Apparently, more than 50 recent MLB team deals with "16-year-old" lads from the DR have been wiped out, because - I hope you're sitting down for this - the kids were older than advertised. As Claude Raines would say, "I'm shocked... shocked!"
For decades, the apparatus for grooming and signing Latino free agents has been an ethical cesspool, a trafficking network that would have made Jeffrey Epstein proud. Says The Athletic...
Baseball’s international amateur free agent system has long included various forms of rule-breaking, including players trying to pass as younger to increase their value. Another common practice is making unofficial agreements with players well before they’re officially able to sign at age 16. Through these handshake deals, teams have in some cases committed millions of dollars to 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds. These arrangements are prevalent league-wide, and teams are rarely disciplined for making them.
Of course, this is horrible, terrible, shameful, evil - and a surprise to absolutely nobody. It used to be called "age gate." Now, it's just the swinging gate.
According to The Athletic, kids recently signed by the Astros, Royals, Mets, A's and Twins turned out to be older than hyped. Houston has lost three "youngsters," and an adorable 14-year-old tyke being romanced by Boston turned out to be six years older - six! - than his birth certificate suggested.
The player was previously not going to be eligible to be signed until 2026 — when teams were told he would be 16 years old. His current age is now thought to be 21 years old, sources said.
So it goes.
The Yankees also are said to have shown interest in a kid, who turned out not to be a kid. It's nothing new. Remember when Alfonso Soriano - said to be 23 - turned out to be 28 after being traded to Texas? It's a tale as old as time - the horse whose teeth you better inspect. It's like those teen movies, where Jonah Hill still looks chubby and the "girls" wear reverse falsies.
We could rage against this. It won't change. It's just another thing that nobody wants to fix, because they're making money. Hey, if the Yankees sign Blake Snell, any chance he'll turn out to be 40?
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“ because they're making money.”
No more need be said.
Shades of Danny Almonte...
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/danny-almonte-little-league-age-scandal-2001/cnczw5ccrb1uwuarmjfzaxkt
And in other news, the Tigers have signed a kid with no MLB experience to a pretty fat contract:
"DETROIT -- The Tigers made an unusual bet on a player with no major league experience, signing 22-year-old infield prospect Colt Keith to a six-year contract Sunday that guarantees him $28,642,500.
His deal includes three team options that could make it worth $64 million over nine seasons, and the Tigers said there are escalators that increase the value to $82 million over nine years."
To be fair, he did very well in Double A last year and pretty well in AAA, too.
Not to be outdone...
"The Milwaukee Brewers agreed last month to an eight-year, $82 million contract with 19-year-old outfielder Jackson Chourio, the largest contract for a prospect with no major league service."
Oooh, and it makes you wonder.
Off topic but kind of germane to what we talk about here.
The Lions lost yesterday and a lot of people are blaming the coach for going for it on fourth down instead of kicking what could have been the game tying and game winning field goals. analytics say they were the right moves.
And maybe statistically they were, but it seemed to me that if a person was watching the game, and not a data set collected over time, they should have kicked the field goals.
Particularly the second one where the momentum had already shifted in SF's favor and failing to score any points was going to be a death knell for the Lions.
I get it, analytics has it's place but don't factor in what is right in front of you, like a starter whose stuff is totally on and absolutely go through the line up a third time.
SMH
This whole Latin thing smacks of desperation. Teams are turning over every rock for talent. Hell, our resident genius tried to ransack Latin America a few years back by throwing wheelbarrows of cash at raw talent and came up snake eyes.
If I was a kid from poverty and The Intern threw millions at me for doing nothing, I would continue to do nothing. Who needs to play baseball when I'm a millionaire?
With so many teams in MLB, the talent pool is watered down to nothing, and the only thing that's keeping some teams in the black are the tv contracts; big money to throw around hoping some of it sticks. They keep pushing for bigger, faster, stronger. And younger. Don't forget younger. MLB is becoming the Jeffrey Epstein of American sports.
