July 2nd Signing Period Q&A with Ben Badler
River Avenue Blues —
... come from Latin America, but in recent years we’ve seen teams scour Australia, Asia and even parts of Europe for talent. The players must be at least 16-yrs old to sign but, as always, there are some loopholes that could be exploited. Jesus Montero is the Yanks best international signing of late, and big leaguers Melky Cabrera, Robbie Cano, Chien-Ming Wang and Mariano Rivera were all acquired this way in the past.
You can read Ben’s stuff at BA’s site, and you could also follow him on Twitter for more prospect info than you ...
July 2nd Signing Day Open Thread
Future Redbirds —
From Baseball Prospectus’ Kiley McDaniel:
The Cardinals will be announcing their signings in a press conference at the Hilton in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic at 10:30 AM, with a press release coming on the team site soon thereafter.
That will include some guy you have probably heard of…Wagner Mateo.
Check the Baseball Prospectus link for updates on all the signings.
As always check out the twitter updates from: Kiley McDaniel, Jorge Arangure, and Ben Badler.
Mods feel free to update this ...
Thursday Rockpile: Jeff Baker traded, does Atkins move next? July 2 could be more busy for Rockies than usual
Purple Row —
More photos »
by Jae C. Hong - AP
The Rockies are getting closer, but still no cigar when it comes to beating Los Angeles. ...
Yanks Sign Three as International FA Signings Begins
Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog —
Today is July 2nd, which begins the international free agent signing period. This is when teams can sign international players that weren’t eligible for the draft, usually players from Latin America. And players must be at least 16-years-old to sign. ...
Bumgarner's debut: 'Where's the heat?'
ESPN Feed: neyer rob —
You gotta love Twitter. Last night in the second inning of the Giants-Padres game , I Tweeted this: "I don't get it. Bumgarner supposedly throws in the mid-90s like it's nothing ... and he gives up HR to Headley on 90-m.p.h. meatball?" Almost immediately, Baseball America's Ben Badler responded: "I saw him sit at 92-94 mph in a Low-A game last August, but his velocity has been down this season." Which goes a long way toward explaining Bumgarner's stats this season. His 1.85 ERA was fantastic, just slightly higher than the 1.46 he posted last season, after which Baseball America wrote, That's not the ...
Wagner Mateo Contract Voided
Future Redbirds —
The Cardinals have voided the contract of Wagner Mateo over his vision issues. The are voiding it over “pre-existing injuries and physical defects”.
Here is the info from Bernie’s Press box:
HOUSTON, TX, Sept. 22, 2009 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have terminated the contract of outfielder Wagner Mateo with whom they agreed to terms on July 2.
Mateo’s contract was contingent on a physical exam. Results of the physical exam discovered pre-existing injuries ...
The Brewers, Twitter and You
Brew Crew Ball —
Whether it's just a fad or a new mainstay in social media, Twitter is probably one of the more polarizing services on the Internet. For some, it's an everyday must-check. For others, it's a joke, and its consistent users something to ridicule.
For the uninitiated, Twitter is a social networking service that allows you to send 140 character-or-less "tweets," and subscribe to and follow the tweets of others. At its basic level, it's a tool for feeding people a lot of information they didn't need to know or don't care about (like the results of one's recent trip to the bathroom), but some people use it for ...
