Monday, December 11, 2006

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.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did Cash get a blood transfusion from Omar the Metmaker? Even the verification code for this looks Spanish!

If anyone has never done this: copy the Spanish & paste it into a web translator to English. Big fun. Babelfish ( in this case ), never quite gets the idioms, colloquial phrases & baseball lingo right.

Pick a Chavez, any Chavez. . ..

Anonymous said...

Got this From Sosh

QUOTE(knucklecup @ Dec 11 2006, 06:57 PM)It's more likely that I ace my Finite Mathematics final in a few hours than this Miranda kid hits 20 homers next year.


Quote - Idiots Sam Ray Not says


"So you're saying you're good enough at Finite Mathematics to be sure Miranda won't hit 20 homers, but not good enough to ace your exam? How'd you do on your Probability and Statistics exams?

I know next to nothing about probability, except as it relates to (David) Murphy's Law: all MFY prospects (Cano, Wang, Proctor Melky, Hughes et al.) will succeed beyond their wildest fantasies; while all ours will either flame out, get traded (and then succeed beyond our wildest fantasies), or get f***ing cancer.

That's the way it seemed last year, anyway. Here's hoping our luck turns around in '07. Latest news on young Master Lester seems to bode well (knocks on wood thrice)" ...

Anonymous said...

Yeah, much smarter to pay Lilly 44M, Meche 55M, or Schmidt 45M. I mean, those guys are health and performance locks. No doubt about it, terrible move for the Yankees. I mean, who cares if we don't know if those 3 guys can pitch in NY, or in October??? Pettitte was hurt significantly one time in his entire career, so he is quite obviously a tremendous health risk.

Surely.



Not to mention Zito, who will get much more and lots of years. Then we have a 51.1 million paid just to talk to a Japanese pitcher.

The short term deal for a proven Lefty at The Stadium is a coup on Cashman's part.

Sure, to fill white space on a page, you could list all the negatives, but to call this signing anything more than a smashing success is silly.



My question for YG and this clown remain. Who exactly would have been a better, younger signing? Last time I checked, 100M for Zito was ridiculous and 90% of Yankee fans don't want him here, and there was no one else available. Pettitte, or Meche/Lilly/Schmidt??

Oh wait, lets rely on Karstens and Pavano. riiigh.t

Anonymous said...

Phil Simms Comment on Yanks



Did anyone hear Phil Simms on Mike Francesa's Sunday show say "I had dinner with Joe Torre and something BIG is coming down this week with the Yanks but I can't discuss it" ?

What did he mean?

Anyone else hear that?

Anonymous said...

December 12 is the non-tender deadline.

Quick Recap:

QUOTEPlayers with more than three but fewer than six years service time must be offered a contract by this date. If they are, they remain property of that team. If not, they become non-tender free agents. This date has been moved up from December 20. A player who is non-tendered becomes a free agent and may sign with any of the 30 Major League clubs, including his former team, at any price.
[b]Potential Non-Tender Candidates:[/b]


http://www.nbcsports.com/mlb/420286/detail.html

C: Toby Hall (Dodgers), Humberto Cota (Pirates), Miguel Ojeda (Rangers), Josh Paul (Devil Rays)

1B/DH: Ben Broussard (Mariners), Mike Lamb (Astros)

2B: Eric Bruntlett (Astros), Bernie Castro (Nationals), Marcus Giles (Braves), Andy Green (Diamondbacks)

SS: Ramon Santiago (Tigers), John McDonald (Blue Jays)

3B: ???

OF: Brad Wilkerson (Rangers), Kevin Mench (Brewers), Bobby Kielty (Athletics), Jeff DaVanon (Diamondbacks), Larry Bigbie (Cardinals), Jody Gerut (Pirates), So Taguchi (Cardinals), Jayson Werth (Dodgers), Alex Escobar (Nationals), Terrmel Sledge (Padres), Jason Tyner (Twins), David Newhan (Orioles), Jack Cust (Padres), Aaron Guiel (Yankees), Hiram Bocachica (Athletics), Rick Ankiel (Cardinals)

SP: Joel Pineiro (Mariners), Brandon Backe (Astros), Kyle Lohse (Reds), Shawn Chacon (Pirates), Josh Fogg (Rockies), Dave Williams (Mets), Zach Day (Nationals), Victor Zambrano (Mets), Kyle Snyder (Red Sox)

RP: Chris Reitsma (Braves), Jorge Sosa (Cardinals), Scott Downs (Blue Jays), Brian Sikorski (Indians), Grant Balfour (Brewers), Chin-Hui Tsao (Rockies), Jason Standridge (Reds), Chris Bootcheck (Angels), Brandon Duckworth (Royals), Randy Choate (Diamondbacks), John Parrish (Orioles), Greg Jones (Angels), Chad Durbin (Tigers), Javier Lopez (Red Sox), Chris Booker (Nationals), Jorge Julio (Diamondbacks)

Anonymous said...

Broussard and Toby Hall?

If Dodgers and Seattle non tenders Broussard and Hall , how would you feel about the Yankees signing him to be the every day first baseman and backup catcher

Anonymous said...

Did anyone hear Phil Simms on Mike Francesa's Sunday show say "I had dinner with Joe Torre and something BIG is coming down this week with the Yanks but I can't discuss it" ?

What did he mean?


Torre is passing a stone.

Anonymous said...

Yanks...AARP Rotation....




