Inoa and Perez would be a great LHP-RHP tandem to watch on the farm

uber-beastly prospect signed JD (and Hicks).

SANTIAGO, D.R.–Normally at workouts or ’showcases’ in the Dominican Republic, three or four scouts sit in the stands and watch.

But Luis Polonia, who has run an academy in the D.R. for the last seven years that has produced 27 signees, teamed up with Born To Play Sports to have an event to coincide with the Caribbean Series. More scouts and front-office personnel were in town than usual, and the workout itself had a feel to what one is like in the States.

And even though there were 25-30 players present, most scouts were there to see 16-year-old righthander Micheal Inoa, who is expected to be one of the top players when the international signing period begins on July 2.

Inoa, a 6-foot-7, 200-pound righty, creates easy velocity through relatively sound mechanics. At the workout, Inoa consistently sat at 91-92 mph with his fastball, topping out at 94. He also throws a softer breaking ball which was inconsistent at times, and will also show a splitter. Inoa turns 17 in September.

In the two innings he worked, just one hitter made contact, and that was a popup to the shortstop.

“Everything’s really easy and the fastball has good life,” said one international scouting director. “For as big as he is, you’d expect him not to be able to repeat as well as he does. But he stays within himself and once he grows more into that frame, you’ll see that velocity start to climb . . . and that’s a scary thing.”

That would just about be the best news of the year, prospect-wise.

And considering all the good stories we’ve had this year (Smoak, Feliz, Max, CD, Martin Perez, ect.) that’s saying something.

But we don’t tend to be in on the true whales down south of the border, so I’ll believe it when I see it.

thanx JD, i know you are secretly a member of LSB and reading this. Go blow 10M on the LA market and knock those East Coast Richies on their rear ends. Build the best collection of talent of any farm system on earth and let it develop from the bottom up. We can dominate this league for a decade if the chips fall right and you guys are willing to pony up the cash.

while your at it, get us a VSL league team or 2 that would freak out some NY teams.

Much like Neftali Feliz, he’s the type of guy who could actually entice someone into choosing Texas as the destination for the quality veteran pitcher they’re trading. So even if you aren’t wild about the monetary risk, it is entirely possible that you could get a return on you investment within 2-3 years, because of his ability. The Mets, for example, couldn’t have pulled off the Santana deal the way that they did without a Guerra. Beckett took Hanley, but also Anibal Sanchez, who was a hot shot at the time before getting hurt. Pedro took Pavano, a top ten caliber prospect, Bedard took Tillman, etc., etc.

3 mil for guys like Broussard or throw 5 mil at a kid like this.

Huh, I wonder what the better deal would be?

Do it.

If we don’t bring a gun to that knife fight, Hicks is deader to me.

Deader!

If I am the Rangers I do not get outbid by anyone on this kid, and even more so since Oakland is in on this kid.

agrees

How tall could this kid wind up being if he is already 6’7” at age 16.

I was 5’9” when I was 15 but stopped growing…so I don’t know how the growth pattern tends to work with someone as big as he is. Could this kid conceivably be a 6’8”-6’10” guy by the time he is 19-20?

I am all for money whipping the kid too. As much success as they have had in the lower dollar range, I would love to see what they do with a kid who is in the high dollar range this kid is in.

Hopefully they sign him.

OT: King Felix just hit a Salami off of the Great Santana.

Make this happen., just for the sake of Angry A’s fans cursing us for the next decade. Smoak, then Inoa within a month of each other.

King Felix hits a grand slam against Johan Santana, then is taken out hard at the plate while covering a throw.

If the rangers sign him it’s freaking Christmas in July!

I don’t want to hear that they almost signed him, or were 100k apart… get it done

a) martinez – 3 mil
b) inoa – 4.75 mil
c) armstrong – 2 mil
d) ross – 2.75 mil

are those numbers in the ballpark?

the A’s are close to signing Inoa: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/international-affairs/2008/266380.html

I don’t know if Ben Badler is more or less informed than Enrique Rojas.

What is the reason behind having international players up for grabs to the highest bidder when they are 16 and American kids have to go through the draft after they finish high school?

sort of echoes the report that started this thread:

Matt (Boston): What’s the latest news on Michael Inoa? I heard somewhere Oakland offered him $4.5 mil, but I could be wrong. Jim Callis: (2:06 PM ET ) Ben Badler, who’s all over the international scene for us, says Inoa could command more than $4 million to sign, blowing away the record for a Latin American bonus (not counting Cubans). The A’s appear to be the front-runner, though the Reds and Rangers are also in the hunt. He can’t sign until July 2. And no, I haven’t heard anything recently about Edward Salcedo.