Cuban slugger Yasmany Tomas is officially a free agent, but George A. King III of the New York Post reports that the Yankees aren’t likely to show serious interest in the outfielder. Meanwhile, the Padres hosted their second private workout with Tomas in the Dominican Republic yesterday, according to Baseball America’s Ben Badler.
The Yankees, according to King, were in attendance for Tomas’ showcase in the Dominican Republic, but rival clubs expect the Yanks to have a similar reaction to Tomas that they did to countryman Rusney Castillo. King adds that New York “showed very little interest” in Castillo after initially watching him. As King notes, the Yankees are hoping that Carlos Beltran can play right field next year in the event that Alex Rodriguez has to spend a lot of time at the DH position. Additionally, King spoke to one official who offered a lukewarm take on Tomas and his rumored price tag of roughly $100MM: “He is a good player, but for $100 million? I don’t know. He is better than [Castillo], but that doesn’t mean he is worth $100 million.”
As for the Padres, Badler reports that newly minted GM A.J. Preller was at yesterday’s private showcase, and he is also known to have attended Tomas’ initial Dominican showcase for all 30 clubs. That would make three times in a three week span that the GM has seen him. Preller is well-known for his prowess on the international scouting front, as Badler notes, and many of the team’s decision-makers have now seen him multiple times as well. Vice president of scouting operations Don Welke and vice president of baseball operations Omar Minaya have both gotten multiple first-hand looks at Tomas.
MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes recently authored a free agent profile of Tomas, ultimately wagering that Tomas, who will play next season at the age of 24, would land a contract worth $105MM over a seven-year term. As Badler notes, the Rangers have also had a private workout with Tomas, as have the Phillies. Reports this week indicated that the Twins, too, were trying to arrange a private workout.
If he’s a true middle of the order power bat, 105 million is not bad at all. It’s really hard to find players of any nationality that can be a cleanup hitter at 24. Someone will pony up regardless of his K rate in Cuba.
But what are the odds he is a true middle the order hitter?
Just about everyone pegged to make money coming from Cuba, seems to be worth every dollar.
Yes, so far, although someone is going to get burned. Not looking at all Cuban players, but the ready-for-prime-time group who pretty much were expected to jump straight to the Majors, they have been good. Cespedes started this trend, and while he may not have been quite the sensation his YouTube marketing campaign promised, he has certainly been worth the money. Puig made a major splash and impact. Abreu has been phenomenal, although let’s see in season two. Cespedes and Puig all regressed their second seasons. Castillo is a total question mark now. Nice few ABs in September, but meaningless.
Tomas might be the next sensation, and thus worth every dollar or more. Or he might be the first to flop. It will happen with one of them. Could even by Castillo. He has the tools, but as one evaluator noted even from his few September ABs, he sits dead red and has a weight shift problem that will be exploited if he doesn’t change. Time will tell. I wouldn’t make much of his September numbers, nor would I make much from the scout’s take yet.
Eventually though someone is going to get burned, and Cespedes isn’t the bargain everyone tries to make him out to be. 0.751 ops from a corner outfielder this year isn’t anything spectacular, especially when it’s a low obp.
There isn’t something magical in the water in Cuba. They just are still adjusting to the market, because it’s the unknown.
well, Oakland’s ballpark aint hitter friendly…but Id bet money, he bcomes a “monster”, in Fenway.
That’s the 105 million dollar question.
Oh, despaigne despaigne, if the Padres sign up for big $$ on a small budget team and he doesn’t work out.
They’ve got to take a risk if they want out of the cellar. Free agency isn’t exactly their usual forte.
And third place isn’t the cellar. The NL West is winnable for the Padres with health and a little more power.
The Padres should be more worried about finding players who can consistently hit before finding power guys.
Citi Field is bringing the fence in for a 2nd time right? So could Petco. Pretty soon it’s just going to be a game of over-the-line!
It is most certainly not winnable with their current team. They need to make upgrades and those are hard to come by. I like the initiative they’re showing with Tomas.
The fact they won 70 something games with how bad the pitching depth was decimated again, how much time Gyorko missed, Cabrera missed, Cashner missed. If they can actually stay healthy they can compete. Cashner Erlin Wieland Johnson Luebke Kelly all had injuries and there’s some im missing Im sure. If the pitching can stay healthy they’ll compete next year. Plus with pitching depth coming back and in the minors trading some for outfield help isnt crazy but with amarista medica and Liriano the outfield is fine. Solarte spangenberg Cabrera Grandal gyorko infield is fine Rivera catching is fine. They can compete.
EXACTLY….if they dont take a risk, they dont move the needle on anything, offensively. And lets face it, they dont have the ‘pieces’, on the farm to make a big trade for a VERY good bat. I contend, Preller thinks/knows, he can sign this kid for less than the rumored, 100 million.
Lol cause Wisler, Hedges, Fried, and others aren’t regarded highly or anything. If they called up the Marlins and said well give you Wisler hedges fried and Liriano for Stanton the marlins would take that deal in a heart beat. The reason nobody is trading for Stanton is cause a) hed cost substantial prospects and b) you’re paying him 100 mill. So you’re trading 3-4 cost controlled pieces making significantly less than 100+ mill.
Tomas being better than Castillo?…after what I’ve seen from Catillo so far I hope NY sticks with Beltran.
40 PA isn’t exactly a large sample size.
Makes sense. The Yankees can’t save money on their Rogaine bulk order if there’s a young guy in the clubhouse.
nice now we can wait for Aaron Judge!!!!
So they’re saying the Yankees don’t want 6 outfielders and 4 DH’s in their lineup for the next 3 seasons? I can’t believe it.
