The Astros and young Cuban left-hander Cionel Perez have agreed to a new deal that comes with a $2MM signing bonus, reports MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (via Twitter). Houston and Perez had originally agreed to a $5.15MM signing bonus back in September, but in October it was reported by Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen and ESPN’s Keith Law that the deal had been voided for medical reasons. The precise medical problem that derailed the first deal remains unclear.
The new arrangement comes with less financial risk for Astros, who in addition to the bonus figure are also on the hook for a 100 percent luxury tax due to the fact that they’d already exceeded their 2016-17 international bonus pool. As such, Perez drops from a $10.3MM total expenditure to a $4MM total expenditure for the Astros, who clearly are intrigued by Perez’s talent despite some apparent physical red flags.
Perez, 21 next April, ranks fourth on Sanchez’s list of top 30 international prospects at MLB.com. He’s undersized, though Sanchez notes that he still has room to add to his 5’11”, 170-pound frame. Perez already features a fastball in the 92-95mph range, and that velocity could tick upward a bit as he continues to grow. Perez also shows good feel for a slider and changeup, Sanchez continues. Longenhagen offered similarly high praise for Perez at Fangraphs, rating him seventh among international prospects. While Longenhagen’s report is down a bit more on Perez’s slider, he also notes that Perez flashes a potentially plus curveball. At the time of Perez’s original signing, Baseball America’s Ben Badler wrote that the changeup was a fairly new pitch for Perez, who has only added it since leaving Cuba. His slider has improved since leaving Cuba as well, Badler notes.
Perez spent just two seasons playing in the Cuban National Series, logging a 2.20 ERA while pitching as a professional at ages 17 and 18. He totaled 139 innings with 100 strikeouts against 61 walks, although 13 of those free passes were issued intentionally. Perez should be ticketed for the lower levels of the minor leagues to begin his pro career in the United States.
good, I was hoping something like this would end up happening. my guess is the physical changed his outlook from potential starter to a reliever profile, so they wanted to alter the deal accordingly
Do players get paid while playing in Cuba, like maybe it’s different for the teenagers but did Jose Abreu get paid before he signed an MLB deal? I know it would probally be a lot less than what they get in MLB.
They get paid a pittance, literally like $10-$20/week. They don’t have any expenses because Cuba is communist and as such education / healthcare is free. But still extreme poverty
My cuban buddy said they all get paid the same. No matter what u do u get paid the same. Baseball super star or doctor or cop. Roughly 10 bucks a week. The saying is only fools work over there
I thought they had to be 25 now under the new cba.
he is subject to bonus pool rules, even under the old system.
I think being under 25 just limits the amount a team can spend on the player
The new CBA is not in affect this year, it’ll affect everything next international pool
Im glad they are picky about the cubans they sign. Not like the dodgers signing them left a right with no where to put them
They kind of did do that with Gurriel though unless they predicted AJ Reed would struggle and had always planned to move him to a position hes never played before in his long pro career.
^Incorrect
Apparently everyone but you knew Bregman, Moran, Fisher, Davis were in the system nearing MLB ready for 3B and corner OF spots most Astros fans are not all that informed. GO COWBOYS I guess Texas will always be a football state.
Bregman was actually a shortstop and eventually he and Correa will swap positions. Perhaps Houston is holding onto guys like Colin Moran and JJ Davis hoping they break out in 2017 and make them more valuable tragin tools . Like AJ Reed..with only 123 at bats who has been a 30 HR .340 BA in minors in 2015 and was on pace to hit .290 to .300 in 2016 with 30 HRs befor he was called up and Hinch did his usually yo yoing of players there’s no sense in selling low on them, I personally think guys like Tony Kemp and Hernandez are expendable as well as Moran
1. Bregman did not even begin playing third base at the time of Gurriels signing.
2. They’re aware Gurriel is an athlete and is capable of moving around the diamond
3. They had one of the lowest ranked offensive outputs at each of the corner positions at the time they signed Gurriel.
Sure they knew Bregman could come up soon but they’re not stupid… no matter how highly rated a prospect is, you can’t expect them to immediately burst onto the scene. Also it’s not like they had an answer at every fielding position (like they almost do now) and just decided to throw away 50 million to guy they didn’t do their homework on. They thought Gurriel would fit in nicely in the infield (which he does) but also knew he could moved around if need be.