Draft/ International Signing Day?

Ranma · Post #41 » by **Ranma** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 1:14 am

Quake Griffin · Post #42 » by **Quake Griffin** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:56 am

are we in on that kid?

and wtf at eddy julio martinez?

Ranma · Post #43 » by **Ranma** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 7:13 pm

I haven't heard the Dodgers being directly connected to Vladimir Gutierrez yet--only speculative interest as reported by pundits--but if the front office wants him, you would have to think they will get him, especially since Funkhouser went back to school and the organization has gone on record in saying it wants to make a big splash in this international signing period. We lost out on Lucius Fox, so there should be room in our plans to go after more. Also, this would be a convenient way to replenish the farm system from the anticipated loss of prospects to be dealt by the trade deadline.

With regard to Eddy Julio Martinez, I haven't heard anything since it was reported last that the Dodgers were the front-runners to sign him with the Giants also in pursuit but unlikely to meet his asking price. He, like Gutierrez, might be holding a showcase soon (this month?) for MLB scouts to evaluate him.

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Ranma · Post #44 » by **Ranma** » Mon Aug 10, 2015 9:26 pm

While Martinez was initially considered by some to be the top-ranked Cuban player available in the current international class, there were plenty of higher rated prospects still left on the island. Since the open of this signing period, I've been hearing an increasing number of available prospects that have likely surpassed Martinez since then and that's without hearing anything about the Gourriel brothers, who I suspect will also be available for this international class eventually.

Names like OF Yusniel Diaz, RHP Vladimir Gutierrez, and RHP Yaisel Sierra are names that have consistently popped up on the radar. I'm not sure if any of these 3 qualify as being rated higher than Martinez, but I am intrigued with Diaz, who I believe the Dodgers are scouting. Gutierrez is considered by some to be better than Yadier Alvarez, so I have to think the Dodgers also have interest in him as well. Alvarez apparently has the higher upside while Gutierrez is more polished.

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Ranma · Post #45 » by **Ranma** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 7:28 pm

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Ranma · Post #46 » by **Ranma** » Fri Aug 14, 2015 7:48 pm

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Ranma · Post #47 » by **Ranma** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 4:17 am

I wonder if these dismissals are related to the lack of current return on Esribel Arruebarrena, Alexander Guerrero, Hector Olivera, and even Yasiel Puig. Even with his struggles and distractions, I'd have to think of Puig as a hit. Friedman and company seemed to have signed off on Olivera, but Arruebarrena looks like a bust despite his glove while Guerrero seems to be following in relatively similar footsteps.

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Jesse Sanchez & Ken Gurnick, MLB.com (8/17/15)

The Dodgers dismissed a significant portion of their international scouting department on Monday, including vice president Bob Engle.

Also dismissed were Patrick Guerrero, the Dodgers' scouting coordinator in Latin America; Franklin Taveras, the club's scouting coordinator in the Dominican Republic; Joseph Reaves, the director of international and Minor League relations; Rafael Colon, special advisor for international player performance; Hidenori Sueyoshi, senior manager of international scouting; and Bruce Hurst, Latin America field coordinator, a source told MLB.com. The club did not confirm the front-office changes.

"The only explanation I got was that they wanted to go in a different direction and nothing else," Guerrero said from the Dominican Republic. "I understand. That's baseball."

Source: Dodgers Dismiss Several from Int'l Scouting Corps

Quake Griffin · Post #48 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 5:09 am

Oh snap I just posted this in the other thread….I see you were on it before me.
This is odd to me given how much we did at the international deadline and that we are still in on guys internationally that can be signed.

I have no idea what is going on here. I hope Stan and Friedman know exactly what the hell theyre doing here.

Ranma · Post #49 » by **Ranma** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 12:38 am

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Ranma · Post #50 » by **Ranma** » Sat Aug 29, 2015 5:05 am

MLB.com has just released an updated rankings of the international free-agents with the newly available prospects for this signing period included. Dodgers' signees Yadier Alvarez, Starling Heredia, and Ronny Brito are on the list with Alvarez at the top of the rankings, Heredia 7th overall, and Brito 22nd; Lucius Fox, the SS who signed with the Giants at the last moment, is 5th overall.

The top targets still available are RHP Vladimir Gutierrez (2nd overall), OF Yusniel Diaz (3rd overall), and OF Eddy Julio Martinez (4th overall). I'm a little surprised that Martinez is ranked lower than Diaz, who I actually prefer to the previous top dog E.J. Martinez. Among the trio, Diaz is my top priority but I would also like to get Gutierrez in the fold. Of course, getting all 3 would also be nice depending on the cost.

