This was the young catcher out of Columbia that the Phillies were linked to for the last few months. Apparently the Rangers have signed him for $1.3M. At that price, it makes sense for the Phillies to pass. Just thought we’d put this one to bed, since he was mentioned in passing in a bunch of posts over the last few months.
26 thoughts on “Rangers sign Jorge Alfaro”
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Phuture Phillies 
Agreed. I feel like we have this discussion every time an international signing is rumored or completed, but I think the Phillies do well to gear their budget toward nabbing a couple of mid-level guys. Alfaro could turn out to be something special, but I’d rather spread that money across guys like Domingo Santana ($330K), Lino Martinez ($325K), and Miguel Nunez ($220K) to diversify risk.
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That’s alot of coin from an organization that is about to be sold.
In terms of typical draft compensation, is this implying that the Rangers value him as much as a top 10 draft pick? Or is that view not really fair, given the whole slotting versus free market discussion?
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I found some interesting stuff about Miguel Nunez. Apparently he moved to New York to go to a High School there but he was never academically eligible to play baseball. So I guess he dropped out of High School and the Phillies signed him to an international contract. A commenter on the article did say that he already throws in the mid 90’s though which is nice.
Here is the link.
http://baseball.lohudblogs.com/2009/03/19/new-poll-who-is-the-best-pitcher-in-the-section/
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Just scroll down a little bit to see the commenter talk about Nunez throwing in the mid 90’s.
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“In terms of typical draft compensation, is this implying that the Rangers value him as much as a top 10 draft pick? Or is that view not really fair, given the whole slotting versus free market discussion?”
It’s not really fair. Aroldis Chapman got $30 million while Strasberg got $15 million. But if you put them in the same draft, Strasberg would have gone first.
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Alan,
Great point. Jim Callis said in his chat the other day that he thought Strasberg would command $60 million on the open market. Very hard to compare as the drafted players take a huge cut as a result of their lack of leverage.
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Nunez- the commentor in the article says the NYC Nunez is a Venezuelan transfer 15 y.o. who played in some high school. The Nunez the Philles signed is supposed to be from the Dominican Republic.
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Here is how you equalize between foreign and domestic prospects. Draft them all, set guidelines for maximum bonuses in various areas of the draft. Players from countries that don’t choose to have their players drafted, will be eligible for free agent contracts which may not exceed, say, $150.000 per year. Trade some MLB players salary, conditions, and benefits upgrade to gain Players Union ratification in the next CBA talks.
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I have a better idea, treat professional baseball like almost any other job in this country. Let people choose who they want to work for. Make everyone a free agent and let the market set compensation. That’ll tell you what each player is worth.
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It would make sense for Nunez as a Dominican to try to play in New York because of the immigrant community there. Players like Manny Ramirez went that route as well.
I actually think it is great that he may have already lived in the U.S. for a year or two. That means he will have a great start on learning English and probably has family in the U.S. to help him.
As for Alfaro, I agree that $1.3M is too much of a risk. Now they just need to land some more mid-level prospects like Nunez.
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Is a .250 batting average in the Dominican Republic league a good indicator that Alfaro will be good in that department besides his catching abilities? Can somebody factor that average to the US minor league or mlb?
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I thought this guy was already on board, but that report always seemed dubious based on his price.
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Has any high dollar Latin American signing panned out?
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Most of them are too soon to tell. Wily Mo Pena was a record signing at the time and he was a bust. Miguel Cabrera for a long time was the second biggest Latin American signee and he’s a potential Hall of Famer.
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“Is a .250 batting average in the Dominican Republic league a good indicator that Alfaro will be good in that department besides his catching abilities? Can somebody factor that average to the US minor league or mlb?”
In six games, in a Dominican minor league. (This is not the same Winter league that the pros play in.) I’d honestly have better luck projecting Alfaro by spinning a giant wheel than you would by translating his statistics.
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The giant wheel is how I’m picking my top 30. Don’t knock it!
Seriously, trying to project anything from six games from a 16 year old is not going to get you a lot of useful information. If I had to guess, without knowing anything about this guy, I would guess that if he ever does make it to the major leagues, it won’t be behind the plate.
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Bobo — This is not top 10 draft pick money. Every guy in the first 22 picks who signed got at least $1.35 mill and quite a few guys who were picked later got more than that, for example the Royals giving $2 mill to the 91st pick,
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I’m pretty simplistic. I would have preferred that the Phillies had signed Jorge Alfaro for 1.31 million rather than the Rangers signing him for 1.3 million. I don’t get the sense that the Phillies will now turn around and say “hey we’ve got 1.2m to spend – lets go get 3 400K players.” Although they never go over budget they seem very comfortable going under budget.
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“Although they never go over budget they seem very comfortable going under budget.”
Very true and, ultimately, probably not a good thing.
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Jesus Montero signed for what has been reported as 1.6 million. Sure there is risk involved but reward as well depending on your evaluation of the player.
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Risk of $1.3 mill to this guy vs $1.38 mill for Hewitt? The Philllies are quite willing to spend $1.3 mill on a long-shot toolsy project, they just tend to categorize players into bins, and don’t think Latino players are worth $1 mill plus. A carryover from the days when the Latin market was cheap compared to the draft. That’s the way it was, that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Sort of on a par with sticking with Selig’s guidelines for draft bonuses. This guy certainly potentially fills an organizational need more than the Hewitt pick did.
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Hewitt’s a longshot but a 16 year old Columbian catcher isn’t?
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They are both long shots chosen for their skill sets and projectability. The reason why Hewitt may well have been the longer shot, although this is not what I was arguing just that the risk is quite similar, is because Hewitt was quite a bit older with less time to learn to overcome his deficiencies. To me, Hewitt had two black marks against him — he was both rawer and older than the average HS draftee. He must be added to the 40-man roster a year earlier than other HS kids drafted the same year he was drafted. When I say he was raw, he was terribly raw. He had both serious difficulty hitting the ball and fielding the ball. Compare Hewitt to Collier, our second pick in that draft. Collier is 16 months younger, was able to play the defensive position he was drafted for, and was not as raw as a hitter. He also had more plate discipline — Hewitt was and remains pretty allergic to taking a walk. Hewitt’s advantage was speed and athleticism, but that athleticism was not even translated into the ability to steal bases or to develop acceptable footwork at 3B or the range/quickness to stay at SS. Hewitt is that rare, over-age HS first-round draft pick who gets to spend the first half of his first full season in baseball in extended ST.
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in other Rangers-Phillies news
The Rangers designated outfielder Greg Golson for assignment to make room for Khalil Greene, tweets Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Golson, 24, hit .258/.299/.344 in 500 Triple A plate appearances last year. He was acquired by the Rangers in November of ’08 for John Mayberry Jr.
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Anybody else think Golson ends up in KC in the Mike Arbuckle “guys I used to know” brigade?
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No, I’d think Arby views him as an embarrassment that he’d rather not have around for the rest of the KC staff to observe too closely.
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