The Dodgers have a history of signing and developing impact players from Latin America, but their once-impressive methods of acquiring talent faded under the ownership of Frank McCourt. Now they're back at it.
The Dodgers announced today that they have signed 21-year-old outfielder Yasiel Puig to a seven-year Major League contract. The contract, which is worth $42MM, reflects renewed commitment to success in Latin America, GM Ned Colletti says.
"This signing shows ownership’s commitment to re-engage in the region and dedicate ourselves to getting stronger in this area,” Colletti said. “We feel that Puig can be an outstanding Major League player for the organization.”
Puig can void his contract and go to arbitration once he accumulates three years of MLB service, Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times reports (Twitter links). The Dodgers don't appear to have been the high bidder, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets. They never saw Puig play in a game, Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com tweets.
The Dodgers, now under the ownership of Guggenheim Sports Management, had publicly stated their intention to bid aggressively on the best available Latin American players. Puig, a 6'3" outfielder from Cuba, fits the description. He agrees to terms two days after being granted free agency and four days before baseball's collective bargaining agreement imposes spending restrictions on teams. Starting July 2, teams will work with a $2.9MM annual budget for international prospects.
Agent Jaime Torres represents Puig, who appears to be in line for a record contract. The outfielder has two seasons of experience in Cuba’s Serie Nacional. He’s more polished than Jorge Soler of the Cubs but less seasoned than Yoenis Cespedes of the Athletics, according to Sanchez. The Cubs and White Sox both appear to have expressed interest in signing Puig.
Reports on Puig have been modest, Ben Badler of Baseball America reported this week. Teams are working off of limited information, as most scouts haven't seen much of the prospect since last summer.
MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez first reported the contract and Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com first reported its terms.
The word “wow” comes to mind…
Yeah too much money for one and for two.. This..
“They never saw Puig play in a game” haha
schweet.
That’s alot of money for a unproven player.
overpay.
Considering the Dodgers weren’t the highest bidder, a lot of teams were looking to overpay.
which doesn’t change the fact that it was an overpay.
The total dollars may sound like an overpay but when you consider it’s $6 million/year, that doesn’t seem to be all that much.
And Soler got $3.3M/yr, and is widely considered the better player…
I think if he was widely considered the better player, he would have been offered more money.
Thats why this is an overpay
“overpay” good call
40+!?!?!?!?!?
That’s pretty much what I was getting at with “wow.” I thought this guy wasn’t supposed to be as good as Soler?
He’s not
Doesn’t have the same upside, but he’s closer and has a higher floor. But wow – guess July 2nd looming close adds a (dozen) million or two.
I don’t know that he actually has a higher floor (both of them essentially have a floor of flaming out and being a career minor leaguer), but he’s closer to ‘ready’ so he’s more likely to reach his ceiling.
he’s better than Soler now and the floor would be never improving. So if they both hit their floors, Puig’s will be higher.
And they’d both be career minor leaguers. Hooray that one is a career A ball guy and the other is a career AA guy I guess.
Higher floor? Good call. I bet you never saw this guy play once. Just repeating the internets.
Since you’ve seen both play, how about a scouting report?
“I thought this guy wasn’t supposed to be as good as Soler?”
“He’s not” as in “he’s not supposed to be.” But you knew that already. I clearly haven’t seen either of them play, but according to scouts who have he’s not supposed to be as good. But you probably already knew that too.
40MM?
For a guy which scouting reports had as with less polish and upside than Cespedes and less upside than Soler?
I’m waiting for this report to be refuted.
I think it was less polish than Cespedes and less upside than Soler, wasn’t it? (I think he’s supposed to have more upside than Cespedes, but he’s not supposed to be major league ready yet)
Yeah, you’re right on that.
I don’t think he’s worth $40m. But the Dodgers look quite confident on him.
The Rockies looked quite confident in Mike Hampton.
+1
WOW! That’s a lot of money!
You have heard of the Paining “The Silent Scream”. Well I am willing to bet there was a silent “Groan” amongst all Dodger minor league outfielders, it just got that much tougher to make the “Bigs”.
If I am the Orioles, I would gladly take Tyler Henson back! He’s stuck in a log jam now with the Puig signing.
Do you guys think its the overpay because it was the last good player before the caps go into effect, they must have though someone else was in on him bigtime.
Could be, I know it’s been suggested that some teams might go that route.
Cole Hamels is very happy right now.
An unproven Cuban position player has nothing to do with Cole Hamels. Cole Hamels is happy because his career work at the MLB level is going to make him a ton of money as a free agent.
