July 2, 2019 International Signing Period

[fish]

Still pretty quiet on the international front. Brief Phillies mention here as one of the two teams heard the most inquiring about Po-Yu Chen. Left-handed starting pitcher, modest velocity (90-92), average curve and change according to the scouting report.

Right handed pitcher. He looks athletic in his delivery like he could add some power. Will be 20 next year so some projectibility. Seems like a good guy to spend on if they have the money.

[tom81]

A Dispatch From Day One of the WBSC U-18 World Cup

[andyb]

Question from Fangraphs Kiley McDaniel chat today:
Q: Are the Phillies still expected to sign Yhoswar Garcia despite the situation/suspension over his age? If so ... will it be for less than the originally reported ~2 million dollar deal?
A; We were told it was 3-4 years difference on age, so it's likely 100-200K max, using other similar instances as a guide. Haven't heard who is on him since that's below our level of interest for int'l amateurs.

Clearly reporters have no clue what is going on in the background. I think I feel better that they are not going to still pay him $2 million if true. Need to land the Taiwanese pitcher at the very least now.

Kiley McDaniel Chat – 12/4/19

[Squire]

Holy smokes 3-4 year age difference??? That's something.

[bigegypt0417]

I'm wondering how this hasn't been addressed at all?

[allentown]

I'm wondering how Phillies scouts could be so thoroughly gulled and how a 19-20 year old who looked very good, not great as a supposed 16-year old is any kind of a prospect. That's a huge difference in physical maturity. $100-200K max sounds appropriate, but earlier comment about Phillies current international pursuits being constrained by desire to sign Garcia suggest that we are giving him a lot more than $150-200K. Stupid face-saving? This is a REALLY BIG black eye for our LA scouts, especially after Encarnacion and Ortiz.

[bigegypt0417]

Unless your suggestion is that every team who scouted him knew of the issue then I'm not sure how you can blame the phillies. He fooled a whole lot of people since he was a very highly rated "16 year old" by everyone.

[fish]

Unless your suggestion is that every team who scouted him knew of the issue then I'm not sure how you can blame the phillies. He fooled a whole lot of people since he was a very highly rated "16 year old" by everyone.

you have to back up on that one. International talent media consists of Ben Badler, Kiley McDaniel and Jessie Sanchez, all of whom have to try to interpret how most of these guys are ranked based on limited information about tools, projection, and how much one team agreed to pay them at 16 when they were 15 (or at least when they said they were 15). Big bonus guys wouldn't also usually show up out of the blue anymore either- kids can spend years with busconnes.

[bigegypt0417]

and scouting at the showcases. Everyone was fooled until MLB did their research and figured it out.

These are kids that are followed for a long time.

[allentown]

I'm not sure why you say everyone was fooled. The Phillies were the only team ever listed as linked to or interested in him, from what I read. If other teams smelled a rat, I'm sure they were pleased to get a leg up on the hillies. One might mis-identify a 16-year old as 15 and be pardoned for that, but an 18- or 19-year old. We bought the con, just about the only such case for a big bonus guy in recent years.

[bigegypt0417]

yeah...your post is what we call anecdote.

the phillies are not the ones that wrote the reports around this kid.

[zambonir]

I guess my question would be, is it true that the Phillies actually budgeted for, and promised, this kid a certain sum of money, or was that just the number people were throwing around while also reporting the Phillies were in the lead for him? I mean, this isn't like the instances where the checks had already been cut and MLB voided the transactions, right?

[Austinfan]

Well Ortiz really was 16 with a 20 year old body.

Of course, the mistake is thinking a 16 year old with a 20 year old body will progress to 20 at the same rate as a 16 year old with a 16 year old body.

[allentown]

I think the biggest fallacy is giving that much money to basically a one-dimensional prospect.

[andyb]

That is not the mistake the Phillies made with Ortiz. He has legit 70 power. The mistake was thinking he could hit offspeed pitches.

[julio]

Latest tweet on Yhoswar Garcia, from Winkleman (citing Ben Badler):

Matt Winkelman on Twitter

Badler's piece is behind the Baseball America paywall.

[Squire]

I guess that makes me feel better. Hope the kid can play. We’re due for some success.

[andyb]

I think I feel better if the bonus is not over $500K. Beyond that seems a recipe for failure and, to some degree, the kid needs to take a lesser deal for lying about his age.

[fish]

Anyone still have a BA subscription to report if there are any other interesting info/names in the article?

[Squire]

No bonus greater than 350K

RHP Jean Hernandez, DR, 300K
SS Randy Vasquez, DR, 350K
INF Jehisbert Sevilla, VZ,?
C Jackie Pertuz, Colombia 200K
C Jose Colmenaraz, VZ?

Also mentions the June 2019 signings of RHP Josh Gessner (850K) and LHP Samuel Aldeghiri (210K)