Sanchez and Leal signings official
Just because the signing deadline has passed, doesn’t mean they can’t keep signing players. Jay covered this a little while ago, and now the Mariners have officially announced the signings of two 16-year-old Venezuelans, RHP Victor Sanchez and OF Jose Leal. Bob Engle says they considered Sanchez the top-rated international prospect available.
Previously reported bonus amounts were $2.5 million and $1,925,000, respectively, which of course the team’s announcement doesn’t comment on. Anyway, clearly they’re considered key acquisitions, but it will be 4-5 years before they’d even start to appear in the picture as potential contributors, so just tuck them away in the back of your brain for now.
Both of these guys are from Venezuela, and there’s no word on signings from the Dominican Republic or elsewhere. The team may announce more international signings at some point down the road. Still nothing new on OF Helsin Martinez (who was rumored to have signed last month, a report that Engle refuted) that I know about.
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5 Responses to “Sanchez and Leal signings official”
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Mike, do teams delay announcing these details about international signings until after the domestic signings are done? I would think an agent for a drafted player would argue the team has plenty to spend on his client based on what they are giving 16 year-olds in Venezuela. Not that this is a bad thing. As a fan, I’m psyched for any new talent the team can sign (for any amount).
Last year their big international signing press release came in July, so if there was a delay to avoid adding to the leverage of draftees, that’s a new thing. It’s not out of the question, since the players are apparently signing for more than anybody but Hultzen, but then again the reported bonuses have already been out there for a while.
Also, last year’s release was an omnibus covering Venezuela, Colombia, and the Dominican. So for all I know, this could be it for major signings if they backed off the bidding wars elsewhere.
I find it interesting that the Mariners have NOT signed Helsin Martinez, but nobody else apparently has either. I’m guessing there’s some backlash here from last year’s signing of Peguero wherein the money was different than what was first thought, and the M’s brass doesn’t want stuff getting out early. I don’t know if that early report of more money hurt the M’s in some way, but it could be a contributing factor to the delay in announcement.
Or there could actually be no negotiated contract yet.
Whenever I read about these kind of signings, I think back to a 2006 Seattle Times feature story on then-19-year-old Felix Hernandez: “The excited calls from Venezuela began five years ago.”
I believe the reduced bonus to Martin Esteilon Peguero was a result of a medical issue that had not been disclosed. His original $2.9MM bonus was reduced to something over $1MM, I don’t recall the exact amount.