Or it does because this proves the dodgers are gonna pay lots of money to players they want. And one of those players people seem to think they will want is Cole Hamels.
Yeah, I have to agree here. His hopeful biggest bidder just showed that they’re willing to open the wallet BIG TIME.
I guess I can understand that argument but I still don’t think that Puig has any real connection to Hamels. If the point is that the Dodgers have proven they will spend big I’m fairly certain we already knew that irregardless of this signing. There are a few big market clubs that can and will spend big big money in free agency. I would count the Dodgers among them and bankruptcy/sale of the team not withstanding we all knew that already. Nice to see the kid make some money before the new rules take effect but Hamels is going to make a ton of money anyway based off of his past performance in MLB.
Everyone seems to be missing this point. Under McCourt, they would have been brushed off as pseudo-contenders for whoever this guy may be. It’s a good sign that new ownership is willing to pay. At this rate, they might be willing to even pass the luxury tax.
I don’t think this guy really had them over that much of a barrel. He was the one that needed to sign to avoid getting stuck with a 2.9MM ceiling.
Anybody know how he performed in the Cuban League? B-REF only has the stats up through 2008.
EDIT: Apparently this guy hit .330 17HR in 327 AB.
The Cuban league isn’t even as challenging as A level ball, stats from there mean next to nothing.
I’ve heard the Cuban league described as around AA level competition. Considering American college ball is around A level, I find it hard to believe that a league stocked full of players coming up through a regimented and rigorous State athletic program wouldn’t be able to match amateur college ball.
With all the reports on him I say that theres still a very very slim chance he ever hits at the MLB level, he’s still a ways away from the MLB.
Thats not true.
Which isnt true? That the Cuban league isn’t close to MLB level? That Puig doesn’t have that good of a hit tool? or that he’s still too raw for the MLB?
The Cuban league is far far off from MLB level.
Multiple websites have Puig lacking a great hit tool in their write ups of him, pretty much the only team who have said he’s a 5 tool player is the Dodgers who saw 1 workout of him.
He’s at least 1 or 2 years off still, he isn’t Cespedes.
This is a good sign for Dodger fans as it marks the Dodgers getting aggressively back into the international market.
Apparently, the Dodgers offer wasn’t even the biggest offer for Puig.
I fully expect to see the Dodgers continue that trend going forward.
Boston has done real well following that trend
Agree, and now the Dodgers seem to look to be getting back to being players on the international market.
For that much money, Dodgers’ fans better hope he is not a Puig in a poke…..
If this is true, then Theo and the Cubs really got a steal for signing Soler for 9 years and 30MM. Especially since Puig’s ceiling is lower!
one more time please.
If this is true, then Theo and the Cubs really got a steal for signing
Soler for 9 years and 30MM. Especially since Puig’s ceiling is lower!
Thanks bro, i appreciate it a lot. This is such a nice community.
His breakout year in cuba was about a 330 avg. 17 homers and 78 RBI’s
Cuban numbers mean nothing, its less challenging than A level ball.
no matter how many times you say it’s just as wrong as the last time
6 mil a year for the best remaining international player isn’t really an overpay imho, especially for someone who is closer to ready than Soler (by all reports) if not quite as ready as Cespedes. Keep in mind the Dodgers’ org is starved for more outfield talent; their best outfielders in the system as far as ceiling goes are arguably all in A ball (Garcia, Pederson and Baldwin) so they really needed this guy, too. He sounds like a real talent with some rawness in his swing that hopefully they will fix up within a couple of years. He’s also considered to be extremely fast, and an above average fielder. I really feel this was a signing they needed to do and given all the above can’t really be looked at as an overpay.
Agree on Dodgers needing high ceiling talent in their system, especially bats.
A big thing to remember is Cespedes is 5 years older than Puig (26 vs. 21) and Puig is supposed to have more speed than Cespedes.
Apparently, Puig is a 5-tool player.
The fact that the Dodgers bid wasn’t even the highest bid is telling in terms of how teams valued Puig.
Apparently, Puig could end up being in the majors in short time. The thought of having Puig in an OF of Kemp and Ethier is very very intriguing to me.
Yeah agreed. Now, hearing reports that he could be ready to contribute this year, I don’t quite buy those, I think he still needs work and those reports could be coming from his agent for all we know, but it does sound like next year is very possible, which is already critical plus for the Dodgers, who could then maybe focus remaining FA money on another position of need (infield). Have to see how he looks to start though of course; may start in Hi-A and then AA soon after or to start next season.
