O's interested in Sano

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-short606,0,5429145.story?track=rss

I think we make a move for him.

Asked on Friday about the tryout and Sano in particular, Orioles director of player development David Stockstill said, "We tried him out and we were very impressed with what we saw. We were happy to have the opportunity to do it. Unfortunately, there isn't any fraking way we are going to pay a kid pitcher $4 million to sign."

Okay, he didn't say that last part. But he could have.

Asked on Friday about the tryout and Sano in particular, Orioles director of player development David Stockstill said, "We tried him out and we were very impressed with what we saw. We were happy to have the opportunity to do it. Unfortunately, there isn't any fraking way we are going to pay a kid pitcher $4 million to sign."

Okay, he didn't say that last part. But he could have.

The only problem with that is that he's a SS, not a pitcher. Still, $4 million for a 16 year-old is an awful lot of money.

The only problem with that is that he's a SS, not a pitcher. Still, $4 million for a 16 year-old is an awful lot of money.

Okay, Stockstill would know that he's a SS, even if I didn't.

He still won't pay him the money, tho.

Ok. So... conspiracy time. Say the Orioles draft a guy like Alex White Tuesday, a college arm with 0 signability concerns that will surely take slot money, saving the front office time and cash... does this increase the chances they break the bank for Sano? Or, even crazier, they draft Tate, a signability nightmare, he refuses the slightly above-slot offer, the O's take that cash, send it Sano's way and we call that our first round pick? AND as another poster conspired a few weeks ago, we get the sixth pick in next year's draft, which is supposed to be much more talented than this year's rather thin pickings!

Oh, conspiracies are fun.

Seriously what iss the point in paying guys in the international scouting department if they refuse to sign the top talent? Its not worth the investment to find the Liz's of the world for your AAA team.

Seriously what iss the point in paying guys in the international scouting department if they refuse to sign the top talent? Its not worth the investment to find the Liz's of the world for your AAA team.

Did it occur to you that they may be willing to pay but want to make sure he is the next Hanley Ramirez and not Alex Ramirez? Just because he is a hot prospect doesn't mean he will pan out or that all scouts have the same opinion. I am sure they are willing to bid if they were sure they were seeing something special.

The Orioles, meanwhile, haven't given out a bonus to an international free agent worth more than $600,000 over the last decade, and have never paid $1 million or higher.

Though I know what Zrebiec means, his statement is not correct. The O's laid out 10 big ones for Koji and what was he if he was not an international free agent.

Another way to look at it, is that everyone knows who the top talent is. You pay your scouting department to find the equivalent of those 7th rounders (like Caleb Joseph). The Orioles do have a few players that look to be pretty good prospects. Pedro Florimon, Luis Lebron, Luis Noel & Gabradez Rosa come to mind. Don't get me wrong though. I'd like to see some top guys signed as well.

Your obsession with Florimon is starting to scare me :laughlol:

What is the success rate of these latin signing bonus babies?

I haven't paid much attention at all to who the high dollar signings were, but have they progressed and made an impact in the MiLB or the MLB? I know Carlos Triunfel was a big dollar latin signing, but I only know about him from the Bedard trade discussions. If there is much of success rate, and he projects to be very good, I say the O's should jump on this.

We're not going to sign this guy, IMO. I'd be shellshocked if we did.

Though I know what Zrebiec means, his statement is not correct. The O's laid out 10 big ones for Koji and what was he if he was not an international free agent.

He is talking about signing bonus, not actual contract like the $10 million for Koji.

This could be one of the groundbreaking, gate-opener moves, similar to Koji opening the Japanese doors.

I agree, it's time for the Orioles to go out and buy a pack of needles from the store instead of looking for them in haystacks for a change.

Let's look at it this way. The chances he is 16 and not 19 or 20 is slim. If a young, quality SS who could be only a year or two away is available, why not spend the $4 million to get him? Angelos has the money and has shown a willingness to throw money at players that were past their prime and didn't deliver on the field. Recently, he's even shown a tended to spend money in the right places (i.e. Wieters, Arrieta, Uehara) Why not spend the money on a guy who could give the farm system a boost and fill in a huge long-term question mark?

IMO, this is an encouraging article. I think the Os are going to make a significant step forward in international spend this year on amateur talent. I don't expect us to go to $1M on anyone, but I am hopeful of spending over $100k on at least four or five guys and between $500k and $1M in total. We'll see.