O's interested in Sano

[murrayfan420]

If the Pirates can afford to pony up the cash, I don't see why the Orioles can't.

[hoosiers]

If the Pirates can afford to pony up the cash, I don't see why the Orioles can't.

Who said the Os can't? No one said any of this is a matter of money to the Orioles. It is a matter of the Os having been behind in developing an appropriate infrastructure to identify and build relationships with the kids.

I believe this infrastructure is coming into place and the Os will be ramping up the spending from a very low level. I hope the Os go out and spend $500k on one kid this year and expect us to be players for such top prospects very soon, but am somewhat ambivalent about doing that this year. The Os are coming from so far behind other organizations that as long as we "get there" eventually (in the next two or three years), I have the patience to wait.

[murrayfan420]

Who said the Os can't? No one said any of this is a matter of money to the Orioles. It is a matter of the Os having been behind in developing an appropriate infrastructure to identify and build relationships with the kids.

I believe this infrastructure is coming into place and the Os will be ramping up the spending from a very low level. I hope the Os go out and spend $500k on one kid this year and expect us to be players for such top prospects very soon, but am somewhat ambivalent about doing that this year. The Os are coming from so far behind other organizations that as long as we "get there" eventually (in the next two or three years), I have the patience to wait.

Well I admit I don't know much about international signing, but the O's could have the best infrastructure in the world, but unless they offer him the $$$ he wouldn't sign. I'm not suggesting they get in a bidding war but I think this kid is going to go where he can get the most money.

[hoosiers]

I'm not suggesting they get in a bidding war but I think this kid is going to go where he can get the most money.

What is your opinion based on?

[murrayfan420]

What is your opinion based on?

90% of professional athletes in the history of sports?

[crawdad]

What is your opinion based on?

It has been reported, but I cannot remember where, that Sano is far more interested in going to the highest bidder and has not developed overly tight relationships with any teams. Not sure how correct that is.

[hoosiers]

90% of professional athletes in the history of sports?

This is a 16 year old kid in latin america. He's not a professional athlete.

[Sports Guy]

Need to pay up for this top international talent.

4 million spent on this type of upside is better than 9 million spent on Jay Payton.

[murrayfan420]

This is a 16 year old kid in latin america. He's not a professional athlete.

I would argue that makes him even more likely to go for the highest bidder. I'm not sure what you're getting at.

I'm not trying to say I know what he'll do, just what my guess would be.

[bej6789]

Considering the source of everything is essentially centering around a 16 year old kid... I'm taking everything with the biggest grain of salt possible. Lord knows what he wants, and I doubt it's really him thats controlling everything anyways.

I'll say this -- in years past, this is a complete afterthought for the Orioles. While other teams are in the bidding for young talent in the latin baseball wolrd, the Orioles are signing Victor Zambrano. There's really something to be said for the foundation that Mcphail, Stockstill and Jordan are laying for the organization. We might not get him, but this is an incredibly encouraging step for the future.

[Lucky Jim]

Need to pay up for this top international talent.

4 million spent on this type of upside is better than 9 million spent on Jay Payton.

This is a false dichotomy.

[Anonymous]

Who said the Os can't? No one said any of this is a matter of money to the Orioles. It is a matter of the Os having been behind in developing an appropriate infrastructure to identify and build relationships with the kids.

I believe this infrastructure is coming into place and the Os will be ramping up the spending from a very low level. I hope the Os go out and spend $500k on one kid this year and expect us to be players for such top prospects very soon, but am somewhat ambivalent about doing that this year. The Os are coming from so far behind other organizations that as long as we "get there" eventually (in the next two or three years), I have the patience to wait.

The "wait-until-we're ready" philosophy, which makes a ton of sense when it comes to signing big-dollar big-league FAs and/or trading away excess pitching prospects for those couple of big bats that put us over the top, doesn't apply here. Even though we lack the optimal infrastructure at this point, as you correctly note, that shouldn't constrain us in evaluating this kid and determining how big an offer we should make. The size of the offer should have zero correlation with the quality of our infrastructure.

[mark_beckens]

Need to pay up for this top international talent.

4 million spent on this type of upside is better than 9 million spent on Jay Payton.

Not to mention the millions wasted on Baez and Walker, to name a couple.

[Anonymous]

The point of Lucky Jim's post, mark, is that we could have wasted C.C. Sabathia magnitude dollars on Payton, Walker, Bradford, et. al. -- and it STILL wouldn't serve as any legitimate basis for determining whether $4 mil for Sano is a sensible offer. Thus his declaration of it being a false dichotomy, which it most surely is.

[mark_beckens]

The point of Lucky Jim's post, mark, is that we could have wasted C.C. Sabathia magnitude dollars on Payton, Walker, Bradford, et. al. -- and it STILL wouldn't serve as any legitimate basis for determining whether $4 mil for Sano is a sensible offer. Thus his declaration of it being a false dichotomy, which it most surely is.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong to give him that much money. Just that there are alot of professional athletes being grossly overpaid. Whatever happen to getting paid for what you actually do, not on what you might do. I believe there should be hard caps on what drafted players get. Until you prove you deserve to be paid like one of the best players in the game, you should atleast play one inning in the major leagues.