Yoenis Cespedes: Signs w/ A's for 4/36

[Ramp]

strong do not want

[lou]

spend 15-20 million on Soler

This is a much better idea

[Swifty]

How can we have an offer out to someone who hasn't been declared a FA yet? MLB takes this international stuff seriously (remember they voided Miggy's contract with the Reds), I really doubt this to be true.

[CrimsonCane]

Yeah despite being the most difficult of the ivy league schools to get accepted into, you are basically guaranteed to obtain a degree once there.

You obviously need to check your sarcasm detector.

That said, check your numbers again. Yale is second, a position they are very much used to.

[jOOj]

CC, your smugness towards Yale is unwarranted even if Harvardly acceptable.

[MiamiHomer]

It's because he got rejected by them.

[jOOj]

That seems strange, the better school accepted him out of spite.

[CrimsonCane]

I did not get rejected from Yale. Never applied.

[jOOj]

Beef would call MH a liar then.

[Party]

Then you have one of the assumptions on here that annoys me to no end - that every Cuban outside of Cuba lives in Miami. They don't. You think no Cubans are going to drive down from Tampa to see him play? When the Cuban families who have moved to New York or Jersey or California or Texas come to visit abuela in Miami, you don't think they'll stop off at the ballpark to see the Marlins?

Or they can just go to a game in Tampa, New York, etc.?

Some may make the trip to the ballpark for a game, but is it really going to be some significant amount? At most it will be a few dozen who come to the ballpark specifically to see Cespedes.

50% of the Cuban American community (1.7 million) lives in South Florida (857k). Assuming all Cubans live in Miami is not that far off. Just look at this.
--------------------
All the rest about Cuba in the future is going to take more than Cespedes. I don't think his contract would be a wise down payment on cornering the Cuban market in a far off future.

[tjfla]

How can we have an offer out to someone who hasn't been declared a FA yet? MLB takes this international stuff seriously (remember they voided Miggy's contract with the Reds), I really doubt this to be true.

The same way 16 year olds sign on 7/2,they all have handlers. U don't think teams call whoever is Cespedes mouthpiece and ask what he wants,then says OK well how bout a 5yr/40mil dollar deal would that get it done.

As long as u dont sign the guy before he is cleared I don't think MLB cares

[Miamarlin21]

How can we have an offer out to someone who hasn't been declared a FA yet? MLB takes this international stuff seriously (remember they voided Miggy's contract with the Reds), I really doubt this to be true.

I did not know this. Wow.

[Big Z]

The same way 16 year olds sign on 7/2,they all have handlers. U don't think teams call whoever is Cespedes mouthpiece and ask what he wants,then says OK well how bout a 5yr/40mil dollar deal would that get it done.

As long as u dont sign the guy before he is cleared I don't think MLB cares

Soooo.. Is this our offer to Cespedes?

[MiamiHomer]

Now that Carlos Zambrano has been added to round out the Miami Marlins rotation, what’s next on Larry Beinfest’s shopping list?

Could be submitting a bid for Cuban center fielder Yoenis Cespedes, who is expected to establish residency in the Dominican Republic in the coming days.

While Beinfest, speaking on a conference call with South Florida reporters this afternoon, expressed confidence in Emilio Bonifacio as the team’s potential Opening Day center fielder, the Marlins President of Baseball Operations also was very complimentary toward Cespedes.

“We really liked him when we saw him at that workout [in November],” Beinfest said. “It’s something we’re continuing to monitor, and we’ll kind of leave it there. But we were very impressed. Obviously, as a Cuban we think it would be an interesting fit in this market and on this ballclub. It’s something we continue to monitor and stay up on.”

Cespedes is represented by Adam Katz, who also counts Hanley Ramirez among his many clients. Once Cespedes establishes residency in the Dominican, Major League Baseball will start the bidding process sometime shortly after.

Teams will submit sealed bids to Katz through MLB, then have an opportunity to up those offers for the power-hitting center fielder. (Check out the attached 20-minute video. Apologies in advance for the Christopher Cross song choice.)

The latest speculation has Cespedes seeking up to a six- to-eight-year deal for as much as $6 million to $8 million per year. That could push the total package to nearly $65 million, which likely would eliminate the Marlins from the process.

Reds lefty Aroldis Chapman holds the record for largest contract granted a Cuban defector after signing for $30.25 million over six years in early 2010.

Asked about an expected time frame Thursday, Beinfest sounded like he was in wait-and-see mode like all the other expected suitors (Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Pirates et al).

“It’s hard to say,” Beinfest said. “The player has not been unblocked by MLB. You cannot contract with the player or do anything, so it’s hard to put a timeline on it. I’m sure teams are doing monitoring like we are. I couldn’t come up with a better word other than that’s what is going on because the player is not available to sign at this point.”

It will be interesting to see if the Marlins’ geography will work in their favor and enable them to sign Cespedes for less than other teams would offer or if he’ll simply go to the highest bidder.

Yoenis Cespedes could be the next Miami Marlins target

[lou]

8 years for $65 million, are sports writers crazy? Who the fuck is going to give him that based off a cool youtube video and facing cuban pitching. It's going to be at minimum $20 million less, which is still ludicrous, but maybe they can get some sucker to give them $7+ million over 6 years.