Comments on: White Sox may be serious bidders for Yoenis Cespedes

By: cur68

cur68 — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 22:46:29 +0000

palehorse: just to bolster your argument remember, Yunel Escobar? Another Cuban defector. I can confirm, based on eyeball assessment, that he’s as good as his numbers suggest (over 5 season he’s BA .289, OBP .366, SLG .401, & OPS .766) : average to above average. Its not a given either way but there’s ample room to believe that Cespedes will transition as well.

By: palehose56

palehose56 — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:51:28 +0000

Honestly, how does Keith Law (or most anyone else) know? Has he spent time in Cuba?

Alexei Ramirez made the transition from Cuban pitching to MLB pitching, pretty darn quickly. I think the talent is undervalued in Cuba because it’s so unknown. And yet Japanese talent is way overvalued…

By: tn16

tn16 — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 07:51:14 +0000

I could see the blue jays trying for him
AA seams to think that a MLB team should have half the team as out fielders

By: randygnyc

randygnyc — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:46:05 +0000

Cuba’s elite players, like el duque and contreras have worked out well at the MLB level. I’m sure an offensive player will have an easier transition than a pitcher. Also, the language/cultural obstacle is minimal compared to their japaneese counterparts. This player might be the real deal. I expect 40-50 million over 6 years.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:43:19 +0000

Cuban profession baseball is equivalent in talent to A to high A minor league ball. So….yeah, a jump from that level straight to MLB may not be the smoothest. Consider all of the Japanese stars (a league considered to be roughly equivalent to AA ball) that have problems jumping to the majors.

By: phillyphreak

phillyphreak — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:34:21 +0000

Said = compared.

By: phillyphreak

phillyphreak — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:33:40 +0000

Not sure how much help this is but I think Keith Law said Cuban league pitching is ~ single A pitching…..

By: dondada10

dondada10 — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:48:36 +0000

I wish I had a frame of reference as to what the Cuban league most resembles. AA? AAA? Chapman was the much safer signing, IMO.

By: paul621

paul621 — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:44:44 +0000

And that assumes that 26 isn’t undershooting it at all…

By: hammyofdoom

hammyofdoom — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:27:45 +0000

Man, the fact that this guy is 26 kind of scares me a little when it comes to a major league team going after him. I don’t know much about Cuban baseball leagues in comparison to MLB, but what if he needs seasoning in the minors? He’d come up as a 28 year old rookie, with not a whole lot of time to figure out the major league level. However I’m also as close to a scout as I am an astronaut in that I have seen both baseball and space on TV, so he might be a surefire thing, but it’s just a thought that keeps nagging me.