Bob Dutton Reports Royals Close to Signing Noel Arguelles

This is like having another draft pick with a high upside LHP. For the money, it’s worth the gamble.

Per Passan

I would imagine the Royals are relying on Brayan Pena for a little inside info into his age

I am glad to see us making some substantial investment in the International side of the business.

link http://vimeo.com/7208109

Somewhere between 11 and 19 right?

though I, too, bet he’s older than he claims. Still, who’s going to check the records in Castro’s Cuba? Low-risk, high-upside gamble.

Note on Cuba: In 1959, Cuba had the third-highest GDP per capita in the Americas, about the same as Italy and well above Spain. It also had the third-highest statistics for key quality-of-life factors like literacy and infant mortality. In 1959, eight thousand Italians immigrated to Cuba in search of opportunity. In 1959, Cuba had a crumbling military “dictablanda” that was mostly interested in cadging the occasional bribe rather than putting folks in the gulag.

Castro didn’t overthrow some evil absolutist regime because the people were burning with revolutionary fervor. He got a few thousand guns and a few thousand idealists and they took Havana with barely a shot and tossed out a corrupt bum who had no support at all (Eisenhower had cut off military supplies to the Batista government in ‘58.) Then Che Guevara started the people’s tribunals, and we all know what that led to.

So I would sign as many Cuban defectors as possible, since they know where we can send them back to if they play lousy.

you have to love this move. This is like getting an extra high end draft pick. For less or equal what it would cost in the draft. LOVE this move, and the fact he chose us over others. A million a year with a bunch of club option years….no brainer.

I have heard this guy throws 100+ mph and has plain nasty stuff! The downside is that he is wild. He will need a season in the minors and we could see him after the break if all goes well. This is a great move for the Royals since we need a left handed starting pitcher. Can you imagine the Royals with Greinke, Meche, Arguelles, Hochevar & Bannister? That rotation can compete with anyone else in the majors if Arguelles can tame the wildness.

“There is a shortage of catching. And it is driving the market for the catchers on the open market. Miguel Olivo has found strong interest from San Francisco, Seattle and Colorado.”

I realize there is no way to verify this guy’s age – but I wonder if it is standard practice to put a provision in these contracts that would reduce the pay an appropriate amount if it is later discovered that the player was lying about his age?

If it’s not standard practice, it damn sure should be. With all the terrorism in the world, you would think ALL countries would be doing a better job of identifying their citizens, which should include accurate birth records.

Sorry if that comes across as a naive, ugly American take on the whole thing. Chalk it up to the Angel Berroa fiasco. Not only did he turn out to be bad, but after Baird signed him to a long-term deal, THEN we found out he was really 2 years older. I adamantly think the Royals should have had the right to void the deal when that came out.