International News, Rumor and Signing Thread

EstebanBugatti said:
Huge development in Lazarito's Free Agency. His US based agent has dropped him after receiving a death threat from a trainer/agent.

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/...n-drops-death-threats-buscon-dominican-022216
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Pretty chilling reminder of what's all at stake here and how little it matters in the big picture if he signs with the Braves. As much as I hope he becomes a Brave in July, it's far more important that he gets out of this dangerous situation and the powers that be compromise to make this a far less perilous process.
 
Stories like this need more than a link. Here the text from RotoWorld.

Charles Hairston is no longer representing Cuban outfielder Lazaro Armenteros in negotiations with major league clubs after he claims his life was threatened by the Dominican Republic-based representative for the 16-year-old.
"Lazarito" became eligible to sign with an MLB team on February 10 and was originally expected to make a decision by then, but there was a conflict between Hairston and the 16-year-old's "buscon" in the Dominican Republic. Hairston claims that he got an invite for Lazarito to attend a team’s spring training facility and visit with a general manager and ownership, but the buscon withheld the travel documents for the outfielder and his parents. Buscones typically take a cut of a player's contract, so Hairston says that the individual was trying to get him to sign as soon as possible rather than consider waiting until the new international signing period begins on July 2. "Lazarito" was expected to command a large bonus, but the alleged threat was enough to drive Hairston away, at least for now.
 
BedellBrave said:
Somebody really wants him to sign with the Dodgers. Dang.
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You're probably right. The invite to spring training that Hairston talked about could very well have been to the Braves, though. Either way, whichever buscon did this just majorly ****ed up. Lazarito doesn't have representation in the States right now, so a deal probably won't happen for a while. And it's not like other agencies/other teams are going to be chomping at the bit to deal with this guy who's already issued a death threat to someone. If this was done with the goal of getting Lazarito to sign soon, it's probably going to cause the exact opposite to happen.
 
praeceps93 said:
You're probably right. The invite to spring training that Hairston talked about could very well have been to the Braves, though. Either way, whichever buscon did this just majorly ****ed up. Lazarito doesn't have representation in the States right now, so a deal probably won't happen for a while. And it's not like other agencies/other teams are going to be chomping at the bit to deal with this guy who's already issued a death threat to someone. If this was done with the goal of getting Lazarito to sign soon, it's probably going to cause the exact opposite to happen.
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Hope so.
 
mqt said:
To be fair, some team giving him his millions of dollars will sort of resolve this situation...
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Good point. Money salves the situation. My guess is he's locked in with a team and it's just a matter of when. Hence, his trainer scaring off Hairston, who would have open negotiations.

The international market is truly a mess.
 
50PoundHead said:
Good point. Money salves the situation. My guess is he's locked in with a team and it's just a matter of when. Hence, his trainer scaring off Hairston, who would have open negotiations.

The international market is truly a mess.
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Yeah, this would seem to suggest that he was definitely waiting until July 2nd and that wasn't an early enough payday for the scumbag that is waiting to leech off him.
 
mqt said:
Yeah, this would seem to suggest that he was definitely waiting until July 2nd and that wasn't an early enough payday for the scumbag that is waiting to leech off him.
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Any deal a team makes at this point will draw in a bunch of controversy. But, on the other hand, it probably drives his price down some, similar to what happened with Chapman.
 
Rather surprised by this announcement. Guess we have a bit more room to make deals without getting penalized for the upcoming July 2nd signing period. No idea who this guy is. To the Google!

[TW] 702570182208688128 [/TW]
 
DaneHill said:
Rather surprised by this announcement. Guess we have a bit more room to make deals without getting penalized for the upcoming July 2nd signing period. No idea who this guy is. To the Google!

[TW] 702570182208688128 [/TW]
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Wow... doesn't make much sense to me
 
bravesfanMatt said:
28 doesn't fall into slot pool
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Yup. 23 and over is exempt from the international bonus pool so this may well be a great move.

Edit: Well in looking at his numbers (as reported) they don't look all that great. Low K totals, high BB totals.. but apparently he does have starting experience so I don't know where he slots in (either immediately or down the road). Perhaps our scouts saw something they thought could be easily fixed or taught- who knows. At the end of the day, it doesn't count against our international pool spending limits, there's no separate tax on it, and it's under $1M. Basically a cheap look-see and a prospective bet on upside. I don't have any issues with that.
 
sturg33 said:
Wow... doesn't make much sense to me
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I'm really curious who his agent is. It's possible that this signing is meant to help our relationship with a representative of Cuban players that we like for the upcoming IFA period. Kind of a "hey, I want to work with you" type deal that will help us with later signings through that agent. A show of good faith or something like that.
 
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