The Red Sox spent a ton of money on the international market since the signing period began last July. In fact, they invested $135.5 million in two Cuban players. Was it the right move?
By looking at some of the Boston Red Sox recent international signings, one would think they're crazy for spending that much money on two foreign players. Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe actually provided a concise list for the fans, which is displayed in the table below.
Player | Position | Signing Bonus | Year |
Jose Vinicio | SS | $1.95 million | 2009 |
Adalberto Ibarra | C | $750,000 | 2010 |
Juan Carlos Linares | OF | $750,000 | 2010 |
Tzu-Wei Lin | SS | $2 million | 2012 |
Dalier Hinojosa | P | $4 million | 2013 |
You probably haven't heard of these players, and that's because they haven't reached the majors or are no longer playing baseball. That's nearly $10 million down the drain. As for the most recent signings, Lin is not considered a prospect and Hinojosa isn't projected to be more than a middle reliever if he reaches the MLB. They also gave Cuban SS Jose Iglesias a $6.25 million bonus in 2009, and he played in only 98 games with Boston.
The first three signings came under former general manager Theo Epstein while the latter two came under current GM Ben Cherington.
Cherington was the instrumental figure in bringing in the team's latest two acquisitions, Yoan Moncada and Rusney Castillo. The 19 year-old Moncada was signed in February and received a $31.5 million bonus (for which the Red Sox had to pay a 100% tax on) while Castillo, 27, inked a seven-year, $72.5 million deal last August.
"We know what we're getting into," Cherington told Abraham. "I feel good about the process and the analysis that we've done. It's part of a bigger strategy. We understand that not everything we do is going to work out. But we feel good about the process and why we're doing it."
The 40-year-old GM also signed third baseman Rafael Devers (Dominican Republic) for $1.5 million in 2013 as well as right-handers Christopher Acosta (Dominican Republic) for $1.5 million and Anderson Espinoza (Venezuela) for $1.8 million in 2014. So there's still time to see if Cherington's process and strategy is working.
Not many would argue with their signing of Moncada. The 19-year-old has been praised by scouts all over the MLB and at one point 11 teams were vying for his services. However, many dropped out because his price tag became too high given he was subjected to the international bonus pools. Although they spent $63 million to acquire him, the investment is viewed as a prudent one because of Moncada's ability to hit for power on both sides of the plate as well as play a number of different positions.
As for Castillo, he's much older, but he's proven his worth in Cuba's Serie Nacional. He played 360 games over the course of five seasons before defecting and batted .319/.383/.516 with 256 runs scored, 51 home runs and 226 RBIs. He was viewed as Cuba's top outfielder at the time of his defection and a number of other MLB teams, including the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants, were hoping to land him.
These significant recent signings could begin to right the ship for Boston's activity on the international market. Only time will tell.
