FS: 2021-2022 International Preview

[Y2Jimmy0]

The White Sox will sign Oscar Colas and Erick Hernandez. There’s some info on Cesar Prieto in here too. I wrote about it today: http://www.futuresox.com/2021/12/13/2021-2022-chicago-white-sox-international-signing-preview/

[Quin]

Legitimately laughed at the lead in to the Prieto information. Great work as usual, James.

[SoxAce]

Yo Prieto. We currently have an opening at 2B right now that the other clubs don't even if they got more money. Come get your free ride to the big leagues and hopefully you have an impressive rookie season like your countrymen Abreu did.

[hi8is]

2 hours ago, Quin said:

Legitimately laughed at the lead in to the Prieto information. Great work as usual, James.

I hope the pipeline keeps pumping and Prieto comes to the Southside.

[Balta1701]

The fact that the White Sox still have a huge pool of money uncommitted is a joke.

[Y2Jimmy0]

1 hour ago, Balta1701 said:

The fact that the White Sox still have a huge pool of money uncommitted is a joke.

We don’t know that they have a pool of money uncommitted. They very likely have multiple $400K and $500K signings that I just don’t know about. Guys similar to Quezada, Guariman and Borrero from last year. 

[Balta1701]

35 minutes ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

We don’t know that they have a pool of money uncommitted. They very likely have multiple $400K and $500K signings that I just don’t know about. Guys similar to Quezada, Guariman and Borrero from last year. 

Fair enough. Did I miss the article outlining that?

[bmags]

@Y2Jimmy0 any rumblings on whether they’ll stash Colas in DR for tax savings ir let him go to fill season? I’d hope he’s old enough that he’d rather get mlb pay sooner

[bmags]

This Erick Hernandez news is great, and despite recent blah from Cespedes / Yolbert Where I think it was more Paddy keeping that pipeline warm, I still have great faith in his individual talent assessments.

That said - would love a class more like 2015 soon where we had 3 top 30ish 850k + signings. Need more volume esp with Shirley’s draft philosophy

[Y2Jimmy0]

8 minutes ago, bmags said:

@Y2Jimmy0 any rumblings on whether they’ll stash Colas in DR for tax savings ir let him go to fill season? I’d hope he’s old enough that he’d rather get mlb pay sooner

I fear that he’ll be in the Dominican Republic because he hasn’t established residency in the US. It’s not a big deal when signing in July but signing in January is brutal obviously. You basically have to stay there for entire season. 

1 minute ago, bmags said:

This Erick Hernandez news is great, and despite recent blah from Cespedes / Yolbert Where I think it was more Paddy keeping that pipeline warm, I still have great faith in his individual talent assessments.

That said - would love a class more like 2015 soon where we had 3 top 30ish 850k + signings. Need more volume esp with Shirley’s draft philosophy

Yeah for sure. He’s had some success of late too. Quezada was very promising in DSL and Wilfred Veras was good in AZL. Multiple mid tier bonus guys showing up of late. 

[Y2Jimmy0]

15 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Fair enough. Did I miss the article outlining that?

I might not have been clear enough. It’s tough and don’t take this the wrong way because I don’t mean any offense but when you understand this crazy market, it’s sometimes hard to write about it while explaining it to most people who aren’t as Informed about how weird it is. 

[Chicago White Sox]

14 minutes ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

I fear that he’ll be in the Dominican Republic because he hasn’t established residency in the US. It’s not a big deal when signing in July but signing in January is brutal obviously. You basically have to stay there for entire season. 

Yeah for sure. He’s had some success of late too. Quezada was very promising in DSL and Wilfred Veras was good in AZL. Multiple mid tier bonus guys showing up of late. 

That’s absolutely brutal if Colas doesn’t play in the states this year.

[Y2Jimmy0]

2 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

That’s absolutely brutal if Colas doesn’t play in the states this year.

Yeah it’s sucks. It’s US tax law though. The biggest issue appears to be that the contract is signed in January at the beginning of the calendar year. If it were July, it wouldn’t be much if an issue IMO 

[Harold's Leg Lift]

13 minutes ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

I might not have been clear enough. It’s tough and don’t take this the wrong way because I don’t mean any offense but when you understand this crazy market, it’s sometimes hard to write about it while explaining it to most people who aren’t as Informed about how weird it is. 

Crazy and weird are understatements. That's why I don't pay attention to it.   I've heard some unbelievable stories of shit that happens down there as I'm sure you have too. I can't believe what those guys do.  Mad props to them. I sure as hell couldn't do it.   

[Y2Jimmy0]

14 minutes ago, Harold's Leg Lift said:

Crazy and weird are understatements. That's why I don't pay attention to it.   I've heard some unbelievable stories of shit that happens down there as I'm sure you have too. I can't believe what those guys do.  Mad props to them. I sure as hell couldn't do it.   

Yeah it’s really dirty. Being an international scout is a pretty tough job. Not only are you trying to project 13-14 year olds, you’re dealing with trainers, handlers etc and everyone wants a piece of the pie. 

[Quin]

7 minutes ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

Yeah it’s really dirty. Being an international scout is a pretty tough job. Not only are you trying to project 13-14 year olds, you’re dealing with trainers, handlers etc and everyone wants a piece of the pie. 

