Thought I would start this as the signing period ends one week from today. Bits and pieces of this have been reported in other threads.

A little googling tells me we signed a 16-year old from Brisbane, Australia, OF/LHP. They apparently signed him as an outfielder but may look at him as a pitcher. Here's the link:

http://www.users.bigpond.com/goreds/WHATSNEW.htm

We also apparently signed a RHP Jacob Reust from Australia:

http://globalbaseball.wordpress.com/

We have already heard that the Indians signed two Latin players:

As Tony and Baseball America reported:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/p ... 64684.html

we have signed two Latin guys, SS Ramon DePaula and LHP Elvis Araujo.

There is also an unsubstantiated rumor that the Indians have signed Edward Salcedo, the 16 year old Latin SS, a Boras client who was rumored to be asking for over $3 million. While the money is probably there as we spent a low amount on the 2007 draft, I wonder if we would spend as much money on a 16-year old as we spent on our entire 2007 draft class.

Dennis

Salcedo would definately fit into line with the "significant signing" Mirabelli indicated when you spoke to him last week! (EDIT: Or was it just interest in a high profile player he mentioned- I don't remember!)

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Daz,

He seemed to imply that we were in on the guy, whoever he was, but it wasn't like we were definitely going to get whoever it was.

If he was unaware of our two $100,000+ Latin signees because they were under his radar then, you are correct, this guy may have been who he was referring to.

Still, this kid has got to be damn good when you think that the money we are using to sign him could have gotten us Wil Middlebrooks, Casey Crosby AND Jack McGreary...and for a 16 year old?

Time will tell.

This would deffinetely take the sting out of the Dellucci/Byrd and Oldberto signings that cost us 3 high draftpicks

You're not the only one still steamed about those picks...

No announcement of additional international signings yet but I did google this list. Notice who is spending the most money overseas, too:

PLAYER, POS. ORGANIZATION AGE COUNTRY SIGNING BONUS
Michael Almanzar and 3b Red Sox 16 Dominican Republic $1.5 million
Kelvin De Leon and of Yankees 16 Dominican Republic $1.1 million
Jhrmivy DeJesus and ss Mariners 16 Dominican Republic $1 million
Julio Teheran and rhp Braves 16 Colombia $850,000
Gabriel Noriega and ss Mariners 16 Venezuela $800,000
Arodys Vizcaino and rhp Yankees 16 Dominican Republic $800,000
Elio De La Rosa and 3b Yankees 16 Dominican Republic $750,000
Jonathan Galvez and ss Padres 16 Dominican Republic $750,000
Wilmer Flores and ss Mets 16 Venezuela $700,000
Henry Pena and of Yankees 16 Dominican Republic $600,000
Martin Perez. lhp Rangers 16 Venezuela $580,000
Wilson Suero and ss Rangers 16 Dominican Republic $558,000
Jefry Marte and 3b Mets 16 Dominican Republic $550,000
Eduardo Sosa and of Yankees 16 Venezuela $500,000
Ryde Rodriguez and of Cardinals 19 Cuba $460,000
Hitaniel Arias and of Brewers 16 Dominican Republic $450,000
Efrain Nunez and of Mariners 16 Dominican Republic $450,000
Cesar Puello and of Mets 16 Dominican Republic $400,000
Angel Joseph and of Giants 16 Dominican Republic $350,000
Kevin Moscatel and c Cardinals 16 Venezuela $350,000

According to Lino Diaz, the Indians director of scouting for Latin America, the Indians did not sign Edward Salcedo, the one remaining high profile Latin free agent. Diaz did not say if Salcedo had signed with a major league team and, if he signed, with whom.

Salcedo is represented by Scott Boras who was seeking a $4-5 million bonus. Reports indicated that he was likely to get no more than half of that.

Ross Atkins had said previously this week that the Indians had not even made him an offer. Diaz told me earlier this week that the Indians were still negotiating with him but that he did not sign.

A Google search and search of NY papers gave no clue if Salcedo signed or not.

