86 replies to this topic

[BSLChrisStoner]

Baltimore Sports and Life: “20 year old Cuban OF Jorge Soler is attempting to gain residency in the Dominican Republic. When the new CBA begins July 2nd, there will be a $2.9M International cap for each player. Assuming he signs with someone prior to 7/2, he figures to get a contract of at-least $25M. We’ve seen reports comparing him athletically to Bubba Starling. Based on what you know about Soler, where do you think he would go in the Amateur Draft, if he were eligible to be selected?”

David Rawnsley: “I have never seen Soler play and am not qualified to speculate where he would fall in the draft, but I’m not a big fan of giving 18-21 year old players of any nationality and background that kind of money and especially not position players who haven’t proved they can hit. I’d challenge you to go over a list of all the big contracts given to Cuban position players in the 18-21 year old range that surpassed the normal draft amount for the top 5-10 picks and see if you think the team would do it again. Yeonis Cespedes is not the comparison here, he’s a 26 year old man.”

Matt Garrioch: “I think he would go between 8th and 25th overall. I can’t see him going before some of the top talent but he wouldn’t slide too far because of his potential.”

[Coker]

It's amazing that there hasn't been any other talk about the scouting trip to Cuba. There have been zero reports about anything, which I find a bit strange.

Unless I missed a Roch post or something two months ago?

[JeffLong]

According to Ken Rosenthal, Soler is a free agent now: https://twitter.com/...945533140742144

Should the orioles go after him, and if so, what should the deal look like?

[Can_of_corn]

According to Ken Rosenthal, Soler is a free agent now: https://twitter.com/...945533140742144

Should the orioles go after him, and if so, what should the deal look like?

Of course they should, and the deal should look like whatever it takes to sign him. He is potentiality an impact player that would cost nothing but money.

They won't tho. I don't see PA spending the kind of money needed to sign an unproven talent like Soler.

[Chris B]

Jon Heyman ‏@JonHeymanCBS

Soler has major advantage, no signing limit yet. teams: phils, cubs, orioles, bluejays, redsox. also #mystery teams

[DJ MC]

He has a major advantage for the next month. He has to sign before the beginning of July or else he falls under the new CBA rules and costs himself quite a bit of money. That might keep his price a little lower than before.

He should be someone the Orioles look at to sign.

[JeffLong]

He has a major advantage for the next month. He has to sign before the beginning of July or else he falls under the new CBA rules and costs himself quite a bit of money. That might keep his price a little lower than before.

He should be someone the Orioles look at to sign.

I would highly doubt the July 2nd deadline will come into play at all.
He'll get what he's going to get, I imagine it will just take a week or two (maybe 3) for his agent to play teams against one another.

[Mike B]

The Jones signing was a good sign for the organization but the signing of Soler would truly be a sign that it is no longer business as usual for the Orioles.
I can not see PGA okaying a deal for an unproven, young prospect. I hope I am wrong.

[SammyBirdland]

I vote yes. Do I get a vote? Duquette, call me.

[mweb08]

I believe I saw that Law said he'd likely be picked in the 5-8 range if he was in the draft.

How much money is being estimated?

[JeffLong]

I believe I saw that Law said he'd likely be picked in the 5-8 range if he was in the draft.

How much money is being estimated?

Kevin Goldstein said between $20 - $30 million. I could be wrong but I think the old rumor was Cubs for 6/26?!?!

[mweb08]

That's clearly well above what you'd pay for a high first round pick in the draft, but it may be somewhat reasonable to do so when the guys on the open market.

[Luke Jackson]

That's clearly well above what you'd pay for a high first round pick in the draft, but it may be somewhat reasonable to do so when the guys on the open market.

Wonder how much Mark Appel would fetch on the open market. Probably enough to secure the finances of many Appels.

[RichardZ]

I said it for Darvish. I said it for Cespedes. When have you ever seen the O's win when there was open bidding on a player? Forget it. It's not going to happen.

[Mike B]

I said it for Darvish. I said it for Cespedes. When have you ever seen the O's win when there was open bidding on a player? Forget it. It's not going to happen.

Agreed. I can not remember when we won a bidding war. It may have been Albert Belle.

[JeffLong]

That's clearly well above what you'd pay for a high first round pick in the draft, but it may be somewhat reasonable to do so when the guys on the open market.

Yeah it's interesting. They talked about if Harper and Trout were free agents right now what they would get (consensus was 10/200-250). My opinion is that for guys in the top 5 of the draft the prices would range from 5/15 to 6/30 depending on talent. Strasburg would be a 6/30 type guy, maybe Kyle Zimmer is a 5/15 type.

It's a unique situation, but the team gets 6 years of control anyway so paying for 6 years with guaranteed money leaving just arb when he gets to the majors would be interesting from a financial point of view.

[BobPhelan]

I would love to sign him but I can't see us winning this auction. With Reimold so injury prone and Avery and Hoes as the only semblance of OF prospects in our system close to ready he would be nice to have. Not to mention its always a good idea to add potential top tier talent to your organization.

[RShack]

How much do we really know about how good this guy is?

[Coker]

I honestly can't believe that Fred Ferreira's trip to scout all those player amounted to nothing. Unless we're all in on Soler...which we should be.

[JeffLong]

I honestly can't believe that Fred Ferreira's trip to scout all those player amounted to nothing. Unless we're all in on Soler...which we should be.

It should be noted that along with Soler 2 or 3 other cuban players were approved as FA by MLB so it's possible we could sign some of the other guys instead/also.