Theo Epstein made it clear that he did not like the new collective bargaining agreement. The hard bonus caps and harsh penalties for violations made his job harder to sign young players. His Red Sox Way was to draft players in the third, fourth or fifth round but pay them first round money in order to get them signed. But you cannot do that effectively with the hard cap for the first ten rounds of the draft. Same was true with the international player market. In the past, it was the Wild West, no cap on signing players. But after some scandals and alleged scout kick backs, MLB put in hard cap on international player signings. The one loophole in the CBA was that teams could trade certain of their international slot allowances to other teams. Teams were limited to adding no more than 50% of their full international signing budget.
So the Cubs acquired a net $983,000 in more international signing money. And Theo and his boys went on a shopping spree.
Top international prospect Eloy Jimenez has decided to turn down more money from another club to sign with the Cubs, according to MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez. If true, one has to question the player or his advisors. Jimenez, a 16-year-old outfielder from the Dominican Republic, is regarded as the top international prospect by both Baseball America and MLB.com. Jimenez is 6'4" and 200 pounds, and Baseball America's Ben Badler says that his average raw power and flat swing produce line drives -- a combination that could lead to above-average home run power in the future. MLB.com said Jimenez has one of the best baseball bodies available this year and is considered to be the total package. The teenager has impressed scouts with his intelligence, plus-speed, and gap-to-gap power that is expected to improve as he grows into his body.Jimenez's asking price was reported to be $2.7 million.
The Cubs also signed 16-year-old Venezuelan shortstop Gleyber Torres to a $1.7MM deal according to MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez. Torres ranked second among international prospects on the list from Baseball America's Ben Badler, and third on MLB.com's list. The Cubs also signed Dominican righty Jefferson Mejia for $850K today. He was drafted last season but MLB rejected his contract due to conflict with his age, now believed to be 18.
The Cubs have also secured Colombian right-hander Erling Moreno for $800K, according to Badler. Moreno ranked as BA's No. 16 prospect and MLB.com's No. 17 prospect. The 6'3", 190-pound 16-year-old has touched 90 mph with his fastball and projects to become a power pitcher down the road.
Jimenez, of, $2.7 million.
Gleyber Torres, ss, $1.7 million
Jefferson Mejia, p, $850,000
Erling Moreno, p, $800,000
To summarize, the Cubs spent $ 6 million on Latin American teenagers for whom no one can fully evaluate for another five years. To put it in prospective, the high estimate for annual wages of a worker in the Dominican is $4,000 (US). A person's lifetime earnings projects to be less than $250,000 (US). A U.S. dollar has at least five times the purchasing power as the local currency. These children have blown past their countrymen in earnings for life. In other words, it does not matter whether they make it in baseball - - - they have broken the bank back home.
Which is why international player signings are so risky. Scouting reports are filled with objective information like size, weight, and general information about swing planes, etc. But there is little information on performance, level of competition, or comparison with in game situations. But to the Cubs this appears to be the promised land for new talent.
The Cubs need to find new talent quickly. But the Cubs front office are control freaks who like to have young players they have under contract for multiple years. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes reports that Jake Arrieta (acquired in the Feldman deal) has two year and 99 days of service time, meaning that the Cubs can avoid Super Two arbitration status if he accumulates less than 53 days of service time this season. That is why the Cubs have sent him to Iowa to stop the arbitration clock. If Arrieta picks up fewer than 73 days of service time, he will be controllable through the 2017 season.
But some people doubt whether Arrieta will amount to much. Orioles executive VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette, Theo's old boss - - - the man who built the Red Sox team that won its first championship, told Jim Bowden of ESPN that he didn't want to trade prospects whose capabilities are unknown at this point. The Orioles traded Arrieta and Pedro Strop to the Cubs because the Orioles believe they know what those arms are capable of (which at the time were plus 7.00 ERAs and control issues). Some have said that in essence, the Cubs traded Feldman for two Carlos Marmols. But in reality, the Cubs traded Feldman for Baltimore's international bonus money.
It is a real Hail Mary strategy to trade major league players for money to acquire little known teenagers. But Peter Gammons said on the radio this morning that this may be the future of baseball. He opined that the NCAA has made it difficult for minority talent to play in college. He believes that there is a real deficiency in positional player talent at NCAA schools that only international markets such as Latin America can fill. He admitted that many front office personnel cannot say how well an international player will be; they tell him "ask me that question six years from now."
For Cub fans excited that the team is spending big money on prospects, they need to be aware that strategy pushes part of the rebuilding process back to 2019 for tangible results for these new players.
