Diamondbacks scouts keeping watch on Cuban defector

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“Baseball is drama with an endless run and an ever-changing cast.”
― Joe Garagiola

Isn't that the job of the FBI, or Homeland Security?

We'll probably be outbid for him...

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Meet the new FO... Same as the old FO. The bag may be permanent.

At this point I'm pretty much convinced that any player that is really any good we would get outbid on. The only players we would win a bid on would be players that are going to end up being disappointments anyway.

FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reports that the Diamondbacks are among the teams "pushing hardest" for Cuban free agent Yasmany Tomas.

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Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it.

MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez reports that the Diamondbacks have signed Cuban outfielder Yasmany Tomas to a six-year contract worth $68.5 million.

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Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it.

This deal pleases me. Now double down on the Cuban connection and get Moncada.

Biggest contract in team history goes to a guy who has never played at the MLB level. This is likely a steal or an albatross. Hopefully the former. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Also, can we please deal Trumbo now?

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Greinke good, uniforms bad.

I found this interesting

While Kiley was attempting to compare and contrast the recent Cuban free agents for market valuation reasons, his projected peak line is almost a dead ringer for what Justin Upton has done in the big league

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/dbacks-l ... any-tomas/

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Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it.

That's a gamble I can get behind. Now trade Trumbo.

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"Tomorrow is not promised to any of us." - Kirby Puckett

A move that didn't leave me with vomit in my mouth. Didn't know that was possible!

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Also, it's nice to see the Dbacks sign players on the right side of 30 for once.

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Greinke good, uniforms bad.

Just woke up from a nap, this was the first thing I saw when I opened up FB

Did not expect this at all.

I knew it was being talked about, but I thought it would end up like Tanaka where they would try to sign him, but it was never realistic and he would wind up going somewhere else.

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Kevin Towers, not smarter than the so called experts

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/dbacks-land-yasmany-tomas/

"While Kiley was attempting to compare and contrast the recent Cuban free agents for market valuation reasons, his projected peak line is almost a dead ringer for what Justin Upton has done in the big leagues, as I noted last week. Kiley’s guess of a .275/.350/.480 would equal out to about a 130 wRC+ in a neutral park, so even if he’s a minor defensive liability, that line would still make Tomas an above average player, probably in the +3 WAR range."

I like the sound of that comparison

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Kevin Towers, not smarter than the so called experts

According to Richard Justice, Tomas has a "terrible time with curve balls". He hasn't even seem MLB breaking stuff yet.

Great. So, how likely is it that Yasmani Tomas is Cuba's version of Eric Byrnes?

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Meet the new FO... Same as the old FO. The bag may be permanent.

NANANANANANANANA CAN'T HEAR YOU NANANANANANNAANA *sigh*

The scouting reports I read over at the Pitt had one Red Flag for me: Has never played more than 69 games in a season in Cuba.

(Their season is only like 80-90 games I think)

I really don't know enough about him, never seen him of course, just read the same things everyone else has. Between this and the Hellickson deal, it's very clear to me they are "going for it". It will be interesting to see what else they do. They clearly are not done yet. This is a "big splash" off season for the new crew, and they were playing possum with all the wait a couple years comments.

EDIT:

From the FG article



Would like to see how this is loaded. Not crazy about the Opt Out after just 4 years.

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Good depth often has to come from within, in the form of younger talent. Depth is hard to build overnight, but it’s easy to deplete. Jeff Sullivan

Video Highlights

His swing actually reminds me a little bit of Piazza

Tomas awful big and chunky though. (dare I say fat). Will be interesting to see how the defense plays. No doubt he has light tower power. So did this guy and of course so does trumbo. Hopefully there is enough contact and OBP to go with the Power. We'll do well to break even on the defense.

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Good depth often has to come from within, in the form of younger talent. Depth is hard to build overnight, but it’s easy to deplete. Jeff Sullivan

So we signed this guy…

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What can we say about the Diamondbacks Franchise that hasn't already been said about Afghanistan?

For me, I am glad we signed one of these type guys. Now we see if our scouting department is worth a hoot.

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"Having data available to you is great but using it is even better.”--Craig Breslow