THURSDAY: San Diego has announced the deal.
MONDAY: The Padres are in agreement on a deal with Cuban left-hander Osvaldo Hernandez, reports Jorge Ebro of El Nuevo Herald (via Twitter). The 18-year-old southpaw, who was declared a free agent last month, will receive a $2.5MM signing bonus. Because the Padres have shattered their league-issues international spending allotment already, Hernandez will come with a 100 percent luxury tax, meaning he’ll effectively cost the Friars a total of $5MM.
Hernandez hasn’t been included on lists of top international prospects from Baseball America, Fangraphs, MLB.com, etc., making information on him somewhat scarce. BA’s Ben Badler wrote up a couple of paragraphs of scouting info on Hernandez following today’s deal, writing that Hernandez has an 89-94 mph fastball to go along with a tight-spinning curve that could eventually be a plus offering and a slider that could eventually be above-average as well. MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reported when Hernandez was declared a free agent that in addition to the Padres, the Reds, Astros, Mets, Braves, Rangers and Red Sox had varying levels of interest in the young southpaw.
The Padres have been baseball’s most active team on the international front during the current signing period, and Monday’s agreement serves as a reminder that the team could continue to add further international talent in the three months between now and the current signing period’s June 15 closing date. Among the Padres’ top international commitments this winter have been Cuban left-hander Adrian Morejon ($11MM), Cuban outfielder Jorge Ona ($7MM), Dominican shortstop Luis Almanzar ($4MM) and Cuban right-hander Michel Baez ($3MM). San Diego opened the international signing period on July 2 with fireworks, agreeing to terms with 10 highly touted prospects that day alone (headlined by Almanzar). Since that time general manager A.J. Preller and his staff have continued to aggressively supplement the team’s minor league system on the international market.
The Padres entered the current signing period with a bonus pool of $3.347MM, but they’ve exceeded that mark by well north of $30MM at this point and, subsequently, been taxed at a 100 percent rate for every dollar over that allotment. By my count, from the bonuses we’ve tracked at MLBTR, the Padres have exceeded their pool by at least $34.833MM, though the size some of their smaller-scale signings (which could be worth a few hundred thousand dollars) went unreported. Those numbers, though incomplete, put the Friars at just over $73MM worth of total expenditures on the international front, though the true number could very well exceed $75MM and approach $80MM in total.
It will be very different come July. Teams will have to evaluate, prioritize, and set limits. Very different.
Are there any more Cuban players who defected before the Cuban US policy was changed that still haven’t signed? Or will he be the last Cuban player coming over?
There will always be Cuban players in the process of leaving Cuba.
And going where? They can’t come to the US without a visa.
Traditionally from what I’ve read Cuban players defect to other Latin American countries and establish residency. This allows them to become exempt from the draft as they maintain their status as “international players”. In essence, they aren’t applying for a visa to come directly to the US they go to another country first and obtain unblocked national status then apply under the rules for that nation. For example if they defect to Mexico they’re eligible under NAFTA to come to the US to play. I don’t think the current U.S, Cuba policy has any bearing on this process,
Scouting report from baseball America is very promising
Makes sense from the Padres perspective, they already blown passed the limit and can’t sign anyone internationally above 300k for the next 2 years, so with the tax they are stockpiling for a few years.
Financially they can do it since they shed quite a bit of payroll.. even though half their payroll this year is dead money owed to players they shipped out.
For Preller’s sake, I hope the kid is actually 28 and has had TJ twice (I’m not asking for him to be hurt or get hurt)!!Damn snake oil salesman!!
is this jeffrey loria or dombrowski?
Dombrowski. The Padres not only got Espinoza, they got Don Orsillo too. The Red Sox got all of their prospects taken away for cheating, Preller got a vacation. Now Preller is doing what Dombrowski wishes he could have done if he hadn’t gotten busted cheating on IFA contracts.
Yeah honestly I’d trade Pomeranz for Orsillo and let them keep Espinoza… Dave O’Brien is ok, but he belongs on radio with Castliglione so Don and Jerry can screw around again.
They haven’t lol. They owe about 40 million dollar this season for players not on the team anymore
They have, even with those 40 million. And all of the upton money gets paid off this year
Over all they’re are still not the cheapest team, but with money to current roster yes like 33 mil or so
Without like 80
Nice signing. Throw another prospect onto the pile.
What the Padres are doing is absolutely brilliant. All the teams ownerships knew that the IFA pool was going to be lowered and penalties raised in the new CBA. So Preller and the Padres ownership took advantage of that and blew way past the allotment knowing that with the much lower pool going forward, that it wouldn’t hurt much to miss two years of million dollar plus signings when you could get so many good prospects now. The Padres still get about a $5 million pool to sign IFA prospects the next two signing periods, but they can only spend $300k or less for each player.
