Yea, gimme dem prospects, moar prospects, can't have enough of them. Like Pac-Man going after pellets. Good to be the franchise that stacks them, not the one that watches other teams do it like we were for so long.
Assuming that the $2.5 million figure for Celestino is correct (it likely is), the Astros now have $1,748,800 remaining in their bonus pool.
Not likely. Maybe (emphasis on "maybe") has a case to be in the top 50, given his reputation as a defender. But we don't know what we've truly got with him until he starts his career next year.
Rarely do 16 year olds get ranked highly. When it happens, it is usually because your system sucks (see Ariel Ovando).
The only guy currently in our top 30 (mlb.com) from last year's class is Miguelangel Sierra, and we paid 3 guys $1M plus. That is without considering Bregman, Tucker, Cameron, or Eschelman, who I think will all rank above him. Of course, Correa, Velasquez, & Santana haven't had enough MLB time to fall off yet, but won't be too much longer.
Kiley McDaniel has him rated as a 40 future value prospect. After last season season, he ranked 40 FV prospects like J.D. Davis, Delino (pre-Rule 5), Tucker, Kemp, Musgrove, Emmanuel and a few others between 17-26 in his evaluation of Astros farm system. Appel, Phillips, Fisher, Reed, Feliz, Kemp, Musgrove, Moran, Bregman, Tucker the Younger, Daz, Hader, Jason Martin, Eshelman, and Ferrell are all highly likely 45 or above right now as all these guys were 45 or above after last season, FV 40 with very good performance this season, 45 or 50 FV rated on his draft board, or not on his board, but playing exceptional for age/level (Martin). So my guess is some place between 15-30 whenever Kiley makes an update.
Antonio Puesan is a former Minor League pitcher in the Royals organization and does a show called "Ligas Menores en Acción" (Minor League Action) on ESPN Radio in the Dominican Republic. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">SS Dominican prospect Yeuris Ramirez deals in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/July2Signing?src=hash">#July2Signing</a> with Houston Astros for 500K (probably play 3B in the future)</p>— Antonio Puesan (@antoniopuesan) <a href="https://twitter.com/antoniopuesan/status/616595315076939778">July 2, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Astros also deals with 2B Enmanuel Valdez in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/July2Signing?src=hash">#July2Signing</a> with 450K (best bat in his position)</p>— Antonio Puesan (@antoniopuesan) <a href="https://twitter.com/antoniopuesan/status/616595969031798784">July 2, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Venezuela prospect SS/2B Ronaldo Urdaneta sign with Astros in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/July2signing?src=hash">#July2signing</a> with 60K (great speed and knowledge of the game)</p>— Antonio Puesan (@antoniopuesan) <a href="https://twitter.com/antoniopuesan/status/616596693136465920">July 2, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Again, assuming that the dollar figures for Ramirez, Valdez, and Urdaneta are correct, the Astros now have $738,800 remaining in their pool, not counting the signings that aren't announced through Twitter. Also, this is an ideal trading day, as teams will look to expand their pools. Just another thing to keep in mind.
Like Blummer said on the broadcast last night, the Astros young players come up expecting to win because that's what they've been doing in the minors the last couple of years. Luhnow got mocked for that strategy initially but it's paying off now. If the success this year is just the beginning, then grabbing all of the international prospects you can will be the best way to keep the system replenished as our pool money will decrease in the amateur draft and as we trade other prospects to fill holes at the MLB level.
Thanks for the responses, guys. I figured that a 16-year-old would have no chance to crack the Top 10-15 prospects (especially in a farm system as deep as the Astros'). But given the huge signing bonus (much larger than any handed out last year, including to prospects now cracking the Top-30 list on MLB.com), I figured that maybe Celestino was going to be slotted in higher (on "spec"). Maybe in the 18-23 range. But I will defer to your superior baseball knowledge on this.
It is interesting that the top Latin players make basically 1st Round pick money, despite being much less projectable than the more tested American players. Not sure why or how it was bargained that way, but it seems the bonus pool for American players should be higher, and the international pool lower.
MLB's trust exemption doesn't apply outside the US. The American government and veteran MLB players have allowed MLB to throw American amateur baseball players turning pro under the bus while foreign governments have not catered to MLB's wishes.
Bonus pool for the June draft is higher than the pool for the international signings, but the penalties for significantly exceeding the draft pool are much more severe than the penalties for significantly exceeding the international pool.
