The White Sox are the favorites to sign outfield prospect Oscar Colás, hears Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. The deal is expected to be worth $2.7MM, Sanchez adds. Cuban reporter Francys Romero first reported Colás’ connection to the White Sox and the anticipated $2.7MM signing bonus in March. As a 22-year-old with less than six years of experience in a foreign professional league, Colás is subject to international amateur signing bonus rules under the terms of the current collective bargaining agreement. His deal won’t become official until January 15, 2022, when the 2021-22 international signing period opens, per Romero and Sanchez.
The current CBA allots teams a hard-capped bonus pool, the precise amount of which varies based on clubs’ market size and whether they signed MLB free agents who had been tagged with a qualifying offer. During a typical signing period, teams are permitted to trade for additional bonus pool space. However, that’s not the case during the current period (which runs through December 15, 2021), as MLB barred the inclusion of 2020-21 bonus allotments in trades last June as part of their pandemic-driven rules changes.
Teams often come to verbal agreements with international amateur prospects a year or more in advance of the signing period in which they’re eligible to sign. Colás, though, was a surprising late entry to the market. After defecting from Cuba, he signed with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. A contractual dispute between Colás and the Hawks led him to seek his release, which he wasn’t formally granted until last December. By the time he was officially declared a free agent by MLB, most clubs had already verbally committed the bulk of their bonus pool allotment for the current signing period to other players.
That unconventional sequence will keep Colás from officially joining the White Sox until next winter, at which point he’ll have turned 23 years old. Despite the delay, the Chicago organization will no doubt be happy to add a decently regarded, if a bit divisive, prospect to the system. MLB Pipeline slotted Colás as the #2 talent in the 2020-21 signing period, lauding his power potential and throwing arm. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs, however, pegs Colás as a 40 Future Value prospect (more akin to a mid-level player in a farm system). FanGraphs also credits Colás with plus raw power but is more bearish on his hit tool and defensive projection than is MLB Pipeline.
Those reports (particularly FanGraphs’) may seem surprisingly pessimistic to fans familiar with Colás as the “Cuban (Shohei) Ohtani,” a nickname he’s gotten in the past for occasional work as a two-way player. Despite his arm strength, Colás wasn’t often deployed as a pitcher in recent seasons, and it seems his days of playing both ways in any capacity are over. Colás “no longer wants to pitch,” Sanchez writes, and the White Sox are not expected to use him on the mound moving forward.
Of course, the Ohtani comparison was never fair to Colás to begin with. The Angels star is squarely in the AL MVP conversation this season thanks to a two-way performance the sport hasn’t seen the likes of for decades. If Colás “only” becomes a solid power-hitting corner outfielder, which seems within the range of possibilities based on public evaluations, his signing would more than make for a worthwhile investment for the South Siders.
lol big shocker.
the MLB really has to revamp the international signing system. this is absurd…
We need to incorporate all players worldwide into the MLB draft and get this over with, also destroy the arbitration system and just give min wage year one, double it for year 2, double it for year 3 and then player hits free agent market. Why is it not this simple all along? Corruption, probably.
Min wage so 7.25 dollars per hr? So his 1 day pay is about 29bucks per game. Tax deducted that’s about 15 bucks per game.
I’m sure they mean the current MLB minimum wage, which is ~550k per season.
So a player becomes a free agent after three years? That’s ridiculous. That means small market teams will be trading them after Year 1 or Year 2. How would those teams’ fans ever develop any kind of fandom for any of their players.
the international draft would hurt international amateur players if anything.
Socialism is enough already, we don’t need it in sports.
Haha?
Why is it not that simple?
Because that’s a horrible idea
Why is it absurd? CWS hadn’t spent their cash earlier. He’s getting paid, and eventually a major league opportunity, if he progresses. Other teams beat the CWS to other players, which is why they were left with this money to spend. If he works out, they got lucky. Hard to give them credit for that.
it really doesn’t look like any teams besides CHW have a chance to sigh high profile Serie players anymore. Robert, Yolbert, Cespedes, Colas.
