International News, Rumor and Signing Thread

Him willing to wait till July is huge for us! I hope Saturday we really impress him and he does wait. Very smart move by his agents to expand his market. I wouldn't rule out a high school bat at 3 like Rutherford if he has a big year. My favorite 4 right now would be Groome, Puk, Lewis, and Rutherford. Lewis is from Georgia and has a power bat so he could emerge as the favorite.
 
bravesfanMatt said:
What a brilliant move by his agents. His market should be insane. The Big boys will most certainly want to drive his price up if nothing else.
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"The Big Boys" can't play either way. Yankees are out. Sox are out. Angels, Diamondbacks, and Rays are out no matter when he signs.

If he waits until July, the Dodgers, Cubs, and Royals are out.
 
Enscheff said:
One benefit to taking a college player at 3 is they are usually willing to sign for under slot money. This allows a team to go way over slot on later picks, like the Astros did last draft with Daz.
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Main reason I'd target Funkhouser at #40 - little choice but to take what he's offered.
 
Hudson2 said:
Him willing to wait till July is huge for us! I hope Saturday we really impress him and he does wait. Very smart move by his agents to expand his market. I wouldn't rule out a high school bat at 3 like Rutherford if he has a big year. My favorite 4 right now would be Groome, Puk, Lewis, and Rutherford. Lewis is from Georgia and has a power bat so he could emerge as the favorite.
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Lewis is my current way-too-early guess at our pick for #3. Checks all the boxes. That could change depending on his season before the draft. He'll probably be available for well under slot value, and we can grab mid-first round value with #40.
 
praeceps93 said:
Lewis is my current way-too-early guess at our pick for #3. Checks all the boxes. That could change depending on his season before the draft. He'll probably be available for well under slot value, and we can grab mid-first round value with #40.
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Lewis has serious power potential. A .367 average with 16 homes in less than 60 games is pretty good. If he has another big year he should go top 5. I'd love Puk at 3 but I have a feeling Groome and Puk will go 1 and 2.
 
clvclv said:
"The Big Boys" can't play either way. Yankees are out. Sox are out. Angels, Diamondbacks, and Rays are out no matter when he signs.

If he waits until July, the Dodgers, Cubs, and Royals are out.
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Dodger$ and Cub$ are the big boys and will most likely offer a nice penny to sign this period..Thus driving up his cost to wait until the J2 period
 
smootness said:
If we were able to land Maitan, Armenteros, and Gutierrez, it would likely be the most talent any team has ever added in one day in baseball history.
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There's no way the reality of this coming June/July can match our hopes and dreams, but it sure as heck fun to be able to have this kind of speculation again. My gut feeling is we have the right people calling the shots for the best possible result, but it takes two to tango.
 
I think that all the Cuban guys are being bought at premium prices because they ARE Cuban and because baseball was locked out of Cuba for so long. Some are going to pan out but most won't.

I am not against signing Cubans but think any signing is going to be an overpay because of the market condition.

Some are projecting Lazaro to get between 20-30M and the guy is 17. That money might get you 5 or 6 high end Dominicans or Venezuelans. Is it better to gamble that Lazaro will be a perennial All-Star or hedge your bets spreading the money among a number of players?
 
Hudson2 said:
It's all up to Lazaro pretty much. Bc Maitan and Guttierez are pretty much a lock.
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NO. STOP. Don't jinx us. I can only imagine the anger if neither are signed.

But if both Maitan and Guittierez are signed, good lord. Add in Lazaro and this team is setup for long term success.
 
Horsehide Harry said:
I think that all the Cuban guys are being bought at premium prices because they ARE Cuban and because baseball was locked out of Cuba for so long. Some are going to pan out but most won't.

I am not against signing Cubans but think any signing is going to be an overpay because of the market condition.

Some are projecting Lazaro to get between 20-30M and the guy is 17. That money might get you 5 or 6 high end Dominicans or Venezuelans. Is it better to gamble that Lazaro will be a perennial All-Star or hedge your bets spreading the money among a number of players?
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It all just depends on what your scouts say about Armenteros. MLB.com gave him the following tool grades: Hit-55; Power-60; Run-65; Arm-60; Field-60. Those grades seem skewed a bit, but you're still talking about a #1-pick-in-the-draft kind of talent, and that's at 16. If the Braves believe similarly in the talent, then sure, pay him. Because we'll probably be getting steals in reality in Maitan and Gutierrez.

And I haven't seen anyone project him for $20+. I've seen about $15, though with the penalty you'd be talking about more like $30, true.
 
and here I thought all the Cubans were coming here, because of me, to be like me. But you're telling me, no? Then why is that I am still here, there's gotta be a reason, and that's the only one, right?

sptp_braves.jpg
 
clvclv said:
Just a stab in the dark here (and we all know this wouldn't be the first time I grabbed the wrong girl's breast when doing so), but...

My guess is that the decision has already been made to go after pitching in the June draft...with the 4th highest pool to spend from, we could very easily come out of it with at least three impact arms. Assuming that, you target high-ceiling arms with all 3 of the picks we have in the early rounds - even if you don't attempt to sign everyone you draft you use some of their draft slots to help pay the players you draft in the first 100 picks...

