The man with the mighty mellifluous name, AROZARENA, has torn into the MLB post season with a vengeance.
Here is a guy who had less than 100 MLB career regular season at bats, and in his first 59 at bats in the post season, he hits .356 with 3 doubles and SEVEN HRs. That's after SEVEN HRs in 65 regular season at bats in 2020.
Joyful Tampa Rays fans are doing the Macarena that Randy arose at the right time.
Is he a fluke? Nope.
The Cards signed the Cuban for $1.25 million in 2016, he started minor league play in 2017, had quite a terrific year mostly in AA and AAA and a bit with the Cards in 2019, and then got traded to the Rays. Then exploded.
He looks like one heckuva player.
I have no idea if the Mets could have signed him instead of the Cards.
The year prior to the AROZARENA signing, the Mets signed Greg Guerrero for $1.5 million - and of course his career so far is a dud.
They also signed a guy name Gimenez for $1.2 million - maybe you heard of him. Pretty good.
But in 2016, the year of AROZARENA, they eschewed the big, bold signing approach and went retail. They signed several guys, that I will outline below.
SS Sebastian Espino ($300K) - He played in 2019 in Kingsport at age 19 and did pretty well (.251). Time will tell how good he is.
3B Jose Peroza ($280K) - he hit very well in the GCL in 2019, got promoted to Brooklyn, and found it much tougher, but he was younger than Brett Baty at the time, and will start next spring still as a 20 year old. Maybe he will be a good one - far too early to tell. Speed is not his game.
OF Ezequiel Pena ($200K) - he hit .121 over 3 seasons of limited duty in the DSL and is gone.
INF Luis Santana ($200K) - he was traded to Houston in the JD Davis deal and shockingly got to go straight from mid level rookie ball in 2018 to AA for 18 games, where he hit .228, until the NY Penn League opened up and he was then sent down there. Maybe this 5'8" guy will be pretty good. He is Houston's # 19 prospect.
1B Wilmy Valdez ($180K) - he crapped out in the DSL.
OF Jean Carlos Soto ($150K) - wrong Soto, said Juan. JC crapped out in the DSL, too.
OK, all of the above cost the Mets a little more than the Cards paid AROZARENA, which leads to the question:
If they could have signed AROZARENA or all those guys, what would you have done?
Me? I would have signed the guy with the mellifluous name instead. Just to be able to have the P.A. announcer say AH-ROW-ZA-RAY-NA!!!!
Continuing on, who else did they spend moderate bucks on in the YEAR OF AROZARENA?
C Wilfed Astudillo ($150K) - decent hitter at age 19 in Kingsport. Maybe a future back up catcher?
C Alexis Marquez ($135K) - a familiar refrain - he crapped out in the DSL, too.
C Alejandro Medina ($115K) - yep, he crapped out in the DSL, too.
P Michel Otanez ($35K) - had a good 2019 in rookie ball, and seemingly could have promise.
P Daison Acosta ($70K) - he had a good year too, including at Columbia, and we'll see where he goes in 2021 as a 22 year old.
So, I am not professing to know why the Cards and not the Mets signed AROZARENA, but I would rather have signed AROZARENA than all those guys above Astudillo, because it is all about signing guys who might one day be future major league stars. Anything else, well, is just wallpaper.
Message to Mr. Cohen:
In International signings, go big - or don't bother.
9 comments:
One question you didn't ask, so I will:
If the Mets had signed him, then traded him to the Rays with the same result, would Mets fans feel better? 😖
The Mets signed Greg Guerrero for more money than Arozarena and Greg did not pan out. Is it a crap shoot to figure out which prospect at 14 or 15 years old is going to work out. The Mets have signed many international stars for big money that did not work out. I am not sure which strategy is better. This year they seem to have the strategy of buying several medium players instead of anyone fir big bucks. I think it may be too late for Cohen to change that for this year. But I hope we have a better strategy going forward. Having good scouts I think is important. The international market is a big market for the better teams, like the Yankees.
I guess this just goes to show that the international signings are just a crapshoot .. some guys shoot up, some crap out.
Bill maybe if they did trade him they would of gotten something back in return still worth more than those other guys? Liberatore is the pitcher they received back in the trade and also got rid of Martinez’s contract as well. So only time will tell who won that trade. I would gladly take Lib or Aroz over anyone else signed that period.
Yes please sign a top 5 international player every so often.
Raw, I would yet not say that Guerrero won't pan out, but he sure has stunk so far. And you are most likely right.
I think the Mets hoped the DNA would be worth the gamble. A bad one so far.
Arozarena was different - he was older and as an ex-Cuban already had professional quality playing experience elsewhere. It was clear he had viable big league potential.
I think that you spend big on a stud if at all possible - the likelihood of snatching a future star goes up. Like buying what looks like a sure fire top end first rounder. That said, it is a crap shoot. Recently the Mets have done well with very high draft picks, but their history is strewn with many first round busts.
The Yankees just drafted Jasson Dominguez for $5 million at age 16. He is extremely highly thought of. If he goes bust, you wasted $5 million. If he becomes the next Mickey Mantle, a very cheap and wise investment. You win with super-elite players, so I'd go for them. The Mets have basically had Flores, Rosario and Gimenez so far - none are elite level. That's just my take.
In the recent drafts, Brodie gambled on his ability to sign superior talent and he was successful. Maybe we'll get a few starts out of those. Some dope in the past, on the other hand, drafted Cecchini 12th overall. I am all for gambling on extreme talent - if it flops, you at least tried.
Another day were I've been very impressed with another word from our amazing writers "Mellifuous" way to go Tom. Now on to Arozarena who I think we all believe wouldn't have ended up on our team if he'd been given first class airline tickets and been driven to Citi-field in a limo. As far as the PA announcer calling out his name it reminds me of playing the Expos in 69' and hearing John Bocc-a-Bell-a or Co-co La-boy from their PA announcer yes the very old days when players used to have off season jobs imagine that.
Guys the Yankees don't worry about deals gone wrong they just say "next" as it doesn't cripple them the way it does us. I just hope Steve will copy the most successful organizations we all know well and get us the next Soto, Acuna or Jimenez and build a solid foundation and stop spending foolishly. I often wonder if Wright wasn't signed to that contract which we all know had to cause major cutbacks in other areas how we'd look now. Then again with Jeffy running the show probably not much better.
Gary, thanks.
You might be right, but I disagree, as Cespedes was a Cuban star for the Mets, maybe he could have helped get him here.
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