Before CWS, it was the dodgers signing all the Cubans. Then they stopped because their return on investment sucked
To sign these kids you need a scout there for years before their 16. And that’s especially the case when these bonuses are so limited
Here’s my feeling on it. The white Sox have been one of the few clubs recently to give 50M+ to. Guys before they play an mlb game. So as a Cuban, I see 30 teams offering me the same deal, but then I see one team who has a track record of rewarding PROSPECTS with big money deals.
If you think you’re that good, you’re immediately going to be a sensation at every level, why wouldn’t you sign with the team who seems most likely to give you pre-arb big money? And as long as they aren’t agreeing to these extensions for when their 19 when they’re 16… what’s the problem?
LOL
I agree with DarkSide. These under the table deals are a bad look.
I’m not sure you understand what happens in these deals. The team ambassador/scout for that area, Marco Paddy, has had relationships with families in Cuba for several years. He was on the Tatis Brothers when Frlernando Tatos Jr. was 14. He develops a relationship to a player and their families, much the same way college coaches will discuss with freshmen and sophomores.
The relationship that is built helps give the Sox an edge, but it, by no means is perfect. The Gurriel Brothers and Yoenis Cespedes are a couple larger names that Paddy developed relationships with but didn’t sign with the Sox. The Sox finally being a watchable team has helped pull in more of the larger names in the last couple years.
This team is going to be good for a really long time
Because they got a 40 grade prospect? Every team has at least a dozen of them.
No… because they are contending now and have enough youth on the team to contend for the future. Colas is just the icing on the cake. It’s quality minor league depth addition to keep that contending window open for longer. The A’s practice the same tactic as you should already be aware of.
I am aware of it, I’m also aware of every time I’ve been told a homers fave team is “going to be good for a really long time” and it rarely works out. The White Sox pitching depth isnt scary or good, and for that I can’t respect anyone thinking their future will be bright merely because of prospects they cheated to get.
No, because they are loaded with young talent for years if not decades to come, and it just keeps on moving. That’s why
“Decades” oh brother, lay off the hyperbole. They are 5 years away from being bottom feeders just as much as they are being contenders.
Ok A’s fan at least we have a stadium 5 years from now
Please remember‘Baseball Fan’, the taxpayers of Illinois “bought you that stadium”. If it was up to Reinsdorf and Sox fans, they’d have been belly up by now.
@A’s fan in UK
Wow is all I can say. Not a big fan of the Sox, are you LMFAO. I don’t even know where to begin, and I really don’t have time for a War & Peace post to respond to your silly posts (above and below my post). I would mute you, but you’re too entertaining with your delusions. It’s bad when compared to you Dogbone is the voice of reason.
Speaking of which, I was just wondering if you were still on here, Dogbone. I wasn’t sure if you fell victim to the mute button.
Once everyone is back and healthy and all these recent and soon to be international signings pan out, I think the South Side is going to be a happy place to be this decade. I think the CWS will be serious contenders for WS play very, very soon.
Not with a team made up mostly of DH’s and barely any pitching.
do you even watch baseball?
Barely any pitching? sox have the 5th lowest era in baseball and 2nd in AL in addition to a cy young contender at the moment in rodon
The White Sox have as solid a rotation as there is in MLB with their current #6 in Michael Kopech potentially better than the first five. They also have a future starter in southpaw Garrett Crochet who is on the Chris Sale path to a rotation spot as he works out of the bullpen this season and perhaps next.
Speaking of the pen, the White Sox also have other elite young arms that have generally underperformed thus far but who now appear to be warming up along with the weather.
@rickrooster its May, you just havent had the TJ bug bite you yet, but its coming, it comes for us all…
@AaronSap – lmao its May, stop it! and Crochet already is on the cusp of TJ and will need it eventually, just like all throwers do. Kopech is overrated and is getting soft assignments in RELIEF – LOL the delusion…White Sox supporters have jumped all the way to the front of the most delusional fanbase on here, leaping over the Jays.
Kopech is filling a pretty valuable role being able to serve out of the pen and out of the rotation. Guys like him are pretty valuable to a pitching staff. Sort of like a harder throwing 2014 Yusmeiro Petit.
Let’s just see if you’ll be man enough to admit it when the Sox prove you wrong.
I have a feeling you go on every post and drop a pile on everything just to get attention.
Someone is smoking too much weed or crack to say Kopech is overrated!