There's some concern that the recent turnover in our international scouting department could hamper our signing efforts moving forward, but I suspect we'll pursue scouts who not only have a keen eye for talent but also established relationships with prominent international prospects.

I still anticipate the Gourriel brothers to suddenly be available later on during this signing period with 3B Yulieski ranked at least 3rd overall but likely 2nd and possibly even 1st. However, as I've previously said multiple times, SS Lourdes, Jr. is my preferred object of pursuit where I'd personally rank him at 2nd overall ahead of Gutierrez and Diaz and even his brother, which seems to go against consensus opinion.

Quake Griffin · Post #51 » by **Quake Griffin** » Sat Aug 29, 2015 6:00 am

Do you know if we can still sign all of these guys/ how much money we have left to spend in this period?

Ranma · Post #52 » by **Ranma** » Sat Aug 29, 2015 7:04 am

Quake Griffin wrote:Do you know if we can still sign all of these guys/ how much money we have left to spend in this period?

I actually don't know if we have a budget, but I'm normally not a fan of the Yankees' approach of just haphazardly throwing money at things, anyway. However, the impression given off by the organization is that the Dodgers will make a big splash during this signing period. With such expectations set, does Alvarez, Heredia, Brito, and the now since departed Hector Olivera qualify as a "big splash" worth sitting out the next two signing periods for? In my opinion, I can't say that it does, especially in light of missing out on Yoan Moncada and Lucius Fox along with foregoing the opportunity to pursue Kevin Maitan.

Don't get me wrong. We've got a good group of acquisitions that is arguably the best in the past few years, but like I alluded to, the Dodgers have set the bar higher for themselves even if it is unreasonable for practically every other team in major league baseball to meet.

Having said that, we need to at least get a Gourriel (hopefully Lourdes, Jr.)--but they're not even assured to be available--or at least two of Diaz, Gutierrez, and Martinez and, even then, I'm not sure I can say that would be satisfactory. I'm definitely onboard with being selective in our pursuit of targets because, philosophically, I'm against wasting assets and resources as a habit for organizations to fall into, but I'm sorry to say that we have to come away with more than just Yadier Alvarez, Starling Heredia, and Ronny Brito as our only headline keepers from this international signing period.

Ranma · Post #53 » by **Ranma** » Tue Sep 1, 2015 7:10 am

Ted Berg, USA Today Sports (8/31/15)

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Here’s a strange one: A Cuban baseball player named Loah Linares has been sleeping outside Dodger Stadium for weeks in the hopes of landing a tryout with the Los Angeles club.
...

It’s a curious story, and there’s no evidence I can find online of Loah Linares’ history as a baseball player beyond the publicity surrounding his efforts at Chavez Ravine. So it could easily be some sort of stunt.

A Cuban Baseball Player Has Been Sleeping Outside Dodger Stadium for Weeks

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Ranma · Post #54 » by **Ranma** » Thu Sep 3, 2015 7:38 pm

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Ranma · Post #55 » by **Ranma** » Sun Oct 4, 2015 11:18 pm

I was more bummed about losing Lucius Fox to the Giants than I am Eddy Julio Martinez despite their respective rankings. To be honest, I was really never sold on EJ Martinez. It's also funny to note that Martinez signed for less than his rumored initial asking price. Also, Fox signed for $6.5 million while Martinez for only $2.5 million (less than what the Dodgers paid for Starling Heredia) so it looks like San Francisco also holds Fox in higher esteem than Martinez.

At this point, I expect the Dodgers to sign at least one of Vladimir Gutierrez or Yusniel Diaz with a very good chance of getting both.

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Quake Griffin · Post #56 » by **Quake Griffin** » Mon Oct 5, 2015 2:55 am

Yea.

Fox would have been great….particularly if we're gonna give Seager a spin at SS for a couple years and then move him to 3rd.
He'd be great to bring up. Him and Peraza might not ever let anything through the infield.

Interesting to see the Giants get this active in the international signings. Looks almost like they're in it to make sure we aren't getting the best of everything and running away with the division for the next 10 years.

Ranma · Post #57 » by **Ranma** » Mon Oct 5, 2015 3:47 am

While I don't know this for a fact and can only speculate based on the reports leading up to the respective signings, the Giants sniped us on Fox by offering about a million (maybe million and a half) more than what the Dodgers were purportedly offering, which I assumed was a handshake deal. I suspect Fox's representation came back and offered us the chance to match or exceed the offer, but I think the Dodgers did not want to set a precedent in rewarding behavior of breaking verbal agreements, especially since the organization had been used as leverage (Yoan Lopez) and bidding against itself (Alexander Guerrero and Hector Olivera) in previous recent signings.