Pick #3 overall - A.J. Puk/Jason Groome/Alec Hanson/Riley Pint

Pick #40 - Kyle Funkhouser/injury or signing bonus demand concern that slides

Pick #44 - Robert Tyler/injury or signing bonus demand concern that slides

Adding Maitan, Gutierrez, and Lazarito would give you a 1st round IF/OF talent, a 1st round OF talent, and a 1st round C talent to three 1st round pitching talents.

The three Pitchers would provide you more flexibility to trade from the stockpile of arms you already have. The ETAs of the international position players would seem to REALLY fit "The Plan's" timeline since they'd be a little further behind...

Potential 2016/2017 Arrivals:

Banuelos, Folty, Newcomb, Blair, Jenkins, Sims, Ellis, Gant, Swanson, Albies, Ruiz, Smith

Potential 2018 Arrivals:

Allard, Fried, Toussaint, Puk, Funkhouser, Herbert, Riley, Davidson, Peterson

Potential 2019 Arrivals:

Soroka, Sanchez, Gutierrez, Juan Yepez, Maitan, Derian Cruz, Lazarito, Cristian Pache, Isranel Wilson, etc.

With Markakis under contract through 2018, Olivera under contract through 2020, and Inciarte under contract through 2021 there's really no need to draft an OF who can move fast (Corey Ray or Buddy Reed) since the best ones available are CFs. Use the early picks to continue piling the arms up to trade if/when needed. That's been "The Braves' Way" after all. If any of the younger OFs wind up accelerating their timetables, you can then entertain moving Inciarte for more arms. One of Riley or Maitan's going to wind up in the OF at some point.

Crazy Rainy Wednesday Trade Idea...after the draft and signing period, trade Sims or Jenkins (or one of the ones we draft) and a lower-level arm to Colorado for McMahon. Move Riley to LF, Maitan to CF, and Lazarito to RF...

2019 Braves

2B- Albies, SS- Swanson, 1B- Freeman, LF- Riley, CF- Maitan, 3B- McMahon, RF- Lazarito, C- Gutierrez, DH- Olivera

Bench: C- Herbert, 2B/SS/CF- Peterson/Cruz, RF/LF/1B- Davidson, 1B/3B/LF- Ruiz

Rotation: Teheran, Newcomb, Blair, Allard/Fried, Wisler/Folty/Toussaint/Soroka/who cares???
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I like a lot of what you've said here, but I would just offer a couple 'disagreements'. First, that's getting extremely optimistic to have a 2019 ETA (even if only 'potential') for the guys who have yet to play in the system at all. It's hard for me to see guys like Pache, Cruz, Wilson, or even Yepez being ready at that point. And while Maitan could possibly fly through the system and be ready, that's pretty crazily optimistic on him as well. And I don't see any shot at all for Gutierrez by then.

And as for that potential OF, it would be seriously weak defensively. Riley has a cannon, but I can't see him moving extremely well in LF. And I don't see any way Maitan would fit in CF, even at that age. He's going to be huge.
 
smootness said:
I like a lot of what you've said here, but I would just offer a couple 'disagreements'. First, that's getting extremely optimistic to have a 2019 ETA (even if only 'potential') for the guys who have yet to play in the system at all. It's hard for me to see guys like Pache, Cruz, Wilson, or even Yepez being ready at that point. And while Maitan could possibly fly through the system and be ready, that's pretty crazily optimistic on him as well. And I don't see any shot at all for Gutierrez by then.

And as for that potential OF, it would be seriously weak defensively. Riley has a cannon, but I can't see him moving extremely well in LF. And I don't see any way Maitan would fit in CF, even at that age. He's going to be huge.
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Easy solution in 2020 is have Mallex in Center/ Maitan in LF/ Lazo in RF and Riley as the DH... :HeywardWut:
 
smootness said:
I like a lot of what you've said here, but I would just offer a couple 'disagreements'. First, that's getting extremely optimistic to have a 2019 ETA (even if only 'potential') for the guys who have yet to play in the system at all. It's hard for me to see guys like Pache, Cruz, Wilson, or even Yepez being ready at that point. And while Maitan could possibly fly through the system and be ready, that's pretty crazily optimistic on him as well. And I don't see any shot at all for Gutierrez by then.

And as for that potential OF, it would be seriously weak defensively. Riley has a cannon, but I can't see him moving extremely well in LF. And I don't see any way Maitan would fit in CF, even at that age. He's going to be huge.
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I think that franchises that have sustained success year after year are very good at not rushing unfinished products to the ML. It takes a strong GM because a manager is concerned about winning today and a GM is concerned about winning today, tomorrow, next year and 10 years from now. A manager will say that player X even at 1/2 his potential is better than I currently have so get him up here, we need to win today. A strong GM will say that player X is an asset whose development could be ruined by rushing him, or barring that, could end up spending a large portion of his control years at the ML level as an unfinished product getting expensive year after year only to see him potentially walk when he is fully formed (if he ever becomes fully formed).
 
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