Potentially the word on who signed who will come out after the holiday when ML baseball officials get back in the office on Tuesday.

Not to pimp my own article but I did an article on international signings that will be posted on the Cleveland Fan site later this afternoon which gives all of our curent international signings and a lot more information. Hope you all enjoy it.

Interesting article, thanks. I've been tracking Abner Abreu this season and thought he might be interesting. He has an odd combination of statistics, with seven triples but only five stolen bases. This would seem to indicate that he has speed but doesn't know how to read pitchers. Is this an accurate assessment? Also, concerning Kelvin Diaz, why did his performance deteriorate so much this season (in comparison to last year) and why did he stop hitting HRs after the first couple of months in both seasons?

On the pitching side I've been tracking Perez more than Salazar, his BB/K and IP/K ratios looked pretty interesting to me. Any insights as to why Salazar may be more highly regarded, especially considering that they are practically the same age and Perez is taller and skinnier (more projectability)?

Oh, and why did we go from two Dominican Clubs (and a Venezuelan club a couple of years ago) to a single DSL team? Do we have more players from the Dominican elsewhere in our system, but not yet playing in the DSL? I'm not including kids who moved up from the DSL in that question.

Art,

Regarding prospects, we have all been witness to guys with great numbers coming over here and not performing. Methinks this is because trickery can be really effective on young hitters and young pitchers will be real susceptible to guys with good plate discipline at these levels.

So the stats can be deceiving.

I'll go with Diaz regarding the guys they are high on.

Regarding Abreu time will tell. I don't too much stock in the actual numbers as I think this level, as I said above, may distort everything.

Regarding Kelvin Diaz, the lack of second half HRs each year are a question but I think he has been solid all along this year and, as bad as the team was, may have been pitched around a lot.

The thing I noticed most about Abreu is that his BB/K and AB/K rates really improved significantly each month of the season. It seemed that he really catches on concerning batting approach. Since he was only 17, and had all of those extra base hits, it might indicate a player with potential.

Have they significantly reduced the number of players they annually sign, or are they making decisions to cut them free faster? This goes back to my earlier question about the reduction in DSL clubs.

Art,

If I get a chance to talk to these guys again I will ask this question. My guess is the answer is yes.

Talked to John Mirabelli today as a followup to my previous conversation. When we left it last time he said that he was working on a pitcher and a catcher from Taiwan. Here's the update:

"We negotiated hard with the pitcher but, in the end, it was the classic thing that we didn't feel that the amount of money (he was asking for) matched up with the talent."

The Indians did, however, sign the catcher. After talking to John I googled this guy and here is what I found

http://taiwanbaseball.blogspot.com/2007 ... -chen.html

John said the kid is in the instructional league right now. His comments about him were:

"He is 18 years old and just finished high school. He has a vast international experience from his years on Taiwanese national teams. He is a solid catch/throw guy right now with an average arm. On the offensive side he has a line drive approach. I don't want to categorize him as a defense first catcher because we think he can be more than that but he is just an 18 year old kid right now so there is a lot of projection there. Anytime you can bring in a kid at a priority position like catcher without overpaying him or overdrafting a domestic kid it is a good thing"

When I asked him about whether they had other things going in the Pacific Rim he said:

"Not now but we have been scouting the Far East professional leagues pretty hard. We will see what comes out of that once that season ends."

From Lino Diaz:

They recently signed Venezuelan RHP Fernando Flores. He is 16 years old, and is 6’4 tall and 220 pounds.

Now THAT is some 16 year old. Jim Tressel take note!

Hopefully he doesn't balloon into a Greg Swindell or Bartolo Colon

From the BA Dec. 26th chat (pay site, link not posted) Jim Callis is saying that Edward Salcedo is overhyped (no, with Boras as his agent? You think?)) and that is why he is not yet signed.

Another source told me that the Salcedo thing will probably drag on until right before spring training unless Boras or some team blinks between now and then.