One thing to keep in mind is that the signing bonuses given to these J2 guys doesn't always correspond to their actual value as a prospect. Weird, I know. Kiley McDaniel broke it down recently in this long fangraphs piece, detailing all the problems with the J2 system: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/signing-july-2nd-players-has-gotten-even-more-complicated/
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Astros have agreed to terms on a contract with Cuban free agent center fielder Alejandro Garcia</p>— Brian McTaggart ⚾️ (@brianmctaggart) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianmctaggart/status/616728935209041920">July 2, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="es" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> sign Cuban free agent CF Alejandro Garcia: <a href="http://t.co/GoqBOMimMx">http://t.co/GoqBOMimMx</a></p>— #VoteAltuve (@astros) <a href="https://twitter.com/astros/status/616729730197254144">July 2, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Because Garcia is 24, he is exempt from the bonus pools.
So, here's who the Astros have signed on the first day of the 2015-16 IFA period: OF Gilberto Celestino, $2,500,000 OF Alejandro Garcia, $750,000 SS Yeuris Ramirez, $500,000 2B Enmanuel Valdez, $450,000 SS Ronaldo Urdaneta, $60,000
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Source: Astros deal with Cuban free agent center fielder Alejandro Garcia is for $750K <a href="http://t.co/vdNjIcQkdy">http://t.co/vdNjIcQkdy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MLBPipeline">@MLBPipeline</a></p>— Jesse Sanchez (@JesseSanchezMLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/JesseSanchezMLB/status/616988783985061888">July 3, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="es" dir="ltr">More Astros international signings OF José Hernandez $10,000 C Vicente Mota $7,500 P Mauricio Santana $17,000</p>— Antonio Puesan (@antoniopuesan) <a href="https://twitter.com/antoniopuesan/status/616998809076387840">July 3, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Santana, despite his low signing bonus, will count against the pool. MLB did away with the "sign up to 5 players for under $50K without having them count against the pool" rule after last year, I believe.
So... according to this link (in Spanish), the Astros signed an infielder from Colombia named Samir Caraballo.
Here are the players known to be signed by the Astros in the 2015 portion of the 2015-16 IFA period. Most of these signings can be found on the transactions page on the Astros website. This is not the entire IFA class; there is still 5 months to go in this current IFA signing period, and this doesn't include everyone who signed; there are probably more, unreported signings in addition to the players below. The following players signed on July 2: Gilberto Celestino, OF, $2.5 million, Dominican Republic (born February 13, 1999) Alejandro Garcia, OF, $750,000, Cuba (exempt from pool, already playing; born June 21, 1991); transaction not posted until July 21 Yeuris Ramirez, SS, $500,000, Dominican Republic (born November 28, 1998 Enmanuel Valdez, IF, $450,000, Dominican Republic (born December 28, 1998) Ronaldo Urdaneta, IF, $60,000, Venezuela (born November 18, 1998); transaction not posted until July 26 Mauricio Santana, P, $17,000, Dominican Republic (born February 3, 1997) Jose Hernandez, OF, $10,000, Dominican Republic (already playing; born December 4, 1995) Vicente Mota, C, $7,500, Dominican Republic (born June 8, 1994) Francisco Villegas, LHP, Mexico (born August 31, 1997) Humberto Castellanos, RHP, Mexico (born April 3, 1998) In addition to the July 2 haul, the following players have also signed, according to the transactions page on the Astros' website: Cesar Cortez, OF, Panama (born April 1, 1999); signed July 6 Cosme Zapata, RHP, Venezuela (born October 23, 1996); signed July 7 Angelo Serrano, RHP, Dominican Republic (already playing); signed July 22 Bernardo Heras, C, Mexico (Leo Heras' younger brother; born November 3, 1995); signed September 7 Edwin Fidel, RHP, Dominican Republic (born December 14, 1994); signed September 18 Ramiro Ramirez, OF, Panama (born February 2, 1998); signed October 14 Juan Corniel, P, Dominican Republic (born January 2, 1996); signed October 26 Carlos Perdomo, LHP, Dominican Republic (born April 25, 1998); signed November 9 Alfredo Angarita, IF, Venezuela (born November 16, 1996); signed November 16 Also, on the day before Thanksgiving, the Astros signed Samir Caraballo, a 17-year-old (born September 12, 1998) infielder from Colombia. On Christmas Eve, Carlos Sierra, a 21-year-old Cuban RHP, was signed. Sierra has a Spanish passport (his grandfather is from Spain), which allowed him to leave Cuba legally. Sierra was pitching in the top baseball league in Spain in 2015, and here are his numbers: 14 appearances (11 starts, 1 complete game, pitched in 3 shutouts), 11-1, 1 save, 1.47 ERA, 86 IP, 56 H, 21 R (14 earned), 36 BB, 85 K, 1.07 WHIP