@A’sfaninUK This is one of the most ill-informed comments I have ever seen on MLBTR. And that’s saying something.
@oodvark being that half the commenters here don’t know how to write in any other tone than severe, cornball levels of hyperbole, it really isn’t saying anything. No one in here is really saying anything.
Barely any pitching? So what is Giolito, Kopech, Rodon, Lynn, Cease, Hendriks, Bummer, Crochet, Keuchel, and Ruiz?
You need at least 20 MLB-quality pitchers now, catch up. Sigh. You newbies will learn…
The Dodgers are the only team with 20 quality arms. Having a rotation of 4 guys with an ERA+ above 100 is outstanding. Not to mention how well Kopech, Hendriks and Bummer have done. Kopech being able to fill whatever role he needs to is pretty valuable too.
Do you understand every word you wrote is said by every team that doesnt win a title? “If only players are healthy and good” = never actually happens IRL
Why do you White Sox fans think you are set until 2030? Insane levels of delusion. You are 3 big injuries away from last place like most teams.
A’s fan, you are so right about these Chisox fans jumping to the front of the line, as being the most delusional. To understand how they got there, all you have to do is listen to their over the top biased announcers. Over the years, listening to shills like Harrelson, Stone and now this new ‘genius’, Benetti- will do that to you.
Dogbone_ when Hawk worked the games with Drysdale they were both honest and critical. It was awesome. I don’t know what happened to Harrelson but his early years with Double D were very entertaining.
They were, you are correct. That seems like a lifetime ago lol.
White Sox win the Colas war.
It was a Spritely signing.
I hear his wife’s name is Cherry.
Anyway, I see a continuing theme with this guy & the media – they’re already comparing him to Otahni (The Cuban Otahni) when Otahni isn’t even Otahni yet. This kid has barely played professional ball in another country, let alone the MLB. Now maybe he overcomes this pressure and lives up to his reputation. But, as we have seen, it usually doesn’t work that way.
I understand why they write these narratives, but they actually devalue the player and the comps over time when they do this; not to mention the most important fact – they put an incredible amount of additional pressure on a young adult from a foreign country trying to make the Big Leagues, which is immensely difficult already.
Someone gave him the “Cuban Ohtani” nickname a couple years ago, but almost all of the media reports and prospect evaluatorsI have read since then have downplayed the idea that Colas would be a legit two-way player, pointing out his limited experience and lack of success as a pitcher. They have mentioned the nickname, but most have at least tried to limit that narrative and suggested it was unlikely that he would be developed as a pitcher..
Okay, oddvark, that makes more sense. I’ve just seen that repeated lately I guess. Even with the Yankees Dominguez, for whom we have extremely high hopes, they comp him to Trout / Mantle and he’s not played a pro game. Just ridiculous sometimes.
Seems like they’re always jumping to the next Mays/Williams/Mantle comparison as soon as someone goes on a hot streak.
I also realized I misspelled Ohtani’s name, like thirty times. My bad.
Rumor has it she lost her Cherry in eighth grade.
Hopefully Colas can avoid Dr. Pepper on his way to the South Side of Chicago.
The White Sox also have a Fry who is just beginning a rehab assignment in AAA as we post and should be returning the their bullpen sometime next month. The ChiSox also have a Burger who has spent the majority of the past 3 years on the IL. He is finally healthy and tearing it in Charlotte and could see his MLB debut sometime this season. Colas figures to be on a fast track to Chicago once he is officially signed which could provide the team with a tastier roster in the not too distant future.
Don’t forget Burger. You can get a whole combo on the South Side.
What are his Fanta-sy projections looking like?
Can the signing of:
PEPSI COLAS
COCA COLAS
R. C. COLAS
be far behind ????
Meanwhile, the Pirates will be forced to signed their cheaper cousin Store-Brand Colas.
RC Cola!
LETS GOOO KEEP THE LINE MOVING GO WHITE SOX #changethegame
Never expected LaRussa to be in to Colas. Must be a joint-signing with his BFF: Jacque Daniéls.
Cruel, but probably accurate. Not to mention very funny.
Put a patch over one of Tony’s eyes and he’d look every bit the pirate that Keith Richards was in the Disney flicks. The Colas would help keep him awake and would pair nicely with his bottle of rum.
