that's sucks a little bit. I was kinda hoping we'd stick to that plan a little longer than one year.
that's sucks a little bit. I was kinda hoping we'd stick to that plan a little longer than one year.
It's still early. IIRC, last year Baseball America didn't list the Reds among the contenders for Yorman Rodriguez and look who he ended up signing with. I feel a little better after seeing Kiley's response in the comments section below his article. He said the Reds were mentioned with a few of those players that have a lot of teams on them, and the Reds may still sign one of them.
Jose Pena is impressive, but the kid I really want is Christopher Cabrera. He's still got some projectability (6-foot-1, 185) and throws his fastball at 90-91 and can dial it up to 94. He also throws a slider and changeup that both grade out as average already with room to improve. Sign this kid and let Mario Soto work with him.
It is starting to look like a feeding frenzy in Latin America. The expanded interest could only mean higher prices. I suspect that the days of "cheap" discoveries are over. The higher prices being attached to 16 year olds are pushing ML franchises toward more risky investments. I can understand why the Reds may want to be a little cautious here. Let's see how last year's crop looks in rookie ball. I don't think that a year of lower level participation means that the Reds are out of this market.
John Fay wrote this earlier today:
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs...cincinnati.comI don't think signability would be a huge issue with Crow because I don't think he'd go back to Independent ball. Buckley told me the other day that they plan in being aggressive again the Carribean. So I don't think they wanted to blow the budget on someone way out of slot.
I don't think the Reds are even remotely out of it this year. I'm willing to bet they sign at least one top international prospect, as well a litter of cheaper unsung guys.
Major League Baseball investigators are looking into irregularities as to whether Dominican shortstop prospect Miguel Angel Sano might have altered his age, according to two sources close to the situation.
http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog...ngure_jorge_jr
Much ado about nothing. Talked with Kiley McDaniel last week and one team did some sort of bone aging process on him and it shows that he is no older than 17. The Twins are apparently big time in on Sano and he is expected to sign with either the Twins or Pirates at this point and the Twins asked MLB to help them looking into his background before they throw that much money at him.
According to Baseball America, the Reds are one of three teams (Reds, Red Sox, Mets) in on 16-year-old German outfielder Max Kepler. He's one of the best European prospects to come along in years according to BA. He throws and bats left handed, is athletic, and has a projectable body at 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds. The Reds have signed a few players from Germany in the past few years.
From Ben Badler's twitter page:
Are you hearing the Reds connected to anyone?
Reds are usually active in Venezuela. They're also interested in German OF Max Kepler, I hear
It might be tough to outbid the Mets and BoSox...who are loaded.
Kiley McDaniel says the Reds were one of the teams heavily interested in Guillermo Pimentel at the beginning of this year but halfway through the year he suffered an injury and now it appears he'll sign with the Mariners or Rangers for $2 million.
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |