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

[Bobbob1313]

You're kidding yourself if you think the Marlins' interest in Pujols was solely or even mostly baseball related. If it was, they'd already have signed Fielder.

[Jay]

Fielder is a lot less inconsistent then Pujols. They are not the same caliber player and they don't have the same business sense. I don't think anyone stated the marlins interest in him was purely baseball related.

I don't see how anything over 30 mil over 6 years for Cespedes is worth it. He's already entering his prime and he is not prepared for the majors let alone AAA. Not to mention he probably can't stick in center or at least won't be a plus defender there.

Both Cespedes and Fielder will not fill a position of need. If the organization is looking to sign a Cuban, Livan would provide more value to the team then Cespedes. I really do want the club to sign Soler. He is much younger which allows him the time to actually develop.

[Chewford]

Is a Cuban player really going to have any impact whatsoever on increasing attendance? Are there really enough people that give a sufficient amount of fucks?

[Jay]

Is a Cuban player really going to have any impact whatsoever on increasing attendance? Are there really enough people that give a sufficient amount of fucks?

I honestly don't think so but based on what has come out of the front office it certainly seems like they believe so

[lou]

Cespedes is a risk at any price.

However it's a risk the team should take, as long as it's not the $60 million guaranteed number or anything close. If it's 6/42, I think I'd do it. It's a high-risk, high-reward contract that would potentially pay itself back.

And I don't think $7 mil cripples the franchise, or makes it so we can't extend Stanton. I think this is similar to the Pujols situation; it comes from a different pot.

I don't worry about the $7 annual number for the risk/reward, I worry about the 6 year number attached to that. That's a few to many at that price. The Marlins certainly have way more money to spend these days, but that's still absorbing a big hit if he stinks and can't hit breaking pitches. They still aren't the Yankees who can stash Kei Igawa in AAA and not care. It would certainly hurt moving forward with those backloaded Reyes/Buerhle deals, and the team needing to spend free agency dollars to keep some of Hanley, Johnson, Anibal, and Nolasco, and/or sign suitable replacements for more normal guys like Buck, Infante, Bonifacio, and the staff.

He'd need to average around a 2.5 WAR to break even on that contract, and that's being generous. Basically, a top 15-20 CF starter. That's roughly a .750 OPS and above average defense. Or lower and superb defense. Obviously the Marlins see more than that in him which is why they didn't look for a one-two year commitment with DeJesus/Crisp/Sizemore kind of guy, but I just have a real hard time talking $40 million dollars for a guy who has not played above A ball competition. There are tons of everyday outfielders to get on 1-3 year deals that are cheaper annually and come off the books. His most generous projections are at .270/.330/.435 land. That doesn't wow me for $40 million and leave much margin for error.

We'll see what the contract is and if they get him. If it's 5/$30, that certainly changes things very quickly versus 6/$42. I just don't like everything I've seen so far (well the youtube video is hilarious), and I don't like the idea that this team is legitimately 1-2 players away, and their target is someone who is likely to spend half the season in AA at minimum.

[CrimsonCane]

I think it only makes an impact if he plays at or near his ceiling. If that happens, he'd be a major media story (the Cuban Ichiro) and the Cuban thing takes it over the top in this market. (Compare Livan in 1997 vs Dontrelle in 2003; both rookie sensations but Livan was always more personal because of who he was and where he was playing)

[HUGG]

Is a Cuban player really going to have any impact whatsoever on increasing attendance? Are there really enough people that give a sufficient amount of fucks?

     Gm   Livan  Others
1997 11  31,318  28,855
1998 17  22,679  21,346
1999 10  18,657  16,897

[jOOj]

There was a pretty good house on hand to see Hansel Izquierdo's MLB debut. ( It was me. )

[Valid]

You're kidding yourself if you think the Marlins' interest in Pujols was solely or even mostly baseball related. If it was, they'd already have signed Fielder.

So the Marlins' interest in Pujols had mostly to do with the fact that he's Dominican and almost nothing to do with the fact that he's a top five hitter of all-time? That's silly. And Fielder is not Pujols.

[Bobbob1313]

Historically, Fielder is not Pujols. Right now, they're not far off. Because Pujols is 32. I'll give them enough credit to believe that they didn't think Pujols would be worth $25 million per year for 10 years from a baseball value standpoint. They'd be really stupid to base that contract on his value on the field.

If they were looking to add any .900-.950 OPS bat, they'd have turned their attention to Fielder after missing on Pujols. The fact that they were this close to landing Pujols and aren't even a little bit interested in Fielder shows pretty clearly that it's not solely a baseball decision.

Adding a third latin superstar really seems like a priority for this organization. Not sure how anyone can see it differently.

[Namaste]

Yeah no way Albert was a baseball only move. I thought even the casual fans knew that.

[Bobbob1313]

Casual fans knew it was a ruse.

[jOOj]

Juanky is going to neg you for that.

[Party]

Juanky Oviedo?

[Party]

Juanky Oviedo?