Miguel Sano: 3.15 million signing bonus

[MartyFunkhouser]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4517993

Another small market low budget team goes out and spends a high signing bonus on a Latin American "teenager." It is interesting that the 2 highest bonuses for Latin American prospects are the A's at 4.25 million for Michel Ynoa and Twins at 3.15 million for Sano.

Oakland is currently ranked 27th in payroll and Minnesota is ranked 23rd in payroll. Even with the high signing bonuses it is still less than a bonus paid to a high draft pick. I wonder if these teams are now seeing these players as a better value than draft picks.

[Hot Lunch]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4517993

Another small market low budget team goes out and spends a high signing bonus on a Latin American "teenager." It is interesting that the 2 highest bonuses for Latin American prospects are the A's at 4.25 million for Michel Ynoa and Twins at 3.15 million for Sano.

Oakland is currently ranked 27th in payroll and Minnesota is ranked 23rd in payroll. Even with the high signing bonuses it is still less than a bonus paid to a high draft pick. I wonder if these teams are now seeing these players as a better value than draft picks.

My biggest concern in the investment of these Latin players has more to do with pitching than it does position players. I read a good article last year about this and will try to find it, it was wrtten because of the A's signing of Michel Ynoa and how he looks great throwing the ball in bullpen sessions but doesn't know how to pitch a game and has very little experience doing so. I know that the A's were in a biding war for the kid and there were a bunch of teams involved.

I have however seen everything that the article was talking about with my own eyes during my own personal experience in the Dominican Republic. Down there, the kids rarely play actual baseball games. They will go to a field for 8 hours every day and do drill after drill and take batting practice until their hand bleed and throw bullpen session until the arms fall off but it is rare that they actually play a real game. I think there is something to learn especially for pitchers on how to manage a game at a young age and actually pitch to a batter. They do all of this pitching but it is hardly ever to a batter. This article pointed this out and how it has effected these young Latin pitchers in the minors and how hard it is to adjust to pitching to a batter now and not just throwing bullpen sessions.

[MartyFunkhouser]

My biggest concern in the investment of these Latin players has more to do with pitching than it does position players. I read a good article last year about this and will try to find it, it was wrtten because of the A's signing of Michel Ynoa and how he looks great throwing the ball in bullpen sessions but doesn't know how to pitch a game and has very little experience doing so. I know that the A's were in a biding war for the kid and there were a bunch of teams involved.

I have however seen everything that the article was talking about with my own eyes during my own personal experience in the Dominican Republic. Down there, the kids rarely play actual baseball games. They will go to a field for 8 hours every day and do drill after drill and take batting practice until their hand bleed and throw bullpen session until the arms fall off but it is rare that they actually play a real game. I think there is something to learn especially for pitchers on how to manage a game at a young age and actually pitch to a batter. They do all of this pitching but it is hardly ever to a batter. This article pointed this out and how it has effected these young Latin pitchers in the minors and how hard it is to adjust to pitching to a batter now and not just throwing bullpen sessions.

All of those are very legit concerns, which is why you can still get a better bargain with a Latin American player than you can with a draft pick. You list from things that concern me about Ynoa. The guy has filthy stuff, especially for his alleged age, but that is about it. He doesn't know how to pitch a game. On the other hand, he hasn't had anyone really work on his mechanics either. He will be brought up very slowly because of this. Plain fact is that there is no way the A's could have gotten someone of his talent in any other way. We cannot afford free agents and we don't suck enough, and cannot afford it either, to get this quality of player through the draft.