Poll: Are you disappointed with the lack of international signings?

[hoosiers]

Have you seen any pictures of it? Not being a jerk. Just saying. How do we know its what measures up with the rest? Besides correct me if I am wrong, but isnt our DR team piggy backing the Brewers team? I thought I remember reading that somewhere.

http://masnsports.com/2008/10/international-scouting-report.html

Our FO claims to be a middle of the pack team in the DR nine months ago with the intention of moving up a couple places each year. Either you believe the FO in saying they have upgraded or you don't. I believe them. It just appears that hearing about the results are going to be a long way off because our FO appears to believe the best route is to invest in scouts and go cheap with the prospects.

I expect we split a team with Milwaukee because we did not have enough prospects signed between the time the new facility was rented and the opening of the DSL. Hopefully, soon, we can field our own team.

[Great 2BA FL Gator]

That's great but where is the next crop?

There's a giant void of positional talent until you get to the lower minors. We've got a lot of role players and utility guys, but not many offensive studs.

If all goes according to plan, our pitching should be set for the next 4+ years.. We will have 6 position players under control for 4+ years (assuming we extend AJ).. What more do you want?? Yeah depth is needed when you become a great organization, but why should we be declared a great organization.. YET. It doesn't happen overnight.

[hoosiers]

As a great philosopher, Wesley, once said, get used to disappointment

You really didn't dispute anything I said, though.

You did not say anything of substance. You wanted definitions of "vigor and enthusiasm" as if these were my words and not the FO's.

Do you dispute the fact that our FO asked for a year and that year has passed? Would you expect a substantial DR effort that involved vigor and enthusiasm would go unnoticed by publications like Baseball America?

[JTrea81]

Let's look at the San Diego Padres shall we...

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Two months after opening a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, the San Diego Padres stepped up their offshore push Wednesday by landing five highly regarded 16-year-olds on the first day of the international signing period.

The Padres committed nearly $5 million in signing bonuses to the five, including $2 million to right-hander Adis Portillo of Venezuela.

"I don't know if we've ever had a year where we spent a million and a half total on everybody," general manager Kevin Towers said. "We've basically quadrupled our commitment internationally."

Also signing were shortstop Alvaro Aristy and right-hander Elvin Tavarez of the Dominican Republic. San Diego opened the $8 million, 15-acre Padres Dominican Republic Baseball Park in Najayo, San Cristobal, on April 30. The other two who signed were infielder-outfielder Corey Adamson of Australia and outfielder Luis Domoromo of Venezuela.

Wednesday was the beginning of the period when teams could sign 16-year-old international players who will turn 17 prior to the end of 2009 minor league season.

Randy Smith, the former big league general manager who is now San Diego's director of international scouting, said he felt the Padres "secured the best group of international players available."

"It was a pretty successful day," Smith said during a conference call from the Dominican Republic. "I'm as excited today about this as I have been about anything else in my career. It is a great organizational effort by everybody from the top down."

The Padres established a presence in two months. The Orioles have taken two years...

The Padres showed that it doesn't take two years to be able to sign top talent. So what is the Orioles' excuse for taking so long?

[JTrea81]

If all goes according to plan, our pitching should be set for the next 4+ years.. We will have 6 position players under control for 4+ years (assuming we extend AJ).. What more do you want?? Yeah depth is needed when you become a great organization, but why should we be declared a great organization.. YET. It doesn't happen overnight.

We have to have one of the best organizations in baseball to compete in the AL East on a routine basis.

[Peace21]

http://masnsports.com/2008/10/international-scouting-report.html

Our FO claims to be a middle of the pack team in the DR nine months ago with the intention of moving up a couple places each year. Either you believe the FO in saying they have upgraded or you don't. I believe them. It just appears that hearing about the results are going to be a long way off because our FO appears to believe the best route is to invest in scouts and go cheap with the prospects.

I expect we split a team with Milwaukee because we did not have enough prospects signed between the time the new facility was rented and the opening of the DSL. Hopefully, soon, we can field our own team.

:rofl:sorry that was funny to read.

[Great 2BA FL Gator]

We have to have one of the best organizations in baseball to compete in the AL East on a routine basis.

Yes we do.. But how often do you see a franchise jump from one of the worst if not the worst organization in baseball to one of the best in TWO years.. It's hard to go worst to first as a major league team in that amount of time. I just think it's completely unrealistic.

[Moose Milligan]

Well I can see the San Diego Padres are going to be the new team du jour around these here parts....awesome.

[RShack]

http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080217&content_id=2376724&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=bal

Second paragraph:

Andy MacPhail, Baltimore's president of baseball operations, announced earlier this month that the Orioles will begin to diversify their international interests. John Stockstill has been tabbed to head up that effort, and the hope is to take one year to survey the lay of the land before jumping into the foreign markets with renewed vigor and enthusiasm.