MLB could lose easily lose eight franchises (we call them that because they're just like McDonalds) and significantly improve the on-field product. Wait. What am I thinking? As long as the money keeps flowing, teams are going to continue to throw large sums of worthless cash around like they were the Weimar Republic.
Unquestionably, the Lions lost that game more than the 49ers won it. Not just bad coaching/playcalling (thry seemed to panic and abandon the run), but turnovers, dropped passes…as far as the Lions came this season, they still didn’t seem ready for the biggest stage. The same could be said to a lesser extent about the Ravens. It’s become all the rage to go for it on 4th down, but with an overall 50% success rate (that’s about as much analytics as I can tolerate) sometimes a simpler approach is called for.
The whole idea of signing 16-year-olds is stupid in the first place. The first job I had was covering schoolboy sports. There were 16-year-olds who looked like world beaters. By 18, they were nothing. It's just too early.
The majors ought to be heavily invested in developing talent in US high schools, as well as in the DR. And yes, these wild bets are crazy. Still, betting on a 22-year-old is probably wiser, for the most part, than betting on a 30-year-old.
I thought the Ravens looked particularly immature yesterday. I mean, their D really shut down KC in the second half. But Flowers with that idiotic taunting call, then the fumble. Then Jackson throwing into heavy traffic. Stupid plays.
As to Detroit, yeah, I would've kicked the FGs, too. But they also got some very bad luck. I mean, that ball bouncing off your defender's face...and into the arms of an SF receiver? Oy.
Plus, Shanahan is a helluva coach. He always makes the adjustments. Should be an interesting Super Bowl.
From MLBTR: The Yankees have claimed left-handed reliever Matt Gage off waivers from the Astros, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post
Only 19 innings in the bigs, looks like a candidate for the Scranton Shuttle.
This is why they need to implant ID chips in these kids before they leave the maternity ward, then track them. Kind of like what they have in cars now. We can learn about FEV - or "future exit velocity" when they turn 5.
ALSO - doesn't this say something about the state of baseball in the US? Where are the little kids in this country who want to grow up to be ballplayers? Why are we not wooing them?
Something is wrong.
AND - it's an admirable testament to just how lucrative the game is, which is why I won't give Hal a penny - EXCEPT for one possible IIHIIF Golden Roundup© every year at the Stadium, aka, the house that Stanton shat on.
13Bit
"ALSO - doesn't this say something about the state of baseball in the US? Where are the little kids in this country who want to grow up to be ballplayers? Why are we not wooing them?"
Part of it is how long it takes to get to MLB here when there are alternatives. The DR doesn't really have alternatives. Maybe soccer.
If you are a couple of sport athlete in the US with "pro skills" Basketball is one year of college and then the draft. Football used to be four but now it's starting to become three.
Add the NIL money as an undergrad. They don't give college baseball players NIL money. At least I haven't seen one.
Sure a HS kid can get a signing bonus but after that it's all long bus rides and the slog from Low A to High A to AA to AAA. Compare to Division 1 sports. Nice stadiums. TV time etc.
I understand that most of these kids in all the sports don't ever make it even close to the pros but if I'm a superior athlete in HS and think I can be a pro I'm picking the shortest route.
I think Matt Gage is the final piece that HAL and Ca$h needed to get that coveted "we almost made the play-in game" slot they so lustily desire.
Wandy will just be icing on the cake.
Yeah, Rufus, except I think someone left the cake out in the rain...
Good points, Doug, but baseball should do a better job in recruiting, domestically.
An old roommate of mine taught in NYC public schools years ago, and most of his students were Hispanic kids who were all going to play...pro basketball.
MLB should really be pounding home to such kids:
—You will never be big enough or fast enough to play pro football or basketball.
—Baseball will leave your knees, back and brain essentially unharmed when you retire with all that money.
Well of course this happened. Why the fuck would it not!?
Where the hell is Omar Minaya when you need him?
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