39 F
Pittsburgh

Morning Report: Some of the Realities of International Signings

Published:

The start of the new international signing period yesterday was a reminder that processes like international signings or the draft are artificial structures imposed on teams and would-be ballplayers by MLB (pursuant, of course, to its labor deal with the union).  As fans, and especially as fans of a super-ultra-low-spending team, we tend to view these structures in the context of their impact on our team’s ability to compete.  The reality, though, is that the competitive aspects of these structures are relatively trivial compared to their other impacts.  One reason, of course, is that MLB could care less about whether the Pittsburgh Pirates have a fair chance to compete.  MLB only truly cares about limiting costs across the sport as a whole, which is why measures like bonus pools and draft slotting invariably have unintended consequences.  And even cost-cutting is a relatively minor impact in the international area, as a couple of recent Baseball America articles made clear.

One article discussed the burgeoning dissatisfaction among MLB scouts and Latin American trainers, or buscones, with the current pool system.  It seems the hard caps on spending pools, implemented a couple years ago, have significantly exacerbated the process by which teams reach agreements with prospects prior to their eligibility to sign at age 16.  It’s all against the rules, of course, but absolutely nobody follows the rules.  Many players are now coming to agreements as early as age 13 or 14, which in turn has led buscones to recruit young boys as early as age 10 or even earlier.  The whole process is, to put it mildly, nuts, as the article makes clear.  It’s so bad that some buscones may be prepared to accept an international draft, a possibility that, until now, they’ve bitterly opposed.

The other article discusses BA’s decision not to rank the top 2019 international prospects.  Whatever you think of the decision, the reasoning behind it is interesting.  BA has always relied on reports from scouts in doing its prospect writeups.  The problem is, once a player agrees to sign with a particular team, everybody stops scouting him.  This is obviously different from the draft because teams don’t know which players they’ll be able to select, so they keep scouting right up to draft day.  A two-year-old scouting report on a player who’s still only 16 isn’t worth very much.  It’s hard enough to project a player’s skills when he is 16.

As an aside, I also have to wonder whether the BA writer, Ben Badler, developed qualms about the euphemistic “Team A is the favorite to sign Player B” that closes out nearly every one of BA’s international writeups.  Apparently, everybody in the industry knows that Player B agreed to sign with Team A ages ago.  It’s even worse than the silliness of referring to draft-eligible players’ agents as “advisors” because the NCAA doesn’t allow players to have agents.

Anyway, there are a couple of ramifications to all this if you’re a Pirate fan.  One is the inherent difficulty in presenting accurate scouting information on Latin American prospects.  The various outlets that do so are no doubt going to a lot of effort to get the best possible information, and not all international prospects reach agreements when they’re 14.  (If anybody out there has a clue about what percentage of prospects do so, I haven’t seen it.)  But a lot of the information that’s available may be outdated, and that’s apart from the fact that a 16-year-old is nowhere near full development.  There’s a reason why, at this site, we don’t include international prospects in our top 30 or top 50 until they reach the US so one of us has a chance to see them.

Another issue, which is more specific to the Pirates, is that their international scouting director, Junior Vizcaino, has been on the job less than two years.  If many of the best prospects are reaching deals two or more years before they’re eligible to sign, then it probably won’t be until next year when we see a signing class that Vizcaino has had a chance to put together from the ground up.  We’re seeing some obvious changes already, such as the signings of Ji-Hwan Bae for seven figures and of a pitcher, Cristopher Cruz, for . . . well . . . anything above the low six figures.  And these changes have been helped along by the Pirates’ bonus pool being nearly triple what it was before Vizcaino started.  But it’s going to be hard to judge Vizcaino’s performance fully for a while yet, despite some hopeful current signs.  Of course, better still would be MLB implementing a less corrupt system.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates won 5-1 over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night. The Pirates are sending out Chris Archer, who was originally questionable for this start. He left his last start against the Milwaukee Brewers early with left hip discomfort. Archer gave up two runs over four innings in that start, after surrendering just one run over five innings against the San Diego Padres in his previous outing. The Cubs will counter with veteran right-hander Yu Darvish, who has a 4.98 ERA in 90.1 innings, with 105 strikeouts and a 1.36 WHIP. He has given up ten runs over his last 11 innings combined in two home starts against the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets. Darvish faced the Pirates back on April 10th and allowed five runs over 5.1 innings.

The minor league schedule includes Pedro Vasquez, who was our Pitcher of the Month for June. He had an 0.87 ERA in 31 innings, with three walks and 33 strikeouts. Indianapolis doesn’t have a starter listed, but I believe that was due to the uncertainty of Archer making today’s start. It’s Dario Agrazal’s turn in the rotation and he would have stepped in for Archer, so I’m listing him below.

Bristol is sending out Jose Maldonado for his third start. He gave up three runs over 4.2 innings in his debut, then came back with one run on two hits and a walk in five innings last week. Bradenton sends out Hunter Stratton, who wants to put a tough June behind him. In 14 innings last month, he allowed 14 runs on 16 hits and 15 walks. He had a 1.76 ERA after throwing 4.1 innings on May 29th. Colin Selby goes for Greensboro. He went six innings in his last start, giving up one run. Selby will be making his sixth road start, where he has a 2.77 ERA, compared to 4.22 at home. Morgantown has no starter listed again, but they will likely send out Jesus Valles for his fourth start. He has not yet made it through five innings yet before reaching his pitch count, lasting 4+ innings each time.