It's been 17 months and two July 1 signing periods since the article was written and it's difficult to believe we have jumped into the foreign markets "with renewed vigor and enthusiasm". This is not to say there have not been tangible signs of improvement - there have, but I thought we would be suitors for all levels of talent.

OK, good. Thanks for the link.

You're right, it has been 17 months since Spencer Fordin reported that "the hope is" that after a year of "surveying", the O's will approach the foreign markets with "renewed vigor and enthusiasm". It's not clear to me whose words those are. Did AM really talk about "renewed vigor and enthusiasm"? Sounds more like JFK to me ;-)

Those comments were not specific to Latin America. The comments were about the O's targeting non-US players in general. I'd say signing Koji, who has been a legit star in Japan for quite some time, is evidence that it hasn't been 17 months with nothing happening. In fact, while Fordin said that "the hope is" to be more active after a year of scoping things out, they signed Koji about a month before that year of scoping things out was up.

I am not well informed about exactly how things work in the D.R., but I gather it's complicated and based on connections. I get the impression that we really don't know precisely what the O's are doing about that, beyond their involvement in the academy that opened some months after the statement you linked to. Hasn't that turned into the O's being one of just a few teams linked to Sano?

I guess I just expect this kind of thing to take a while, that's all. While I've never worked in baseball, or in any aspect of the sports business, I have been involved in starting new projects from the ground up, developing new programs, etc. In my experience, doing stuff like that just takes time, simply because of how Real Life works. This is especially so when you're relying on relationships moreso than, say, moving earth and pouring concrete. So, I think it's bit soon to judge things just yet. In general, I wouldn't want them signing 16-year-old's from the DR just to prove they're doing something. I'd think you'd want to see something really special before signing up kids that young. Do we even know what to do with a 16-year-old?

[Skeletor]

We do have our own DSL team and we split one with the Brewers. So, we have 1.5 teams.

[Great 2BA FL Gator]

Well I can see the San Diego Padres are going to be the new team du jour around these here parts....awesome.

Yeah, clearly they are going to have the best farm system in baseball from this day forward..

[GoldGlove21]

Interesting, I guess Koji and Tanaka don't mean anything.

Oh, but I get it, the main gripe here is not international signings, its SOUTH AMERICAN signings. I understand now.

We'll get there, Trea. Stop getting your Underoos in a knot.

So, signing Koji at 34 is going to be enough for Yu Darvish to want to play for us? How about the next 16 year old Asian phenom? We have a presence in South America, but is should read as a faint heartbeat verses a full pulse.

I am not saying fire MacPhail. I think he is doing a good job. I do not understand how international talent differs from US based talent. Is the guy worth drafting and handing X amount of dollars to? Is the international guy worth signing for X amount of dollars? Money talks, its language is universal.

[Moose Milligan]

So, signing Koji at 34 is going to be enough for Yu Darvish to want to play for us? How about the next 16 year old Asian phenom? We have a presence in South America, but is should read as a faint heartbeat verses a full pulse.

I am not saying fire MacPhail. I think he is doing a good job. I do not understand how international talent differs from US based talent. Is the guy worth drafting and handing X amount of dollars to? Is the international guy worth signing for X amount of dollars? Money talks, its language is universal.

Well Yu Darvish has said that he doesn't want to jump to the majors. At least not anytime soon: http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/17/sports/sp-darvish-japan-wbc17

My main point with that post is that it seems a bit hypocritical to ignore Koji and Tanaka just because it fits to help form a certain argument.

In other words, this thread title should have been titled "Are you disappointed with the lack of Latin American signings?" I mean, thats what the Trea means when he gets all bent out of shape, that we're not signing Dominican shortstops who aren't old enough to drive or vote yet.

Its sort of like when people talk about illegal immigrants in this country...people automatically know you're talking about a specific group of people, it's just a different way of phrasing it.

[Flosman]

We do have our own DSL team and we split one with the Brewers. So, we have 1.5 teams.

Just qouting so some of the knuckleheads might see this little fact, But please continue the basing of the facts. BTW just because the padres spent alot does not mean they got a thing.

[Mooreisbetter27]

Well Yu Darvish has said that he doesn't want to jump to the majors. At least not anytime soon: http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/17/sports/sp-darvish-japan-wbc17

My main point with that post is that it seems a bit hypocritical to ignore Koji and Tanaka just because it fits to help form a certain argument.

In other words, this thread title should have been titled "Are you disappointed with the lack of Latin American signings?" I mean, thats what the Trea means when he gets all bent out of shape, that we're not signing Dominican shortstops who aren't old enough to drive or vote yet.

Its sort of like when people talk about illegal immigrants in this country...people automatically know you're talking about a specific group of people, it's just a different way of phrasing it.

To be fair, Trea didn't make the topic. Lex did.

But if he HAD made the topic, you're right... it should've read as you wrote it.