Badler did a chat a few months back and in it, he answered one question about how these players compare to drafted players by saying that 6 of the guys they signed would have been 1st round draft picks and several others would have been 1st or 2nd round picks. So the Padres picked up an extra 8 or 9 1st and 2nd round picks for $80 million. Brilliant.
Wish my team did that, too.
Lots of teams have done the same thing in the past few years. Guess they’re all brilliant…..
What teams have picked up as many top IFA players as we have this year? 6 guys in the top 30. 11 guys in the top 50. Now this kid. So what teams have done that?
Only 9 guys in the top 50, but your point is well taken. Not many teams that have taken 12 guys at all, let alone 12 guys with the pedigree of the kids Preller has signed.
When he took them, before others came out. He cleared like 20 of the top 30
Who is your team?
O’s.
The Cubs and Theo set the “brillant” plan in year one of the new rules. Around 2012. They signed Eloy Jimenez and Glebar Torres. Those 2 alone blew it away and they kept signing more and screw the tax. Others did the same. It was planned. It was brillant. Padres about 5 years behind
Padres and brilliant ha can they get to .500 with this master plan 1st?
What was brilliant was getting 8+ more 1st round caliber prospects knowing that no one else would be able to repeat what they did because the rules have been changed. Signing 16-18 year old prospects like the ones they got are a long term investment. Not one designed to compete today. In 4-6 years these IFA will pay dividends either on the field or in trades. Year after year Duquette and that moron Angelos have done nothing. This was a great chance to pull off a big score like the Padres did.
Awesome signing. He is doing what he did for the Rangers, bringing in loads of international talent. Go Preller!⚾
Last ball player out of Cuba turn the lights off…
I’m curious what his stats are. MLB.com doesn’t show international guys right now. With that pay he won’t crack the top 30
Hernandez never played in Serie Nacional, just the 18 and under leagues, so you are not going to see many stats for him other than a few international competitions.
Tirso Ornelas, the kid I think was the best of the bunch that the Padres have signed so far, didn’t crack their top 30 or MLB or BA’s top 30 international prospects.
I like Tirso’s swing, but he’s not close to the top guy from this class on the back fields in Peoria right now. Among position guys, Barley and Arias are my top two so far.
Arias is one of the most polished defensive players at 16 that I have seen, but he is strictly a slap hitter. He may develop some gap power in time, but likely never more than a handful of home runs. Ornelas is a complete package. Already hitting for power at 16 with a nice compact swing and a strong arm. I would rate him as a 45-50 hit, 60 power FV. He may never be in the same class as a defender that Arias is, but he is going to be a better hitter.
Arias is a long-term shortstop. He doesn’t need to hit more than a few homers to be a valuable player. Ornelas could become a tolerable left fielder with enough work and if his body doesn’t go the wrong way.
Arias is a great young SS prospect and will be one that can actually stick at the position. If you take a look at the starting shortstops across the league you will find that very few cannot hit double digit HR. Maybe 4-5 a year. Arias may be able to stick just on his glove, but that will not make him more valuable than a player that has 30 HR power. Ornelas will beef up as he grows into his body which is what will help provide that power. He is definitely slated to be a corner OF and he plays 45-50 defense as a 16 year old. Good instincts. Good routes. I don’t see that changing. Both are great prospects. Kudos to Preller for signing a great bunch of kids where we can have discussions about which one is going to be a better MLB player.
I mean his ratings
Ie overall 45,50 etc
I spent this past weekend in Peoria and I was impressed with Ornelas. Saw him take live BP against Weaver and he hit 4 balls out. For a 16 year old against MLB pitcher that was pretty nice to see. I hope he is as good in the future as you say he is.
Keep ’em comin’ Preller and Co.!!!! I hope MLB fast tracks Luis Robert and makes him a free agent before June 15th, the Padres have a shot at him too.
Another good signing by Preller and the Padres. Got to see this kid in a camp in the DR in January. He was throwing 92-93 with good movement and was able to snap off several curveballs that were wipeout pitches. He hides his change well and throws it from the same arm slot. Its not typical for a kid this age to have that good of a feel for a change. He is not very big, so I don’t expect much in velocity increases, but I would put his future pitch values at 60 FB/60 CU/55-60 CB/50 SL. I question whether all 4 will develop into plus MLB pitches, especially the slider which was slurvy at times. His ceiling is a solid #3 starter.
Luis Robert will sign with the White Sox !!!
With each Cuban signed by SD it improves the chances of signing the next.
If Robert is available the Padres will have the best chance.
Make the 18 year old go through the MLB draft. Stop signing these out of the country guys to so much money.
Maybe Preller will defect to Cuba