit to being dense on this one. How is the player falsifying his age a breach of ethics on the part of the Nats (as I inferred from the SI article)?

Is there a reason they would go out and intentionally overpay for an overaged player?

The scouts or front office guys doing the signing would take a cut of the money. I'm not saying that happened here, but that's usually what is meant when this sort of "ethics breach" is discussed.

[ugen64]

Not sure how Bowden keeps his job. He does not do anything particularly well.

He's pretty good at finding bargain heap players (eg. Dmitri Young, Olsen/Willingham). He's just terrible at building teams and recognizing the value of players he already owns. Bowden really belongs in a scouting department IMO.

[Maverick2143]

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090218&content_id=3843196&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

According to SI.com, which cited four sources, Gonzalez is actually a 23-year-old named Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo. The Nationals list him as being 19 years old.

The Nationals agreed to terms with Gonzalez on July 2, 2006. The switch-hitting Gonzalez received a $1.4 million signing bonus, the largest the club has paid for an international signing.

"This is an important signing," Kasten said at the time. "We can now compete for the best talent in Latin America. We will have a presence there."

Sickels had him rated #8 on the Nats list.

I thought it was interesting based on alot of discussions around here about the O's signing(or lack their of) top names in the DR and other Latin American countries.

I think it is a good reminder that teams need to be careful when signing these big bonus babies. Gonzalez/Lugo was scouted for over two years before he was signed and still managed to keep his identity/age a secret.

[Maverick2143]

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090218&content_id=3843196&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Sickels had him rated #8 on the Nats list.

I thought it was interesting based on alot of discussions around here about the O's signing(or lack their of) top names in the DR and other Latin American countries.

I think it is a good reminder that teams need to be careful when signing these big bonus babies. Gonzalez/Lugo was scouted for over two years before he was signed and still managed to keep his identity/age a secret.

Wow, completely missed the other thread....

[Left Field]

Wow, completely missed the other thread....

I find it amazing in this post 9-11 era that international ballplayers are still misrepresenting themselves and getting away with it. On the other hand, I cant remember anyone in recent times that has gotten busted for this. I do remember all the fallout after 9-11 when they tightened up the visa policies. Wasnt there an O's middle infield prospect that had to add a few extra years to his age?

[Maverick2143]

I find it amazing in this post 9-11 era that international ballplayers are still misrepresenting themselves and getting away with it. On the other hand, I cant remember anyone in recent times that has gotten busted for this. I do remember all the fallout after 9-11 when they tightened up the visa policies. Wasnt there an O's middle infield prospect that had to add a few extra years to his age?

Ed Rodgers....

[zff4]

Jim Bowden, it will soon be shown, is really an ex-dogcatcher from Passaic NJ who mispresented his ties to baseball early in his career and was never exposed.

[TGO]

Our very own Alfredo Simon was busted for claiming to be someone else, but I believe he did it the other way around, claiming to be older so he could sign sooner. This was back in the 90s though.

[crawdad]

He's pretty good at finding bargain heap players (eg. Dmitri Young, Olsen/Willingham). He's just terrible at building teams and recognizing the value of players he already owns. Bowden really belongs in a scouting department IMO.

Yeah, that is the same Dmitri Young earning millions as a MiL player in the Nats system this year.