Fox, in particular, is thought to be a Brandon Crawford type of player, which San Francisco obviously loves and one the Dodgers could definitely have used in its system. On the other hand, the hype on Martinez seemed to have died down, particularly with more Cuban players being made available. At one point, he was considered the top ranked international prospect for this signing period commanding a $10 million signing bonus, but now he signed for less than what the Dodgers gave Starling Heredia, the currently 7th ranked overall international prospect for this signing period. For the record, I've always liked Heredia more than Martinez even with all the hype and chatter.

Adding Lourdes Gouriel, Jr.--whose availability is uncertain--at SS to eventually go with Seager at 3B and Peraza at 2B would be a coup in my opinion. That infield would be ready for major league play in a couple of years and set in place for the next decade assuming we find an heir apparent for Adrian Gonzalez.

Ranma · Post #58 » by **Ranma** » Wed Oct 7, 2015 8:43 am

Did the Dodgers come back to snipe Eddy Julio Martinez in retaliation for losing Lucius Fox? Hopefully, we'll get more on the full story of this later on. In any case and like I've said before, I'm fairly meh about EJM.

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Update: FanGraph's Kiley McDaniel provides some insight into the Martinez situation as well as international negotiations as a whole in a chat yesterday.

Kiley McDaniel, FanGraphs.com (10/6/15)

12:11
Comment From DrBGiantsfan
Was Eddy Julio Martinez‘ signing bonus a lot lower than expected? If so, was their some reason why his stock dropped?

12:24
Kiley McDaniel: It’s a complicated but a common situation in a July 2 setting: scouting momentum yields higher and higher offers, then the agent gets greedy, teams get tired of the runaround and move on, then the agent has to settle for 25-35% of what he’d already been offered.

Happens all the time in the 16-year-old July 2 setting. The true value of the player is probably between the peak hype value one team put on him and the discount version, but people tend to say the highest number was never real and the signing bonus was reflective of the talent, when neither is really true.

From what I was told, Martinez had three teams that offered at least $7 million, with a good shot of $10-11 million coming. Then, the agent got greedy (was then fired), teams moved on, the market was reset at $5 million or less by the new agent and teams came back, the new agent opted to take the now money, rather than wait and maybe get a few million more.

Kinda silly to say he was only a $5 million player (the bonus+penalty SF paid for him) when a few teams clearly valued him closer to $15 million. These values are dictated by the team that ends up with him, so if you’re trying to find market consensus (the 15th highest valuation), you’re playing it conservative and almost always going to be too low/shocked at the price.

Kiley McDaniel Prospects Chat – 10/6/15

Quake Griffin · Post #59 » by **Quake Griffin** » Wed Oct 7, 2015 4:17 pm

Well…I hope we poach him.

If we're not that big on him, hopefully we can include him in a deal for a piece that we want (maybe Archer or Sonny Gray?) and focus on getting the prospects that seem to be coming in under the radar that you really like.

I havent gotten a look at these guys, so I can't say how much I do or don't like them.
but if you have video of the Gourriel bros etc. etc. Post up.

Ranma · Post #60 » by **Ranma** » Wed Oct 7, 2015 4:57 pm

Quake Griffin wrote:Well…I hope we poach him.

If we're not that big on him, hopefully we can include him in a deal for a piece that we want (maybe Archer or Sonny Gray?) and focus on getting the prospects that seem to be coming in under the radar that you really like.

I havent gotten a look at these guys, so I can't say how much I do or don't like them.
but if you have video of the Gourriel bros etc. etc. Post up.

While I'm not that high on him personally, the Dodgers are likely still interested in acquiring him. Like you said, he'd at least be a tradeable asset. The kid has talent, but I question his motivation and athleticism even though he has tools. As McDaniel noted in his chat, this situation has more to do with greedy agents more overtly concerned about increasing their own wealth than their clients' best interest, which apparently is a very common occurrence over there.

There seems to still be interest from multiple teams including the Dodgers, so I expect the bidding to push the price significantly above the $2.5 million Martinez almost committed to.

I didn't find any videos on the Gourriel brothers as information on them, particularly recent info, is scant. I based my opinion of them on the rankings and snippets of scouting reports that I came across previously. If I see anything on them or any international prospect of note, I'll post it here. The last I heard, Yulieski has gone under the radar while Lourdes, Jr. played recently in a game.