Congrats Yankees, all the Boss needs to do now is to buy Roger Clemens and your "Oldie but Goldie Bullpen" will be complete:

Randy Johnson ---- HELP!, I've fallen and I can't get up

Mike Mussina ---- Geritol Man, "Senior Citizens eat for free?"

Andy Pettitte ---- Shuffle board director, "Where's my Metamucil?"

Roger Clemens ---- Rascal Scooter Rep. "I don't do road trips"

Anonymous said...

Yankees–don't give any 1st baseman a multi year deal.

and I dont think that they will either, alot of money comes off the books next season, the pitching will already be set with Wang, Hughes (replaces Johnson when he retires), Mussina, Pettitte and Pavano (if he's pitching) and we can use that to throw alot of money at Mark Texiera who is going to be a Free Agent I believe.

There's no guarantee Ehlers will amount to shiiiit, so Yankees aren't going to hold out and let a great player like Texiera pass because of some youngster with potential.. Texiera is a great hitter and on top of that a great defender. He is also a switch hitter. He grew up idolizing Mattingly, and he might also have grown up a Yankee fan. Giambi will come off the books the following next year, so we will need a power hitting 1b anyway and we will financial flexibility. The infield defense could be phenomal with Texiera, Cano (getting to be very good), Jeter, and Arod (who had a off year). Hopefully Shea hillebrand accepts a one year offer or we go with an aleternative for the upcoming season.

Let's Go Yankees!!!!


Thats been the plan all along, the Yanks are hoping that Teixeira hits the market next offseason because they would love to bring him to his childhood favorite team. The 1st baseman that they've been looking at this offseason have all been short term options only.

Infact I was told this spring or summer from family and friends within the Yanks and throughout baseball that the Yanks weren't going to do much this offseason other than trying to get Matsuzaka because they money is coming off the books after '07 and thats the class that they are willing to spend money on with players such Teixeira, Zambrano, V. Wells, A.Jones and Ichiro.

Anonymous said...

ESPN at it again


Jim Allen, in a "special" on ESPN, is talking about how Matsuzaka should "stand up" to Boras, and how the woeful Seibu Lions would have to destroy their plans from the lost $51.1M, like increasing player salaries by $6M. ($6M of the money for players? Oh boy! LOL)

Because Lions fans, of course, would be STRICKEN if Matsuzaka stays another year. And woe! to the Red Sox Nation, who would be devastated if he ends up in Pinstripes. Okay, the article doesn't say that -- but you know that's what he's REALLY saying.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove06/columns/story?id=2693833

NESPN strikes again! Get your E-Sox-PN news right there!

Anonymous said...

Cuban defector signed

He says He has a Double A skills right now ?? Yankees signed him for depth that's all and he will not compete for first base job in spring training.




He's not on the active roster he's on the 40 man
right now if his age is correct then i Expect him to compete at AA this year and then Make the transition to AAA by Mid Summer.



It's called Stocking up on your options. I think that the yankees might move Eric back to 3rd base this season either that or Keep him down in AA for the whole year. Either Way Duncan will be Eligible for the 2007 Rule V draft along with Clippard,Battle, and a few other kids from that 2003 draft also Vecchi,Pino and Corona as well.


Cuban players aren't much better -if at all- than Japanese players that have come over.

This should only be looked upon as stock-piling more than anything.

I'll be surprised if this kid makes it to the big league.

Jeteupthemiddle said...

I figured this would be the site to ask, if not the post, but what are people thinking in regards to Igawa?

Does the Pettitte signing remove Igawa from the Yankees' plans with them getting their posting fee back? Or will they sign him anyway and stick him in the bullpen for depth if nothing else.

Anonymous said...

Red Sox lining up minor deal for veteran Kuwata

http://www.japanball.com/news.phtml?id=8479

The Boston Red Sox are lining up a move for veteran former
Yomiuri Giants right-hander Masumi Kuwata, Major League Baseball
sources revealed Monday. Redsox , are
expected to offer Kuwata a minor league contract that will include
bonuses if he is promoted to the majors.

Suddenly Redsox are acquiring japan players and loaded with skilled players from japan

Anonymous said...

youtube video of kuwata's last pitching in yomiuri giants



http://youtube.com/watch?v=KUWi9EUvt-I

Anonymous said...

Bad Bad News

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/news/262991.html

Anonymous said...

Got this from Sosh



"Quote from Idiot Redsox Fan"







Quote:
I think Boras logic is flawed. The Sox bid $51M with the idea that they would be able to sign Matsuzaka at a below market rate- as has always happened in the past in these situations. Will any team bid $51M next year, knowing how much Boras wants for Matsuzaka? I don't really see it.

Boras logic with Pettitte makes even less sense- because the Yankees are over th tax, Pettite is really on a 2 year, $46M deal? Huh? Does that make A-Rod really a $35M player?

What's next? Is it fair that Johan Santana makes so little? Why can't Jered Weaver declare himself a FA after a great rookie season? What about Chan Ho Park? Is that fair to the Rangers?

Matsuzaka, like Santana and Weaver, cannot expect free agent dollars when he's not a free agent. Why would the Sox pay $51M to gain exclusive rights and then pay him $20M a year? Makes absolutely no sense at all.

Paging Roger Clemens...........

(What's funniest here is Gammons assertion that a difference between an $8M offer an $18M request is largely theoretical. A $10M per year difference in opinion- well, I don't see that gap being bridged in a few days.)