The Morning Report – November 5 – Andy Ibanez, Kwang-Hyun Kim, 2015 Outfield, QO

There is a new Cuban that has defected… 21-year old 2B Andy Ibanez is on the way to America. 5-10, 183-LB, .267/.377/.435, 280-PA for Series and won a Gold Glove in his 2011-21 rookie year. He’s projected to start a professional career either at the A+ or AA level.

From Baseball America:

At 5-foot-10, 183 pounds, Ibanez doesn’t have one standout tool but he’s an athletic player who won a Gold Glove during his rookie year in 2011-12 and has posted solid offensive numbers given his age, including a .267/.377/.435 line with more walks (33) than strikeouts (28) in 280 plate appearances this past season for Isla De La Juventud. Given his current talent level, Ibanez, who turns 22 in April, would likely start his career either in high Class A or Double-A.

Ibanez has played only three seasons so he doesn’t qualify for unrestricted free agency.

26-year old Korean LHP Kwang-Hyun Kim is being posted by his KBO team. From the Korean Baseball Organization:

For years, Kim was one of the best pitchers in Korea, consistently posting elite numbers until (reportedly) injury issues derailed him from 2011 to 2013. He bounced back in a big way in 2014, when, despite the extreme offensive explosion in the KBO, Kim posted a 3.39 ERA. His peripherals, however, nearly matched his career marks, and they’re not overly compelling. For example, Kim sports a career 7.6 K/9 and an ugly 4.1 BB/9 – those numbers would undoubtedly worsen in MLB, and it’s virtually impossible to succeed in the big leagues with a K/9 under seven and a BB/9 well over four.

I have a question for those of you that leave comments.

We know ‘Plan A’ for the outfield… sign someone for one-year (good luck with that) to play left field until Brandon Nimmo can be slotted in on opening day 2016.

‘Plan B’ would be to spend nothing, give the job to Matt den Dekker (and some platoon buddy) in 2015.

‘Plan C’ would be to trade one of the excess pitchers to Boston for bad-boy Yoenis Cespedes.

And lastly, ‘Plan D’ would be to sign a 2-year deal with Michael Morse, slow down the progress of Nimmo until either an injury develops in Queens or opening day 2017.

Your thoughts please.

Beisbol’s Org (http://beisbols.org/2014/10/31/2014-2015-qualifying-offer-primer/) on qualified offers:

A qualifying offer is a one-year deal that a team can extend to a player on the club entering free agency. Some might view it as similar to the franchise tag in the National Football League, but with a draft pick attached. This one-year deal is an offer the team can make the player, regardless of skill level, to which the player can accept or decline. This year’s qualifying offer will sit at $15.3 million, an average of the top 125 salaries in baseball, so it is natural to assume this figure will continue to escalate, as it has in the past. By signing a player who rejected the qualifying offer, the new team signing the player must give up a top draft pick to the former team of the player. For example, if the Detroit Tigers lost Max Scherzer to the New York Yankees, the Yankees would have to give up their top draft pick in the 2015 MLB Draft, which would be the nineteenth pick overall. There are exceptions when it comes to draft picks. Teams with a top ten draft pick are protected from losing said pick, instead losing their next non-top ten overall pick in the very same draft. This qualifying offer situation has become a bit of a hindrance for players, as teams are reluctant to sign free agents because they value their draft picks so highly, which creates less of a free market battle for the player. This may force a team to sign a free agent after the draft, in which case they would lose no draft pick (i.e. Kendrys Morales in 2014) or alter the market in general (i.e. Ervin Santana a year ago). In order to receive a qualifying offer, the player must be on the team for the entire year, so this disqualifies traded players from being able to receive the offer.