No one said good players don’t sign for cheap. But at the end of the day, everyone prioritizes the big money guys for a reason.
Actually starting to think the odds are better for cheap guys.... here are some of the bigger/most hyped international prospects... a few really good ones, and most busts
Carlos Martinez (very good pitcher with TOR potential)
Sano (shown real glimpses - has not arrived closed to the hype yet)
Vlad (HOFer_
Miggy (HOFer)
Ichiro (obviously was a star)
Jose Abreu (uneven performance, one dimensional player, $10 million bonus)
Gary Sanchez (good player... health issues? struggling now)
Puig (obviously has talent, but we all know the issues)
Moncada (struggling mighty hard for the best international prospect ever)
Eloy (too early to say but early returns look good)
Michael Ynoa (lol)
Adonys Cardona
Luis Heredia
Yoan Lopez (too early to say, but $8 million bonus for a reliever prospect is a little nuts)
Hechavarria (solid career I guess, unspectacular)
Leslie Anderson (huge bust)
Rusney Castillo (lol)
Yasmay Tomas ($14 million signing bonus!)
Yunesky Maya
A few current high dollar Cuban prospects, jury still out (funny the best of these are the two cheapest):
Yusniel Diaz (decent prospect, but $16 million good??)
Luis Robert (hasn't done much as a 20 year old with a combined A and A+ OPS this year of .734 OPS... $26 million...)
Morejon (solid prospect)
Michael Baez (very good prospect)
Yordon Alvarez (very good prospect)
Yadier Alvarez (still early but has disappointed)
Maitan (yeah...)
Then you have all the Asian busts:
Kaz Matsui
Irabu
Kei Igawa
Dice-K (lets face it, he sucked hard after he was figured out)
Fukudome
Compare that with just a small sampling of guys singed
$100k and under:
Inciarte
Acuna
Albies
Nelson Cruz
Starlin Castro
Ozuna
Jose Ramirez
Jansen
Schoop
Cano
Salvador Perez
So after doing some research... obviously I'd like to sign the high dollar guys if possible, but I feel like you're spending a ton of money and the percentage of these high dollar guys actually working out looks pretty small. Yet, there are tons of stars who on one had ever heard of when they were signed. We very well could have one or more of those in the DSL/GCL right now.