Scouts are saying he won’t be up soon, his hit tool is very very suspect, I wouldn’t call him a 5 tooler.
you dont know any scouts, LA has their own scouts who I’m sure they trust more then you, who bases his opinion on the opinions of other posters on blogs (scouts).
I was referring to Baseball America/Baseball Prospectus/ and Keith Law, but if they don’t have legit scouts I guess we shouldn’t ever use them for any scouting reports. If they are so bad I guess we just shouldn’t use them. LA even has said that they have never seen him play once, hard to scout on that!
Dodgers’ Assistant GM of Scouting Logan White went down to Mexico and scouted Pusig himself and took the kid to dinner.
His evaluation was Pusig is a 5 tool player.
No offense to Keith Law, but I trust Logan White more. He’s one of the best in the scouting business.
Yeah I was just saying that a lot of scouts aren’t as high on him as the Dodgers reps are. Were you referring to White seeing him in a workout in Mexico? Just wondering since they claim to have never seen him in game.
Puig has a very poor present hit tool, also he isn’t very athletic and hasn’t hit live pitching in more than a year. He’s not near major league ready.
I disagree about him not being very athletic. That’s not what I’m hearing and not seeing that on the tape I’ve watched at all. He’s also the fastest (in time) of the three major Cuban signee. Agree that he’s not an immediate major leaguer though, probably 1-2 years away.
Madison Bumgarner is going to make less money over the next 6.5 years than Puig.
I wonder if his cousin Porky Puig is his agent ?
To everyone comparing this to Soler, you have to realize Soler is a greater risk. Puig is more of a sure thing and not near as raw. You also have to remember Soler can elect to go to arbitration. So if he develops like many think, he will end up with more money than Puig.
False, Puig hasn’t played live baseball in more than a year.
What is false? If you’re going to say I’m wrong, at least provide a reason why. Cespedes hadn’t played in nearly a year either. That didn’t seem to hurt his stock much.
The difference in guaranteed money is because Puig is much more projectable than Soler. Soler has a higher upside because of his tools, its just so hard to project what he will be because he is so raw. So Soler got less guaranteed money but has the potential to make more via arbitration if he lives up to the hype.
He’s a much worse prospect than Soler, talk about a overpay/
I disagree, lots of teams were offering way more money then any team offered Soler.
I swear to god, some of you need to get real, you work 9-5 jobs, you aren’t scouts.
Lol. I finally found a post where you were wrong.
Plenty of stuff I’ve been wrong about, and I think the general sentiment was that at the time but no doubt Dodgers were extremely smart to give puig that contract
So basically reports are that the Dodgers didn’t even watch this guy play a game and only saw one workout.
Vintage Ned
I think this is a good signing for the dodgers. They could you really use the help right now, even though he might not play this year it a good sign of things to come. Who knows, if he performs well in the minors he may get called up. Im just hoping we can get an upgrade offensively soon that can play this year.
All of a sudden everyone claims to be an expert on international players they know zilch about by regurgitating the same two points over and over again.
“More polished/less upside than Soler but not as polished as Cespedes.”
That is so completely laughable. Puig is 21 (allegedly anyways)…how can you possibly make such assertions about his ceiling. Players improve at different rates and in different ways. Scouts see things in players that never come to fruition and miss things in players that end up materializing into greatness.
Signing any international player is a gamble, but I don’t think an AAV of 6 mil should be generating this much scrutiny.
Right, what do we even have scouts for? I mean it’s not like they’re right even most of the time, and since clubs obviously don’t use them to evaluate players it’s silly for people on message boards to believe anything they say.
scouts definitely aren’t right most of the time. It’s why the baseball draft has like a million rounds. So many people play it at a level close to the highest that players slip through cracks, and scouts miss things all the time.
If a player is considered good succeeding 3 out of 10 times in terms of getting a hit, then I would say amateur scouts are probably considered successful if they hit on 1 or 2 out of 15 guys. The rate of attrition in terms of baseball prospects is astronomical, it’s the hardest sport to project amateur to professional. Look at the number of first round picks who can’t even hack AA every year.
The draft is so long because there are so many guys eligible to be drafted, and with the attrition rate in baseball teams need those players to replace people. If a scout was only right once or twice out of every 15 guys he scouted he would be fired; maybe 1 or 2 out of 15 they hit on a gem, but they better have a pretty good idea of a guys skills at least 10 of those 15 times or they aren’t going to have a job.