To A’sfaninUK, you obviously need to learn more about baseball. The white Sox over the past few years have gotten very good at signing/developing young players into stars. If you’re not a troll and a real A’s fan, you should know that with the team that you “follow” doing the same thing.
You already called him out earlier. Do you have that much time on your hands you feel the need to do it again just to try and get a reaction?
Lol coming from a cubs fan, I think it’s wise to stay quiet in this article pal
Did I say anything about the move? No. And I’m not your pal, guy.
And I’m not your buddy, pal. Quit arguing on the internet.
I wasn’t talking to you but sure lol
can’t we all get along?
Only seat at the table
Mas Cubanos!
I like it-very good move. See you next year Oscar.
Really confused cause this was reported in March…all of the sudden it’s a story again.
First off every player should be in one draft. Get rid of this international draft because it creates an unfair advantage overall where teams hide players and many illegalities occur.
Also from what I’ve heard through an extremely viable source which is a high draft player in a farm system right now that many of the players from outside of America would test positive for steroids if they had a system in place. These kids are getting pumped with steroids to increase there value and once it’s in your system your dna changes forever with muscle memory from that point on even if you no longer test positive. A system needs to be in place to constantly test draft eligible players in the overseas and here in the US for steroid use and hopefully that will be a huge deterrent.
steriods that change your DNA? that sounds hard to believe.
If you google “Do anabolic steroids change your genetics” does not sound like any genetic effects are necessarily positive. One article talks about damaging DNA, which is more believable to me than to think it makes athletes better for life. The reasons steroids are banned isn’t competitive unfairness as much as long term negative side effects, and not wanting a lot of high school and college kids using them. I think that’s the main idea behind why they are banned, anyway.
Really good to hear a more official announcement of this. I read the Francys Romero story in March, but did not see it on ESPN or any mainstream media. It sounded like a high probability, but you never know. They were said to have signed Ozuna a couple winters ago and there was nothing to that. Glad there was substance to this, anyway.
Will be interesting to see how good this guy is. Even if he can’t pitch (hopefully he can, but they need a hitting prospects a lot more than pitchers), he will be a welcome addition as a good outfield prospect. I hope Cespedes gets his VISA stuff sorted out and starts to play soon. Wonder if Colas will be their top overall prospect right away, since they have nobody in the top 100 currently? Wonder if he will be considered top 100. He sounds more highly thought of than Cespedes.
The MLB website thinks highly of both Yoelkis Céspedes and Oscar Colás. The Cuban outfielders occupied the top-2 spots in their international prospect rankings during the last signing period according to the link provided in this article. Both OF’s project favorably at the corners with their power bats and arm strength, two positions where the White Sox don’t necessarily have their future core players set with defensively challenged Eloy Jimenez in LF and Andrew Vaughn projected to be the heir apparent to Jose Abreu at 1B. Colás could also provide a much needed left-handed bat to a White Sox batting order that currently leans heavily right-handed with their core group.
I believe it was Keith Law that said he was not high on Cespedes, which was disappointing to hear. Does not mean he is right, just would have been nice to hear he was more optimistic. Will Colas be more likely to land in top 100 MLB prospects? All else equal it would be nice to have some guys show up on that list, would bode well for higher probability of success than otherwise, one would think. Sox don’t have anyone right now in top 100 I don’t believe. Perhaps Burger will be there before year end, hopefully Cespedes and Colas will be in that list next year. Last I saw on Cespedes was that he would join AA when his visa issues were worked out, that was a few weeks ago. Hope he is there by 2nd half at least, so they have some sample to show his current level of ability.
jhomeslice: For perspective, analytically inclined Keith Law “was not high” on Nicky ‘Two-Strikes’ Madrigal’s status as an MLB prospect either. I’m guessing that ‘Mr.3000’ will have the last laugh when all is said and done. If nothing else and as a ‘throw back’ player, Madrigal “is a breath of fresh air’ in today’s ‘three outcome’ game.
Aa: Good to know. Do you think Colas is top 100? I guess we can’t really know how good he or Cespedes are until they play. Hope we see Cespedes in the next month or so. WIth the money they signed him for, you would have to think they are doing everything they can to expedite that. Should start the same visa process with Colas as soon as they can so they don’t have similar problems next year.
