Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals on winning the
2011 World Series. Now it’s time for the
next season to begin: the offseason.
Right away teams will need to decide if they want to keep their
impending free agents by offering them arbitration or let them walk. In the case of the Oakland A’s, they’ve already said
goodbye to their entire starting outfield from this season (David DeJesus, Coco
Crisp, Josh Willingham). The deadline
for offering arbitration is November 23.
Though teams can contact players and begin negotiations, the signings
don’t really begin to start moving around until after this deadline.
I’m sure everyone is aware Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder
are the top available names this offseason.
Even most are aware that Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins have the chance to
leave the teams they’ve been with their entire careers. Let me bring to your
attention two players who can make a big impact whom you’re not familiar with.
I first heard of Yu Darvish in 2008, after his second season
in Japan, where he posted a 16-4 record with a 1.88 ERA. He also had 208 strikeouts in 200 innings. At
the age of 21. That changes your
perspective a bit doesn’t it? Unlike
most Japanese free agents, Darvish is a big guy at 6’5” meaning he fits the
prototype American scouts look for in a starting pitcher. By comparison Hideo Nomo is 6’2”, Hiroki
Kuroda is 6’1”, and Daisuke Matsuzaka is 6’.
Another advantage Darvish has
going for him, which sets him apart from the aforementioned players, is his
strikeout rate. Though he has a
lesser rate to Nomo, he walks far fewer leading to a better ERA and
therefore leading me to believe he’ll be a more successful major leaguer. From what I’ve read and heard, scouts like
his windup and motion so he seems like a safe bet from a durability standpoint.
Now 24, it’s likely Darvish will command a multi-year contract
upwards of $15 million per year plus the posting fee for his Japanese
team. This makes signing Darvish a risky endeavor especially considering
Japanese players haven’t been too successful as of late. In my opinion Darvish
is the most dominating Japanese starting pitcher of my lifetime and his talent
will transition well in the major leagues.
He will be a difference maker.
With his cost and talent I'd speculate the Yankees and Rangers are his two most likely destinations.
See a scouting report here.
See his career stats here.
Yoenis Céspedes
I wasn’t even aware Céspedes is a free
agent until this week. Since he is a native of Cuba, Céspedes needed to defect
in order to become eligible for free agency.
His agent Edgar Mercedes sent out
a YouTube video (which has recently been taken down) displaying his physical prowess
while listing his numerous accomplishments in Cuba. Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus has an excellent write up of the video that I recommend you read.
Anyway, Céspedes is a Cuba’s home run king, hitting 33
jonrones (or quadrangulares if you prefer) this past season. Blessed with supposedly
a plus arm and supposedly plus range in center, he’ll be an outfielder once he
arrives. I’m not sure if his best fit is
center in the major leagues but I doubt most scouts know either. It’s hard to know what to expect once he comes to the U.S., however, if history is any
indicator I imagine the power will translate. He’ll be capable of maintaining a
decent batting average but I’ll be surprised if he walks more than thirty
times. I really have no idea how good Céspedes
can be though there are several success stories of Cuban defectors. Yunel Escobar, El Duque, and Alexei Ramirez
are just three examples of valuable players that looked like steals for the
clubs that signed them. Expect there to
be a frenzy around Céspedes similar to that of fellow Cuban Aroldis
Chapman, and expect the victor to pay a pretty penny for this relative
unknown. My guess is the Marlins,
Yankees, Reds, White Sox, Rangers, Mets, Red Sox, and Cubs will all show
interest with the Marlins and Yankees being his two most likely
destinations. Is $12 million a year a
possibility? I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more.
A quick run down of his accomplishments can be found here.
1 comment:
A new link to the Yoenis Cespedes video is up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kREZHmOR1bg
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