I think that misconception comes from people misunderstanding the term “ceiling.” Ceiling doesn’t mean “what the player should become,” ceiling is what the player could become if everything goes absolutely perfectly and they guy reaches his perfect world potential, which happens about 1% of the time. A scout looks at a guy’s overall tools, and what his body type is (how much he can fill out) and how that generally affects guys’ tools, and says “if absolutely everything goes perfectly he could become this.” Plenty of things can go wrong between high school/college and the majors (injuries, lack of effort, lack of conditioning, mechanical issues, a guy simply not being able to get everything out of his tools [JD Drew anyone?]), but that doesn’t mean scouts were wrong about a guys ceiling, it just means he didn’t reach his ceiling (which happens almost every time) and there are varying degrees of not reaching your ceiling (from not being as good of a major leaguer as you could have been, to not being a major leaguer at all).
According to the statistics I’ve seen on the Internet, only 8 to 10% of minor league players make it to the majors. That would be a 90 to 92% failure rate for scouts. I read another story that stated out of 3500 minor league players, only 280 made it to the major leagues.
That can’t be pinned on scouts though, by the time those guys “should” have made it to the majors there have been dozen of people involved in their development, and just because a scout likes a guy’s tool or says he has a high ceiling doesn’t mean he’s guaranteeing him to make it to the majors, some guys have more inherent risk than others.
A scout “failing” would be if a kid wasn’t what the scout said he was to begin with, not whether the player development department can make a major leaguer out of him.
Yeah there a lot of minor league players whos scouting reports say that they don’t have the skills to be a major leaguer, a lot of guys are career minor leaguers and their careers don’t last very long. As long as a scout doesn’t project him for something he isn’t going to be then he’s done his job.
Yeah, and it’s not even like you can say that if a scout says a guy has a ceiling of a #3 starter and he ends up a reliever that the scout has “failed.” A ceiling is just that, that is a perfect world scenario, and the likelihood of him actually reaching the ceiling is really low.
exactly. Some guys don’t have any tools, nothing projectable, but can play the game and flourish. Dustin Pedroia come to mind.
If you can hit the ball over the wall and into the gap, does it matter how pretty your swing is or how low/high your leg kick is?
And what’s worse, is people read some innocuous quote by some unnamed scouts quote to fill out a story on a blog (not blaming the writers, that’s your job), and take it as gospel and proceed to repeat it ad nauseum to whoever will listen. It will usually be presented in some kind of manner that makes the person look more important and educated. Something like: “Based on all the scouting reports I’ve read and the game film I’ve seen on this guy, I come to the conclusion that his upside is limited and he has a hitch in his swing that will prevent him from being able to turn on the inside fastball at the highest level”.
It’s like, no dude, you read one story on MLBTR where the writer pulled some quote from anonymous scout who probably watches 100s of amateurs play every week and never focused in specifically on this kid.
Get over the fact that they spent to much money. They are making moves unlike before with McCourt because they have Money to blow.
People are overlooking the arbitration clause in both soler’s and pug’s contracts.In fact, if soler produces his contract will amount than more than puig’s. To clear things up, Puig has higher upside than Cespedes but is a year removed from the major leagues. However, Puig could probably jump into the Dodgers lineup now and be the best with Either and Kemp out. All in all this is not an overpay, obviously the Major League Teams see something we don’t see in Puig.
Soler can only make more than Puig if he produces AND Puig doesn’t. If both produce they’ll both opt to go to arbitration. The scenario you described only works out if Soler produces and Puig doesn’t really. Even then Puig would likley make moe total money over the span of the contract, but it also means he didn’t opt to go to arb and was thus likely overpaid by quite a bit.
this is basically because he is the last foreign player you can get bypassing the draft. It also allows them to trade a guy like sands more easily since there is now a outfielder to replace him, a thin farm needed something for the upgrades Colletti will inevitable seek.
I don’t think it should have ever been considered problematic to trade Jerry Sands. Castellanos and Van Slyke seem to have surpassed him, and there is some higher upside in the lower minors…
While I’m not saying they should overvalue Sands or anything, I think it would be awfully short sighted of the organization to do it based on Alex Castellanos.
I keep hearing about this guy’s floor and ceiling. So what about his walls? His front door?
He’s from Cuba. Don’t they live in huts there?
I think they live in mojitos. Wait, that’s what they drink.
I hear his crown moulding is breathtaking, but that his baseboards could use some serious work.
Just so long as he doesn’t strain his wainscoting. We’ve already had plenty of that this year.
Overpay? lol