MLB: Pittsburgh (41-43) vs Cubs (45-41) 7:05 PM
Probable starter: Chris Archer (5.50 ERA, 80:38 SO/BB, 73.2 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (42-40) @ Louisville (31-53) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Dario Agrazal (4.00 ERA, 43:11 SO/BB, 54.0 IP)

AA: Altoona (43-38) @ Akron (40-44) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Pedro Vasquez (2.30 ERA, 61:12 SO/BB, 74.1 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (45-36) vs Jupiter (28-49) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Hunter Stratton (4.03 ERA, 42:25 SO/BB, 44.2 IP)

Low-A: Greensboro (51-31) @ Hagerstown (34-49) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Colin Selby (3.42 ERA, 46:16 SO/BB, 47.1 IP)

Short-Season A: Morgantown (9-9) @ Auburn (9-8) 1:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Jesus Valles (6.39 ERA, 6:5 SO/BB, 12.2 IP)

Rookie: Bristol (6-8) @ Kingsport (7-7) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Jose Maldonado (3.72 ERA, 8:2 SO/BB, 9.2 IP)

GCL: Pirates (2-4) vs Red Sox (4-3) 12:00 PM  (season preview)

DSL: Pirates1 (12-15) vs Indians (13-14) 10:30 AM  (season preview)

DSL: Pirates2 (22-5) vs Colorado (13-14) 10:30 AM  (season preview)

HIGHLIGHTS

From Indianapolis, Will Craig’s 17th home run might be landing by the time you read this

From Altoona, here’s a big double from our Player of the Week and Player of the Month

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

7/2: Pirates sign a ton of international players

7/2: Mario Garcia promoted to GCL Pirates

7/1: James Marvel promoted to Indianapolis. Blake Cederlind added back to Altoona roster

7/1: Pirates sign JC Flowers, Ethan Paul, Jake Snider and Marshall Gilbert.

6/30: Hunter Owen placed on Indianapolis injured list (retroactive to 6/27).

6/30: Oneil Cruz activated from Bradenton injured list. Chase Lambert placed on injured list.

6/30: Yandy Vega and Hai-Cheng Gong assigned to Morgantown.

6/29: Ke’Bryan Hayes and Pablo Reyes assigned to Morgantown on rehab.

6/29: Ryan Peurifoy assigned to Bradenton

6/29: Fernando Villegas assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab

6/29: CJ Dandeneau and Alex Roth assigned to Bristol.

6/29: Jordan Lyles activated from injured list. Geoff Hartlieb optioned to Indianapolis.

6/28: Pirates release Nick Franklin.

6/28: Daniel Amaral placed on injured list. Ike Schlabach activated from injured list.

6/28: Pirates sign Orsen Josephina.

6/28: Oliver Mateo placed on injured list.

6/27: Jake Elmore activated from Indianapolis injured list.

6/27: Pirates sign Gift Ngoepe.

6/27: Zack Kone and Jonah Davis added to Greensboro roster.

6/27: Dario Agrazal optioned to Indianapolis. Pirates recall Dovydas Neverauskas

6/27: Aaron Shortridge placed on Bradenton injured list.

6/25: Pirates send Pat Dorrian to Baltimore Orioles to complete Yefry Ramirez trade.

6/25: Pirates recall Dario Agrazal. Option Jason Martin to Indianapolis.

6/25: Cody Bolton promoted to Altoona. Blake Cederlind placed on the temporary inactive list.

6/25: Daniel Amaral activated from Bradenton injured list.

6/24: Oneil Cruz assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.

6/24: Yandy Vega and Hai-Cheng Gong assigned to GCL Pirates.

6/23: Jordan Lyles assigned to Indianapolis on rehab. Trayvon Robinson activated from Indianapolis injured list.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Four former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date and we start with the most recent first. Moises Alou played briefly for the 1990 Pirates before he was dealt away for pitcher Zane Smith. It was a deal that looked good short-term and really bad long-term. Alou went on to have a great career, as a .300 hitter with power. He made six All-Star teams.

From the 1942 team, we have pitcher Luke Hamlin, who was also part of a really bad trade. He lasted one season with the Pirates after they acquired him for Hall of Fame shortstop Arky Vaughan.

Going back earlier, we have pitcher Chet Nichols, who was a member of the 1927 Pirates, a team that went to the World Series. Nichols was a mop-up reliever for the Pirates, throwing a total of 27.2 innings, with a 5.86 ERA. He had a son by the same name, who played nine years in the big leagues.

Finally, 1917 first baseman Bunny Brief. He was a great home run hitter in the minors, who never got a good chance in the majors. He began his career during the deadball era, yet he hit 342 career homers. His actual given name was Anthony Grzeszkowski, which couldn’t be any further from Bunny Brief, his baseball name.

Wilbur Miller
Wilbur Miller
Having followed the Pirates fanatically since 1965, Wilbur Miller is one of the fast-dwindling number of fans who’ve actually seen good Pirate teams. He’s even seen Hall-of-Fame Pirates who didn’t get traded mid-career, if you can imagine such a thing. His first in-person game was a 5-4, 11-inning win at Forbes Field over Milwaukee (no, not that one). He’s been writing about the Pirates at various locations online for over 20 years. It has its frustrations, but it’s certainly more cathartic than writing legal stuff. Wilbur is retired and now lives in Bradenton with his wife and three temperamental cats.

Related Articles

Article Drop

Latest Articles