Why don’t the Yankees have the roster space? Even with Tomas, they would just be going with 7 guys for 6 spots:
LF: Gardner 122 Beltran 40
CF: Ellsbury 142 Gardner 20
RF: Tomas 140 Beltran 22
DH: Rodriguez 80 Beltran 73
1B: Teixeira 142 Headley 20
3b: Headley 122 Rodriguez 40
This gives everyone 120-142 starts. Some of them might gripe, but too bad. And let’s face it, one of these seven guys is going to get hurt.
Having a Dodgers outfield problem at more than one position is not the ideological way to have a healthy clubhouse. Guys are going to build resentments towards the other guy(s) taking their “spots”.
When a player is getting paid a lot of money to sit on the bench, fans are going to give them a tough time, imagine how much harder it is when they’re playing in a big market like New York.
My proposed plan is incomparable to the Dodgers’ outfield.
LA had six viable starting outfielders. 6 guys for 3 spots. My plan has 7 guys sharing 6 spots. That is hardly a logjam. And 3 of those 7 are over 35, with 3 others over 30.
Under my plan, none of those seven guys has a right to complain about playing time. Tomas is a rookie who probably should start the year in AAA. Even if he doesn’t, 140 starts is still a lot. I gave A-Rod 120 starts. He hasn’t reached that since 2010, and this year he turns 40 and didn’t play last season. The other five guys largely gain starts over last season:
Beltran +28
Teixeira +22
Headley +11
Gardner: even
Ellsbury -1
Ok, so Ellsbury loses one start. Too bad. I know some of those guys got hurt last season, but whatever, some people will get hurt this season.
Honestly,the Yankee who would most dislike this plan would be Brian McCann who loses his time at 1b and DH.
Honestly, it’s not a bad plan. I just don’t see it being done without killing the mood in the clubhouse. Guys like to play everyday at a certain spot, usually the one they’re most comfortable at. People’s egos come into play and they hate being moved around the diamond playing a different position every other day. Why do you think Jeter didn’t move off of Shortstop when the Yankees got A-Rod? It sure wasn’t because everyone thought A-Rod would be better at 3B.
I know playing LF really isn’t different from playing the other corner outfield position but Beltran has 2 games played in LF for his entire career. He’s probably incapable of covering a lot of ground these days so leaving him in RF seems like the logical move.
Fair enough. But I think that Beltran starting 40 games in left field won’t kill the mood in the clubhouse. I should probably pencil Teixeira in for 10 fewer starts since he is declining and hasn’t played that many games since 2011. I think that Cashman just doesn’t want to pay Tomas and/or thinks he’s too much of a risk, which is pretty valid. If the Yanks need a 4th outfielder, they might want to trade for Will Venable.
I think you can pencil Tex in for 30 games less. I will be shocked if he suits up for more than 65% of his remaining games left on his contract. Which is fine with me since I’m sick of seeing him consistently trying to pull the ball when they put that shift on him. For god sakes bunt down third just twice and they will never shift you again.
I’ve never actually checked the sabermatrics on their fielding back when ARod joined the yanks, but he was pretty roided up at that time and way bigger and less mobile than he was just a few seasons earlier. I remember watching him during that last season in Texas and knowing for a fact he was juicing. The guy turned into a monster overnight. But again, I never checked the numbers… maybe he was statistically still a better SS than Jeter during that season.
Go check those stats. They are still posted somewhere
If they believe he’s a good player, a right-handed hitter with power, and only 24, he is certainly worth $105 million over seven years through his prime seasons. That would be below market rate.
Below what market? Major league market? yes. But this guy is no major leaguer yet. Unknown
Beltran can’t play in the field anymore. If the Yankees have to play him in right field all season, it’s going to kill their defense out there.
Well it’s not like RF is that deep at Yankee Stadium. It’s almost like playing LF at Fenway Park.
If the Padres ownership trust Preller, which I hope they do seeing as they hired him, then I guess giving Tomas the largest deal in franchise history makes sense. My only concern is that Cespedes is a household name because of what he does in the homerum derby and Puig, even though he drips tools, is still riding the 1st two months of last season and has had numerous issues on and off the field. I know he plays a different position and that he has just finished his rookie campaign, but as a Padre fan I wish Tomas was being compared to Abreu and not Cespedes and Puig. I haven’t heard any negative comments about how Tomas conducted himself at his workout like we all did about Castillo, so hopefully Tomas just goes about his business like Abreu and just hits without the other stuff. Of course if the Padres don’t sign him everything I wrote above doesn’t matter to me. 🙂
Puig had 5.4 war in 2014 (b-ref). That is 10th among position players. He’s not just riding the first two months of 2013.
And yet he was sat in the decisive game in the post season cause of attitude issues.
Seems like the Phillies would be the favorite to sign Tomas. They have the most glaring need for a middle of the order power hitting OF who is young. And they have the money to overpay the man. If Tomas is on par with Cespedes, Puig and Abreu, it will be a deal over the course of the contract.
Cespedes isn’t on par with Puig and Abreu
Just how would the Yankees know what player is worth $100M? That’s an area they they haven’t been particularly good at.
I think Preller knows something, a lot of seamheads around the game, dont know….and I think, he knows, he can sign this kid for less than 9 digits..
rumors about how much he wants, has already scared off a lot of scouts and teams. A guy like Preller, may be using the apprehension of others, to his advantage.
I said 2 weeks ago, when Tomas’s name first popped up, the Padres would get him. I still believe that.
My Yankees Offseason Wish-List:
UTL: Bonifacio 2B: (Prado) SS: Hanley 3B: Chase OF: Melky SP Lester LRP (Minor league system)
Perhaps even call up Rob Refsnyder and have him compete for a spot for 2B