Cuban second baseman Jose Miguel Fernandez, who left Cuba in search of a big league deal back in December, has now been officially declared a free agent by Major League Baseball, reports Ben Badler of Baseball America. He’s free to sign with a Major League club at any time.
Because of his age (27) and extensive professional experience in Cuba’s Serie Nacional (eight seasons), Fernandez is exempt from international bonus pools. It’s been quite some time since he’s played regularly in game action — Fernandez’s last full season in Cuba was the 2013-14 campaign — but he’ll host a showcase for teams later this month, according to Badler, who notes that scouts are “eager” to see him. A showcase in February was canceled after Fernandez was said to have come down with dengue fever, Badler adds.
Fernandez is the owner some fairly gaudy stats from Cuba and is known as an on-base machine with excellent bat-to-ball skills. The left-handed hitter has authored a lifetime .319/.403/.423 batting line in 2580 plate appearances in Cuba’s top league, and he batted an outstanding .326/.482/.456 in the aforementioned 2013-14 campaign. (Cuba’s season is played in the winter, hence the listing of two years.) Fernandez played in 15 games during the 2014-15 season, prior to his first attempt at defecting, and batted .315/.415/.426 in 65 trips to the plate. However, he was detained in his attempt to leave the country and was reported at one point thereafter to be heavily guarded by the police.
Badler has previously reported that Fernandez has below-average pop and is merely an adequate defender at second base. As such, he profiles as a high-on-base and low-strikeout option at second upon reaching the Majors. Indeed, he struck out in a stunningly low 4.4 percent of his plate appearances in Cuba — just 113 times in his 2580 trips to the plate. Even if he lacks the power and defensive upside to become a star-caliber player, Fernandez is a more or less MLB-ready option at second base that could step into a big league lineup in short order, though it stands to reason that given his incredibly long layoff from in-game activity, some minor league seasoning figures to be in order.
About a month ago, MLB Network’s Peter Gammons reported that rival clubs believe the Padres are the heavy favorites to sign Fernandez, though we certainly could see other teams enter the mix with Fernandez now officially on the market. From my vantage point, the Royals, Angels, Braves, Phillies and Brewers could all use some second base help in addition to the rumored favorites in San Diego, though that list is of course highly speculative in nature.
Photo by Alyson Boyer Rode.
Come on Atlanta, can never use enough talent.
Braves are not going for this guy. Albies/Swanson will both be up soon enough. That is our future which ever one they deem right for 2nd.
Agreed, but trade chips are trade chips. Imagine two great SS/2B, on the cheap. Elk look what we have up for Hector.
Tbh just because you have 2 good middle infield prospects doesn’t mean that you stop acquiring middle infield prospects. You always need talent in the pipeline. Either for trade or in case one or both are busts. Kevin Maitan and Yunior Severino are both highly touted middle infield prospects, but just because we have Albies and Swanson doesn’t mean that the Braves shouldn’t do everything they can to sign Maitan and Severino
Might as well retouch that image to a Dodgers uni right now.
Really? How many more second baseman do they need in their system?
Mediocre defense, virtually no base stealing ability (11/20 in steals over 8 seasons and 608 games) and little pop. Doesn’t look like a top MLB talent to me.
How many did they need when they signed the last one? Or the one before that?
Cmon padres get them all this year
I agree Padres is his best shot to the pro’s
How does he not sign with the Angels. Cmon!
The Angels have very little room left before they hit the luxury tax threshold. He doesn’t seem like a major difference maker. However, I would agree with you that if the Angels have some more payroll flexibility they might go after him
I see him more as a bench guy on a national league team who gets more AB’s like when the pitcher is coming out. He has the high OBP so that will help his case, but the fact that he really doesn’t possess any other tools makes it a bit hard.
I’m left scratching my head over the use of the term upside. If it’s already known that Fernandez is not a power hitter and is defensively mediocre, then where is the power and defensive upside? The term generally meaning something that becomes more valuable than it was or was thought to be.
Perhaps you missed the inclusion of the word “lacks” when they referred to his power and defensive upside.
That being said he has very similar stats to Miami’s Dee Gordon who also lacks power and defensive upside and he is known as a pretty solid 2nd baseman. Of course, Gordon possesses a plus speed tool which Fernandez seems to be without.
With no speed and an ISO of .130 in his last full season in Cuba I have to think he has a bit more power than what is believed. He could be a solid line drive hitter. That would make him an ideal candidate for Petco. Just a bit of speculation on my part. Regardless, with several high profile Cuban players flopping in their first full season in MLB I don’t think Fernandez is going to be signing a record breaking deal. Something similar to Baldoquin or Lopez probably gets it done. Again, just a bit of speculation on my part.
It’s the use of the word “upside” to describe a player’s skill level that I questioned. Unless a team signs a player with the hope that he will perform better than expected in any given skill department, then there’s really no upside, there’s only getting what they paid for. Such as, I bought a baseball card for $20 and sold it for $100. That’s upside. If I can resell it for only $20, no upside.
The reason some of the cubans were getting huge deals is because of teams like Dodgers and the Red Sox. Just because Puig turned out good ( besides last year) they have to sign all these cubans to these huge deals. And Boston signing Castillo and then giving Moncada that huge deal for his age ( albeit he could be worth that deal if he develops quickly). It was like they didn’t even scout Castillo and just gave him that deal just because he was cuban and they were expecting him to be another Puig, Abreu or Cespedes. The deal the Diamondbacks gave Tomas was even stupid. Its teams like those that those cuban players were getting those huge contracts. Trying to find the next great Cuban player, but what they didn’t realize is that every Cuban player isn’t Puig, Abreu, Cespedes or even Chapman and what they signed was a bench player or AAA guy thats getting paid 8 figures. I think these teams are realizing that by looking at what the Dodgers and Red Sox did, that they shouldn’t give out these huge contracts to every unproven Cuban player. I know they have money to do that, but it still sucks to have a double digit million Cuban player sitting on your bench like Boston and cant do anything with him. I dont see this guy gettinf a big contract. Thats why Lazarito isn’t going to get the 15 mill per year that he wants unless a team is just stupid and wants to pay an unproven 16 year old Major League money.
I can see the White Sox getting him. Brett Lawrie won’t last in the Windy Cindy as a second sacker.
If Brett Lawrie doesn’t last on the South Side of Chicago it will likely be because of his defense at 2B. How does Miguel Fernandez help? They’d be better off with the smooth glove of Carlos Sanchez. It’s also possible that top prospect Tim Anderson may eventually move to 2B with concerns still remaining about his defense at SS as he debuts in AAA this season.
The White Sox traded Micah Johnson this offseason who was their top 2B prospect, in large part because of his questionable defense. Imo, Johnson would have been a far better MLB candidate than Fernandez. Both lack defensive ability, but aside from his low strikeout rate, he would appear to be a superior weapon on offense compared to Fernandez. Johnson has high BA, OBP and SB skills. He also has more power and is younger. His elite speed alone would play well in MLB. I just don’t see the White Sox having much interest in Fernandez as a MLB prospect.
Angels please
Why I never see the Mets in any discussions for players from overseas
They did sign that Jenrry Mejia kid a few years back. I wonder how he turned out.
*mic drop*
Neither players are MLB quality.