International FAILURES Continue...

[Stotle]

Okay, I try not to throw around hyperbole, as it is seldom useful in kick-starting interesting and fun baseball discussion. But after reading Jorge Arangure Jr.'s most recent blog on the newly-formed Dominican Prospect League, I found myself kicking my desk here at the office.

Link for insiders at ESPN -- http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=arangure_jorge_jr

To catch everyone up, the league was formed by three agents (Mejia, Cabrera and Morales) and was designed to provide a place were the top Dominican prospects could showcase their talent in game situations. The hope is that teams will get better looks at the top prospects and be able to more accurately assess their talents. Sounds great, right? I certainly think so. NOTE -- it's a new league and it still remains to be seen whether it will ultimately attract the best players, but at minimum it's a very big step in the right direction.

The first year has gone really well. Tony Arias, Reds Scouting Director stated:

"The league has allowed me to see the supposed top players for this year's signing period in game action...I think most Latin Scouting Directors have made it a point to see the DPL games when they are in the Dominican on Wednesdays. It has been beneficial to both the kids and teams in the scouting process in allowing all teams access to scout the kids playing in games amongst their peers. I hope they continue to have harmony and success with this venture as I think it benefits all the people involved with baseball in the Dominican."

Perfect. Not only does it allow organizations to see these kids in game situations, it allows teams without a huge presence at minimum to see a group of very talented kids from the area competing regularly. I immediately thought of the trips I have been taking to the US Showcases. I don't see enough myself to be an arbitor of all the talent in the US, but by attending four or five selected showcases, I can see a lot of the top HS kids and get a good idea of how they stack up.

Then I ran into this later in the article:

Also, though most teams' scouts have shown up regularly for games, Mejia notes that some teams -- like the Chicago White Sox and the Baltimore Orioles -- still have not had a regular presence at games.

What??? Someone actually does the legwork of setting up a central location for you to come watch a bunch of good young Dominican players and you are noticeably absent? How can you not send at least one scout regularly -- regardless of if they are specifically designated as Latin American Scout? You don't have to interact with buscons and establish relationships. You just have to sit in the stands and watch baseball!!!!!

That's all. Had to vent. Sometimes the ineptitude is too much for me....

Oh, and for the kicker, the Yankees grab some great PR in the DR (same article) and Big Papi does the same:

Yankees visit DR

Several representatives of the World Champion New York Yankees, bringing with them the championship trophy, are scheduled to meet with Dominican president Leonel Fernandez on Thursday at the presidential palace in Santo Domingo.

Dominican Secretary of Sport Felipe Payano called the scheduled event a historic day in Dominican sports history since it's believed the Yankees have never taken the World Series trophy out of the United States. (Read: Spanish | English)

Ortiz visits kids

For a variety of reasons -- a decrease in production, reports about supposed performance enhancing drug use -- David Ortiz's reputation in the United States took a hit last season. But his popularity in the Dominican remains as high as ever. This week, Ortiz visited poor children in the Dominican and handed out money and toys. (Read: Spanish | English)

[Mackus]

Absolutely inexcusable if true.

[SilentJames]

Completely horrendous if true

[Peace21]

But but but we are in Japan though.

[billwine76]

I gotta agree, it inexcuseable if they don't have a scout there.

They have spent more recently in international scouting, but why not go to these showcases.

[Stotle]

More:

Mejia notes that seven players who had been overlooked on July 2 have already signed contracts in the mid five-figure to low six-figure range. And it's not only players who have benefited. Teams not known for spending top money on players -- and who are often shut out from seeing some of the best talent -- now have the same opportunity to scout as do big-spending teams.

Sickening.....someone slap me....

[Lucky Jim]

Absolutely inexcusable if true.

Agreed. Though I'd need to know how many games teams went to before I accept an invested party's word on who played along with his/their project. I.e., what's "regular," what's not? (No Metamucil jokes, please. )

Still, if true, we're seriously lagging and in inexcusable ways.

[Stotle]

Agreed. Though I'd need to know how many games teams went to before I accept an invested party's word on who played along with his/their project. I.e., what's "regular," what's not? (No Metamucil jokes, please. )

Still, if true, we're seriously lagging and in inexcusable ways.

There's no incentive to lie or skew, so far as I can tell. The league is interested in getting interest and support from MLB on the whole. Why would anyone care if a non-entity on the international scene like Baltimore supports the program?

[Peace21]

I know I am a big supporter of what Andy MacPhail is doing. But this is one area where I wish he would be better in. I have heard reports from people with knowledge of our dominican scouts and they tell me we have some of the rudest and cheapest people to deal with in MLB.

[MemorialStadKid]

More and more evidence is gathered that lends support to the theory that some of us have that this organization is not doing nearly enough to become a competitive team.

JC on buttered toast!!!!

I have no reason to doubt what that agent said. And I am not surprised in the least that we don't have scouts down there.

This is just sick and sad.

So what's the explanation (excuse) for this one? I would love to hear the warehouse's take on this.

MSK

[Hank Scorpio]

Someone link it to Roch and have him see what the deal is.

Pretty pathetic.

[Moose Milligan]

This is totally inexcusable and stupid.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Stotle.

[Hooded Viper]

Are these players that are only represented by these 3 agents? If so, doesn't at perhaps leave out a great deal of other players? Not trying to make any excuses, I just want all the facts. If infact this is the majority of great dominican prospects that play in this league then the O's should be there. But if it is only a group represented by these 3 guys, which I imagine is the case, then I am sure there are a lot of other prospects to be scouted.

Can anyone clarify?

[Lucky Jim]

There's no incentive to lie or skew, so far as I can tell. The league is interested in getting interest and support from MLB on the whole. Why would anyone care if a non-entity on the international scene like Baltimore supports the program?

I've got no idea what agendas are out there - that's my point. The source is a discussion with an agent/founder. I'm not big on sources that are (i) singular and (ii) use watery definitions.

Look, I'm a skeptic by nature. I've said that if this is accurate that it's inexcusable.

[Mackus]

Someone link it to Roch and have him see what the deal is.

Pretty pathetic.

Yeah I'd really like to hear the FO response to this. I know they are making inroads, and they signed a lot of guys this year, but it seems just stupid to ignore something like this.

Its like ignoring the combine in the NFL.