The international signing season started and while a number of teams have busted out their piggy banks and made some big signings - A's making the biggest with $4.25M for highly touted pitcher Michael Inoa - the Giants did not make the big signing but at least did get someone, Luis Angel Mateo. Mateo signed with the Giants on Wednesday, the first day international prospects are eligible to ...

Meet Michel Inoa, the 16-year-old pitching phenom who just signed a $4.25 million dollar deal with the Oakland A’s. See photos and a biography of Michel below. Michel Inoa The 6 foot 7 right-hander from the Dominican Republic throws at 94 mph and international scouts have touted him as a “once in a decade type pitcher”. [...]

Meet Jeff Pasan… ...his boy Inoa Oakland – low-revenue Oakland, immortalized in the book “Moneyball,” about winning with a scrimp-and-save payroll – signed a 16-year-old named Michel Inoa on Wednesday. Along with his $4.25 million bonus, Inoa got an Anglicized name, Michael, and a ticket to the Dominican Summer League, where he can add weight to his lithe 6-foot-7 frame, throw his 94-mph ...

The rumors are finally official , 16 year old Michel Inoa of the Dominican Republic signed today with the Oakland A’s for $4.25 million. A right handed pitcher, Inoa stands in at 6’7’’, 205 pounds and likely isn’t done growing yet. A good report from Kiley McDaniel of Saber Scouting highlights Inoa’s fastball which has hit 96 mph on occasion and a “curveball that already flashes above ...

ESPN.com Inoa and his parents turned down more lucrative offers from the Cincinnati Reds and the Texas Rangers due to Oakland's positive results developing young pitchers. The Reds offered a $5 million signing bonus and a major league contract, while the Rangers offered $5.2 million, according to Inoa. Holy crap the Reds are ballsy. What's next the Reds offer Sabathia 250 million over 2 ...

The Padres had quite a day today as the International Signing Period began. This coupled with their run towards the #1 pick in 2009 portend a brighter future in San Diego. Your Padres made a statement today. Before noon eastern time, the Padres had locked up five of the top international prospects from around the globe for a total of nearly $5,000,000. Those commas are in the proper ...

Here's a list of loose links (sink ships) from today: Corey Brock of MLB.com has a piece on the Padres international signings . More here from the man himself, Paul DePodesta. The Marlins are still looking for a catcher, and one of their former guys might be available . That would be Paul LoDuca . With the Nats out of it, could they swap LoDuca within the division? And would they assume ...

July 2nd always used to be an exciting day for me, it was basically another amateur draft, minus the bothersome shackles of the predetermined selection order. I’ve sort of lost interest though, the too-good-to-be-true scouting reports and Age-Gate have since turned me off. I’m not going to spend too much time discussing the goings-on (especially since this year’s big prize, ...

Today is July 2nd, so the International Signing Period opens. I have a feeling it's going to be an unusually big day for the Padres. I'll post again when we have official news.

Happy International Signing Day! A couple things to note about the Rockies that we've learned in years past: Don't expect the team to be in on the biggest fish or perhaps even mentioned at all in important signings today. While the buscones have been busy playing relative newcomers to the market -such as the A's, Padres and Pirates- for some huge dollars this year, if we know anything ...

A sizable furor has been raised over the last several days in light of the Texas Rangers’ widely reported pursuit of top Dominican pitching prospect Michel Inoa, which was evidently halted when agent Adam Katz informed Inoa’s many courters that the 16-year-old phenom had agreed to terms on a $4.25 million signing bonus with the Oakland Athletics. Though the deal will not become ...

Baseball America with the report that Michel Inoa, the top Dominican Republic pitching prospect of the last decade has signed with the As for $4.25 million. Here's an interesting, Yankee related portion: The Yankees initially were the leader f...

BaseballAmerica is reporting that the A’s and Mr. Billy Beane have locked up pitcher Michel Inoa , the prize of the international market this year. The signing bonus is reported to be for 4.25m, more than 2m more than Wily Mo Pena received as a teenager from the Yankees. Beane coveted Inoa from the first time he saw him, and was willing to pay any amount to get him. Well, I’ll ...

In a huge move, the A’s are expected to announce that they’ve signed top Dominican prospect Michael Inoa. Inoa, a 16-year-old pitcher, is considered one of the better prospects to come out of the DR in recent years. He’s a first-round caliber of talent, and commanded a first-round price — about $4.25 million. That’s the largest sum of money ever handed out to ...

The Oakland A's have been known for many things in the Billy Beane era, chief among them their distaste for spending big money on players. That appears to have changed with the news that they've agreed to a deal with 16-year old Dominican pitcher Michel Inoa . When the international signing period opens on Wednesday, they're expected to announce that they've given him a record $4.25 million ...

According to industry sources, Inoa, represented by Adam Katz of WMG, has agreed to terms with the A’s for a $4.25 million signing bonus. Other clubs pursuing Inoa, including the Rangers, Reds and Yankees, were told this weekend that the deal was done, and that A’s general manager Billy Beane would announce the signing this week. The Yankees initially were the leader for Inoa, reportedly ...

It was predictable that the A's would get Michael Inoa, but I was willing to be surprised if the Reds signed him. Baseball America : According to industry sources, Inoa, represented by Adam Katz of WMG, has agreed to terms with the A's for a $4.25 million signing bonus. Other clubs pursuing Inoa, including the Rangers, Reds and Yankees, were told in recent weeks that the deal was done, and ...

As if the boatloads of young talent received in recent trades wasn’t enough, the rival Oakland A’s made another upgrade by signing super-prospect Michel Inoa with a record breaking $4.25M signing bonus. Oakland is already winning with what they have on the field right now, and I’ve already mentioned how nervous their minor league system makes me in regards to the next 5-10 ...

According to John Manuel of Baseball America, the Oakland Athletics have reached a deal with 16-year old pitcher Michael Inoa. The deal will pay Inoa an approximately $4.25M signing bonus. Scouts believe that the Dominican Inoa is a “once in a generation” type pitcher, who has an above average fastball, curveball, and change-up. It’ll be interesting to look back on this ...

Baseball America has confirmed it: 16-yr old phenom Michel Inoa has agreed to a $4.25M deal with Oakland. The top prospect for the upcoming July 2nd international free agent signing period, Inoa’s bonus is a record, blowing the $2.44M given to Wify Mo Pena in 1999 right out of the water. The 6′7″, 210 lb righty has been described as a “once-in-a-generation” ...