@jhomeslice
I don’t get that either (with Cespedes not playing yet). I didn’t expect him to make it to Chicago this year, but this kills any chance of that happening.
I don’t understand the visa problems with Yoelkis Céspedes. He participated in the White Sox minor league camp in Glendale, Arizona this past March/April and then couldn’t be re-assigned to one of the team’s minor league sites, 3 of which are in North Carolina (AAA, A+, A-) along with their affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama (AA) because of visa issues.
I would assume Céspedes is still at the White Sox Arizona extended spring site since their Dominican Summer League affiliate won’t begin play until July 12th assuming they will even have a season this year. I believe Céspedes was expected to begin his White Sox minor league career with their AA Birmingham affiliate following his impressive showing at the minor league camp.
Céspedes was hoping to make his MLB debut later this summer but that possibility is waning with his inability to suit up with an affiliate due to his on going visa problems.
I’m sure visa issues are not easy with Cuba, but still, they signed him back in January, so they have had 4 months to do that. You would think that is plenty of time. I don’t recall big delays with Luis Robert. Best to start this visa process with Oscar Colas very soon to avoid similar situation with him next year.
This is the latest link I can find regarding Yoelkis Céspedes and his visa issues. It is a few weeks old and very brief, basically repeating what I have already commented on: cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/white-soxs-yoe…
@Aa Before Cespedes gets here, Brian Goodwin is coming around. Avg up to .260, OPS .780. In 2019 he hit 17 homers for the Angels, .260 with an OPS near .800. His career OPS is like .770. Not bad. That’s a lot better than what they have gotten from most of their outfielders this year, including Eaton. And a big plus, he is left handed. All of those are pretty good for a guy they picked up for nothing.
Engel should be back soon, but Goodwin may come with him. Would not surprise me if both of them prove better than Eaton and they both get the bulk of the playing time in RF/CF going forward. Engel has half as many hits as Hamilton has gotten all year, in just 3 games. Engel and Goodwin should be significant improvements on the near automatic outs they have been trotting out there, that I think most Sox fans are sick of watching. Goodwin may not be great but at least has a solid chance to be an improvement. Probably a better option than Lamb to give Vaughn a rest vs tough righties.
Speaking of Nick Madrigal, Katie Woo of The Athletic wrote a great article about Elk Grove High School just outside of Sacramento, CA. It was timed just ahead of the pending matchup of Rookie of the Year candidates Dylan Carlson and Madrigal when the Cardinals were in Chicago earlier this week. (theathletic.com/2608583/2021/05/24/for-rookie-of-t…)
The article featured the recent history of the northern California high school that centered on Dylan’s father Jeff Carlson who coached his son along with a number of other current MLB players. It was a national article that appeared in The Athletic when there was so much attention given to the Lucas Giolito/Jack Flaherty matchup in the Chicago media this past week that also included White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz and even fellow ace Max Fried who were all together at Harvard-Westlake HS in Los Angeles.
I was somewhat familiar with the Elk Grove HS dynamic and was really thrilled to read this article by Katie who expounded on it beautifully. Great stuff!
It’s ridiculous that international players aren’t subject to the draft
It’s even more ridiculous that international players are allowed to sign at 16, while Americans have to wait until basically their HS class graduates. Now I am not advocating American teens to quit HS at 16 to go pro. But these foreign kids shouldn’t be allowed to either. It’s not fair for either group.
I think a draft system will severely impact the international market.
Some of the Cubans who sign are much older. They are not always subjected to the same rules as 16 year olds.
The camps that help “develop” these players are highly invested in them because of the payouts once the players sign. If we drop their signing values and lower their earnings then less money makes it back to their training camps. Over time the camps will slowly go away.
Players are offered deals much earlier than 16. Once they accept an offer the players are essentially removed from the international circuit. The need to showcase these players goes away.
A draft scenario will still be a shady situation. Camps and teams will still do what they can to hide prospects the best they can. It will not be a transparent process. It’s not like these kids are playing on organized high school or college teams where we can scout them.
When Hahn became the White Sox’s general manager his biggest thing was to build the farm system through draft picks, international signings or through trades.