Joe Strauss is making me hyperventilate:
General manager John Mozeliak has traveled to the Dominican Republic, in part to supervise a workout of highly regarded shortstop Miguel Angel Sano. The Cardinals are believed in the forefront of teams pushing to sign Sano, a teenager considered by many to be the most talented free-agent position player in the Dominican. The international signing period begins July 2.
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That’s awesome. Very exciting.
WHA?
Pardon me while I go find a paper bag to breathe into.
Does anyone has a good scouting report on this kid? Or a possible projected comparison of what he could end up being? I have heard alot of buzz on this kid but outside of a few articles that talk in generalities and the rare video I can’t find anything.
Sano is an SS for now, but he’s a big, powerful right-handed hitting 3B prospect.
He’s already 6’3″ and 190 and has a polished swing with power to all fields.
Hope everyone is sitting down, but I’ve heard comparisons to Evan Longoria for Sano.
“Right now the number one guy for me is Sano,” said an international scouting director. “The bat, the swing he’s got—I’ve never seen in a young kid that kind of swing. And he repeats it all the time. The ball leaves the bat the same way all the time, in BP and in the games, too. It’s a special bat and a special body.”
Given what we just read about position players being more reliable to draft than pitchers; and given firsthand experience with big guys who play the infield, shouldn’t DeWitt be thinking about breaking the bank on this guy? In fact, shouldn’t he be thinking about doing that even if it means not picking up a Brad Penny, Paul Bird or Adrian Beltre salary for a stretch run?
Also, wouldn’t a certain DR-born firstbaseman kinda like having one of his countrymen to keep him company in the infield?
Red, I’m sure Albert could care less. Best case scenario, we sign this kid and he makes it here in a minimum of 4 years. I’m sure Albert wants immediate help while he’s in his prime.
That being said, pleeeeeeeeease sign this kid.
Mike—why do you say minimum 4 years? If he is all that they says he is, couldn’t he make the bigs by age 19—2-3 years?
That’s asking a lot for a kid to be in the bigs by age 19. Even if he is what they say he is – Longoria was 22 when he arrived in the bigs.
I’ll go out on a limb and say – best case 6 years from Latin American bonus baby to MLB for any player let alone Sano.
so what if it’s between signing Shelby Miller or Sano? If the Cardinals sign both, it will be like christmas, but i’m not sure they would be able to.
Miller. We have 3B covered in the minors. Plus we signed Roberto De La Cruz last year to a $3 million bonus and he’s a 3B.
you need to cut that bonus down to about $1.2 million
Wow, yea, you are right.
I don’t know why I had 3 mil on the brain. Must. take. break. from internet.
give me miller. we need top flight pitching prospects, and miller is definitely one of those.
you do have the whole hitter/pitcher dynamic going, as in hitters are safer draft picks. but we’re not talking about a draft pick, so i’m not sure that carries over. where would sano have been drafted this year? 1st round? Top 15? Top 10? I would think so.
Evan Longoria was a collegiate player. ARod debuted before the age of 20 yes? Upton as well? It is not unheard of.
Is it certain that this guy is really 16? Agegate being what it was, the question needs to be asked. The interesting thing, though, is that in complete opposition to the usual pattern, it’s credible that Sano would be MORE attractive, not less, if he was really something like 18 instead. You almost don’t want the body to do any more growing, and in terms of the other components of maturation, having him even closer to big-league-ready might be to everyone’s advantage. He’d still be young enough to have many, many years ahead of him.
Does anyone think the fact that MO is going all the way to the Dominican to watch this kid mean that the FO is actually willing to spend money on him. Maybe he wants to play with his childhood hero AP?
I don’t buy the line that its either Miller or Sano. The Cardinals probably will not have spent 5 million on their draft this year even with Miller signed. Adding on another 3.5 to 4 shouldn’t make that much of a difference.
Besides 9 million should be the budget for a team that fancy’s itself a minor league oriented organization. When did the Cardinals turn into the Twins?
Gruntosaurus: They have reportedly done some test (on the bone?) on Sano that indicates that he has the development of a 16/17 year old kid so his age seems to be as advertised.
It would be awesome if the Cards could sign him but I’m not getting my hopes up too much. If not us, I hope he goes outside the division.
Danny, probably sometime between Mulder’s arm going radioactive and Haren’s going nuclear in 2006-2007.
Anyone hear the story on Sano’s age, last I heard there was bone verification that he was 16 or 17 but theres a new story out today about his identity? I don’t have access to ESPN insider to read the story.
Andrew, I think it is much ado about nothing. Apparently he had a sibling that died young and they are making sure he has not assumed his identity.
BTW, I just saw this story which claims that some view the Cards as frontrunners for Sano: http://masnsports.com/2009/06/deciding-on-sano.html
Who knows what to believe?
Anyone really know if we are frontrunner? Ive seen it in 2 articles now one being Strauss’s The second one could have just been quoting the article in the PD. The only evidence is that MO is putting on a workout. I can’t see the FO ponying up to fly down there without being willing to pay what they know the asking price has to be. Same with Miller, why draft him if you aren’t willing to sign him.