The story about Starling Marte not becoming a White Sox prospect is just absolutely wild.

[Balta1701]

1 hour ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

I might not have been clear enough. It’s tough and don’t take this the wrong way because I don’t mean any offense but when you understand this crazy market, it’s sometimes hard to write about it while explaining it to most people who aren’t as Informed about how weird it is. 

The only thing that bugs me is when the White Sox don’t try. Most of the guys the Astros just beat us with signed for less than $100k, so whatever strategy they use my only evaluation metric is whether they spend their allotment. Leaving $1.7 million unspent because there’s a Cuban who might decide to sign this year sounded “very White Sox” to me and the article seemed to suggest that. I will put a hold on that criticism pending further details.

[Y2Jimmy0]

39 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

The only thing that bugs me is when the White Sox don’t try. Most of the guys the Astros just beat us with signed for less than $100k, so whatever strategy they use my only evaluation metric is whether they spend their allotment. Leaving $1.7 million unspent because there’s a Cuban who might decide to sign this year sounded “very White Sox” to me and the article seemed to suggest that. I will put a hold on that criticism pending further details.

Yeah my bad. I don’t think Prieto would sign for that personally. I bet the Sox have multiple $400-$600K signings that I couldn’t find. 

[MiddleCoastBias]

1 hour ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

Yeah my bad. I don’t think Prieto would sign for that personally. I bet the Sox have multiple $400-$600K signings that I couldn’t find. 

Kudos to you for what you have been able to find and the information you've provided on these guys. This is great insight into some guys that most folks aren't able to get otherwise, appreciate the work you've done on this.

[Harold's Leg Lift]

2 hours ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

Yeah it’s really dirty. Being an international scout is a pretty tough job. Not only are you trying to project 13-14 year olds, you’re dealing with trainers, handlers etc and everyone wants a piece of the pie. 

This is my favorite story and one of the few I can share.  As you know teams have complexes down there so the area scout will set up showcases where the buscones can bring their best players to be seen and if it's a really good showcase teams will fly down some higher ups (cross checkers, special assistants , directors). So there was a good showcase happening and this team sent down a bunch of guys to watch.  After the showcase was over one of the more respected buscones came up to them and said he has more players that he couldn't bring to this event (no one was going to ask why) and if they wanted to see them he was having a showcase for them the next day.  He said it would be worth their time but the facitity was a little hard to get to so he would provide transportation and protection. They agreed so the next day they met him at the complex and he was a man of his word.  He provided transportation and protection. He brought horses and dudes with machine guns.  Could you imagine. You think you're flying down there to watch some baseball at the teams complex and the next thing you know you're riding a god damn horse in one of the most dangerous places on the planet with a bunch of dudes carrying machine guns.  No thank you. 

[thxfrthmmrs]

On 12/14/2021 at 8:27 AM, Y2Jimmy0 said:

Yeah it’s sucks. It’s US tax law though. The biggest issue appears to be that the contract is signed in January at the beginning of the calendar year. If it were July, it wouldn’t be much if an issue IMO 

Doesn't it help if he's already 23 (24 in Sept)? In fact he's almost exactly 1 year younger than Cespedes, who signed last January and played stateside. I would think at that age they would rather try to get to majors as early as possible and make league minimum instead of minor league salary.

[Y2Jimmy0]

14 minutes ago, thxfrthmmrs said:

Doesn't it help if he's already 23 (24 in Sept)? In fact he's almost exactly 1 year younger than Cespedes, who signed last January and played stateside. I would think at that age they would rather try to get to majors as early as possible and make league minimum instead of minor league salary.

Cespedes was stateside because he had established US residency (in Florida) when he signed. If Oscar Colas is living in the DR, he likely needs to stay there for much of 2022 in order to receive a tax free bonus. 

[southsider2k5]

On 12/14/2021 at 10:06 AM, Y2Jimmy0 said:

Yeah my bad. I don’t think Prieto would sign for that personally. I bet the Sox have multiple $400-$600K signings that I couldn’t find. 

I mean it is almost certain that the Sox have SOME more signings to announce.  Typically they formally sign around half a dozen guys on signing day who are in the 200+k ish range.  With the weird information flow and blatant rules violations that already happen down there, its hard to get information on signings ahead of time in a good year.  When you factor in covid and some of the extra political problems happening in some of these countries, I can imagine information is at a premium right now.

The other side of the coin is, if they DON'T announce another chunk of signings in a month, it is a really good sign that they already have an in with someone like Prieto or another defector that hasn't been announced yet.

[ChiSox59]

Prieto is an interesting option for 2B.  Definitely fills some team needs.  Is he someone that could theoretically play in the bigs right away, or would he need to hide out in DR for a year so he gets more $ too? 

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

9 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

Prieto is an interesting option for 2B.  Definitely fills some team needs.  Is he someone that could theoretically play in the bigs right away, or would he need to hide out in DR for a year so he gets more $ too? 

Just based on my googling, he is a very small guy with little power and great/walk.  Bats left.  Anyone with an idea on defense? Sooo likely a Madrigal comp., conveniently, with a bit more pop?

Edited December 16, 2021 by Squirmin' for Yermin