Miranda Rights

Not to bump my Isiah rant before anyone's had the chance to read it, but there's a little Yankees news to share.

The Bombers have inked outfielder/first baseman Juan Miranda to a deal reported to be in the neighborhood of 4 years, and $500,000 per year. He is a former member of the Cuban national team, played in the 2002 World University Baseball Championships and the 2004 Olympics, and is a defector to the Domincan Republic, where he now holds citizenship. The 23-year old Miranda was also pursued by several other teams, but only the Dodgers were close. Miranda is guaranteed a spot on the 40-man roster, by contract, and is projected by some Yankee people as a .280 hitter with 20+ home runs. That's according to ESPNdeportes.

If the projections are good, there's your 2007 first baseman. I need to see this guy in spring training to believe it, but Ca$h Money's plan is in action. It's hard to dig anything up on the net about him, but I did see that Jose Rijo saved him and 5 other Cuban players from deportation in 2005, and I found a random comment on a bulletin board that said he hit 4 home runs in a game last season in the DR.

(This is the best link of the lot. A guy in the DR saw him hit a big homer at the Yankees camp and has some nice words about him. Score.)

He's been in the DR working out for 2 years. My skeptical side says, "If this guy can hit .280 and 20+ homers in the bigs, why did it take 2 years for someone to sign him?"

This in Spanish:

"El otro mejor novato de la XL Serie, el pinareño Juan Miguel Miranda, quien le robó al sureño varios votos de primer lugar en esa selección, acumuló 10 jonrones durante los 90 juegos del calendario pasado, uno menos que los que ya exhibe el debutante industrialista a poco más de un tercio de campaña. Así, si no surge un contratiempo, su proyección apunta a que tendemos un nuevo recordista novato en cuadrangulares, sobrepasando la cifra de 20.

El fornido número 10 del Cienfuegos, ahora sumando la buena cifra de 8 vuelacercas que lo sitúan en la sexta posición de los actuales jonroneros, nunca estuvo cerca de los 10 primeros en ese aspecto de la pasada serie nacional, terminando con 21 jugadores por encima, incluidos los líderes Roberqui Videaux y Oscar Macias, ambos con 23.

El actual cuarto bate cienfueguero terminó la Serie 40 con average ofensivo de .286, nada mal para un slugger neto como él, que ha mostrado una fuerza descomunal en sus batazos. Miranda, terminó el 2001 con .304, proyectándose más como un potencial jugador multidimensional, aunque de poder nada despreciable como muestran sus presentes 7 bambinazos en un lapso de 13 juegos, luego de una sequía de 24 partidos sin jonrón."

He projects to be a multi-dimensional player with 20+ home run power, based on his results in the 40th National Series of the Cuban Big Leagues. He hit .304 with 10 home runs in 90 games for Pinar del Rio that year (at the age of 18). 7 of his home runs came in the span of 13 games, after a dry spell of 24 games without a tater. (Pinar del Rio featured Jose Contreras and Alay Soler that season, and won their division by going 59-31 before losing in the championship series to Santiago de Cuba 4 games to 1.) If you can speak better Spanish than me, which is probably likely, you can get more info from this. That was my best shot.

More soon.