Unsubstantiated rumor that Salcedo signed with the Indians for $2.9M. Saw it over on Scout.com.

Its True , The Indians have sign Boras Client....2.9 Millions

If true.....a huge signing for the Tribe minor league system.

at age 16 only time can tell, but the potential is unlimited

I agree only time will tell.... that's why I said huge for the minor league system and not the major league team.

Anytime you add a potential blue chipper to your minor leagues it's alwys going to be a huge boost.

i wasnt knocking your assertion

just adding i guess

Well, there goes that rumour..... Salcedo not signed, but Tribe are in negotiations.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=721

I find it very interesting that we are even in deep discussions with Boras about him. It represents a massive shift in philosophy for the Indians as I got the impression year when we were linked with signing Fuenmayor that a we were unlikely to take the risk of a large signing bonus on a latin free agent.

Given it is where most of our own talent comes from, developing and finding latin talent is something we have shown we are good at. Not a bad idea if thats the case...

This may represent a change in tactics for the FO, but it follows with the overall "moneyball" strategy of looking for market inefficiencies, which small- and mid-market teams need to do.

In this case, the escalating costs (and durations) of FA contracts make them very dangerous bets for teams that can't afford to lose those bets. This makes paying real money for top international prospects a better bet, by comparison.

I think we will begin to see the FO place more such small bets. I also think we will start to see our team paying above slot for premium draft choices. It just makes sense to make a whole lot of small bets on potential future CC's than one huge (uninsurable) bet on the actual current CC. If that bet didn't/doesn't pay off, the franchise is crippled.

Worst-case scenario (Dreifort/Pavano/Hampton/Neagle/etc.etc.): Raise your hand if you want to watch this team with $20M+ committed for 6 years to a player who isn't playing.
Mike

the indians have to do something to counteract the negative pr from this do nothing hot stove season and the impending loss of cc. This would be a relatively low risk high reward move especially because they will be down about 15 million dollars a year in budgeted payroll after cc leaves.

First, they have had an offer, and from what I have heard, them same offer, to Salcedo on the table for awhile. I am not aware that they increased that offer but I am pretty sure some other teams have dropped out as they have re-evaluated his worth as much less, MUCH less than what Boras is asking for. So, if true, the Indians offer may have been the highest Boras received and now he is just trying to get more money out of them.

Second, regarding the signing, yeah, a couple million for this guy seems like nothing but that is a top first round pick. I don't see this guy as a top first round talent and, when we are trying to sign CC, these Blake-Salcedo type signings could be viewed very negatively by the fans rather than result in positive PR.

Finally, from what I had heard the Salcedo thing was going to be decided by spring training. That is not that the INDIANS would be signing him, just that he would be signed by some team by spring training.

That's all I know on the situation, which isn't much.

mlbtraderumors.com chimes in with their take on Salcedo.... doesn't say more than we already know really.



http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/2008/0 ... atter.html

Could just be another Boras spin to drive the price up, or could be genuine..... your guess is as good as mine.

Stinks if true but, if he is worth $1.5 million and the Yankees sign him for $5 million, I am all over that and wish them the worst! Besides his Rule 5 clock stars in 2008 and the kid probably won't even play full season ball until 2010 or so and then probably only at low A. Unless he is really that good, which I don't think he is, he won't be in the majors full-time until his second option year at the earliest.

Hey, for $1.5 million or even $2 million, given that it is not my money, I might take a shot at him but $5 million? There are better uses for that money, IMO.

While all that is true, it still represents everything that is wrong with baseball. A $5 million investment by the Yankees is a smaller percentage of the Yankees total operating budget.

If they are even taking away this avenue for smaller market teams to gain an avenue to good talent, then the sport is slowly but surely losing a bit of its sparkle. Big money spread between a few is killing most of the sports in this world.

There's very little pure professional sport left in the world.

Might have went totally off on a tangent with this whole post but I am finding myself more and more frustrated

Any word on this brother of abreau. He is supposed to be the real deal>