Mariners Sign Pimentel
When it comes to international business, the M’s [almost] always get their man. Larry Stone proves that point with reports that the Mariners have signed 16-year-old Dominican OF Guillermo Pimentel, at a figure of about $2 million. Unlike last year’s big signing in CF Julio Morban, who was recently demoted to Peoria, Pimentel is more of a power hitter with a less refined, though still relatively good approach. He’s listed as a CF right now, but a move to left is probably due in the future, since he lacks foot speed and a premium arm. The Mariners had been linked with Pimentel since March, and got him despite a rumored effort by the Rangers to scoop him up.
News on OF Alexis Parma, the toolsy Venezuelan outfielder they were previously linked to, has yet to come out, but these things often take a few days to get through the wires. Pimentel, for example, signed yesterday and we’re only now getting wind of it. The Mariners will likely get a press release out in the coming weeks, or BA will get the lists and I’ll relay what I’ve heard. That would likely include the signings of Korean prospects 3B/C Choi Ji-man and RHP Kim Sun-ki for about $1 million total. Seattle would like to pick up one of the interesting shortstops that are around, but other teams have a head start on them there. This year’s market lacks quality pitching, so don’t expect any J.C. Ramirez/Francisco Valdivia-type acquisitions.
good to see that they continue to restock the system.
I have to ask, any work about the Mariners pursuing the Cuban defector? 100mph from the left side, strasburg comparisons…is he a target?
Some very poor video of Pimeentel can be found here.
I haven’t heard any links between the two just yet. The big players for Cuban defectors are usually the Yankees, Sox of both colors, and the Braves occasionally. With an arm like his, it would not surprise me in the slightest to see the Yankees throw an insane amount of money at him and blow everyone else out of the water. The Mariners would have to present themselves as a more appealing option to get it to work. I don’t know how much of a factor plus or minus that Yuni would play in that.
If that is our guy, then his swing is a bit better than what I expected. He repeats it pretty well for a kid his age and it doesn’t have a pronounced uppercut to it. Nor does he seem to have any damning timing mechanisms, he just seems to see the ball and put the bat on it. The arm is a little whippy in the defensive play, nothing bad though.
So we get #2 in the this years draft in Ackley and a top 5 guy from the international circuit.
Where does that leave our system overall? Still in the middle of the pack?
timandren,
Yes!! In the middle. We got the 2nd pick but really screwed up on the next two. Got a great 2nd and 3rd round pick though. But they could of done better
They could have done better, sure enough, but with these wacky self-imposed budget restrictions on what they were doing it was enough. The day two picks were great. The day one picks could have been better.
I’d put us about middle of the pack too, but it’s been a weird and kind of nasty year for us. Our top guys were injured (Triu, Tui, Saunders, Raben, Pineda) or came down with a nearly crippling case of The Suck (Halman, pre-demotion), but other guys have stepped forward like Liddi and Dunigan and Diaz, while the early draft picks from last year (Pribanic, Lorin, Hensley) have gotten their reps in and really hit the ground running. I expected the younger high ceiling guys to establish themselves more, but instead we’ve had earlier draft picks and a series of former nobodies coming in to do their thing. It’s been a bizarre season.