International intrigue
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- July
- 2
The international signing period starts today. This is essentially for Latin American players who are 16 (or will turn 16) between now and the end of August.
This one of the more shadowy and corrupt parts of baseball. Local freelance scouts market players to teams in return for under-the-table payments. Players routinely lie about their age and background. Supposed stars turn out to be stiffs and kids who get a few thousand dollars and a uniform turn into franchise players.
Trying to project what a 16-year-old will be like as an athlete when he’s 21 is close to impossible, particularly for a pitcher. Some Yankee fans are upset that the organization lost 6-foot-7 right-hander Michael Inoa to Oakland. He is said to be the prize of the current class. It seems the Yankees were upset too.
This was published on Baseball America.com:
Abel Guerra, the Yankees’ vice president of international operations, was involved in the club’s efforts to sign Inoa until May, and a Yankees official confirmed Tuesday that he no longer works for the organization.
Interesting. The Yankees are unlikely to explain why he no longer has his job but clearly something was amiss. At some point today, we’re hoping the Yankees will release the names of the players they signed and we’ll try and forward you as much information as we can.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 2:17 am by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
Shortstop Anderson Félix signs ($500,000 with the New York Yankees)
That’s what has been released so far.
wow, guy got fired haha
Horne was able to avoid the disabled list. General Manager Brian Cashman said Horne was not sent for tests. “He’s just got a tired arm,†Cashman said.
PHEW …
please sign barry bonds. this offense is terrible…
Pete,
I hope you and your collegues press Cashman as to why a Yankee vice president is no longer employed by the Yankees during this crucial time of the year. The Yankees owe us an explanation as to why an important executive has left the organization.
They do? I wasn’t aware the organization owed anyone other than the man himself an explanation.
I’d like to know officially, but I’m not sure I am owed anything
They owe me an explanation as a fan of their team that spends a great deal of money on their product. No different when a manager or gm leaves the team.
Here’s the explanation. Early reports were the Yanks had a deal with the kid, then he hired another agent and the Yankee VP backed out on principle, that he was lied to. The A’s swooped in and signed the kid for almost 2 million more than the Yanks were offering.
I’m all for having ethics in business, but the reality is that there’s no excuse for letting something like that make you stop negotiating with a high ceiling prospect. If he turns into another King Felix, no one will remember or care about the stand on principle a low level Yankee VP made.
Though they haven’t been offically announced yet, the Yanks also have supposedly signed shortstop Giancarlo Arias and powerhitting outfielder Yeico Calderón.
The Yankees are a private company. They don’t owe you any explanation as to why they fired an employee.
They also have laws to follow regarding what they can say about a fired employee.
You don’t like how they do business, don’t buy their product. Its really that simple.
As far as how they handle employees, that’s not the fans (or anybody’s) domain.
Nobody said he was fired. It said he is no longer with the organization.
Guerra was too busy trying to get Rudy G elected president.
i keep reading that, but wasn’t Rudy long out of the race by May?
Guerra was involved in his campaign from the get go when he should have been doing his job. He should have spent more time ensuring that $2.7 million was enough. Guerra and Rangers owner Tom Hicks were two of his Rudy’s biggest bundlers.
SJ44,
Okay the use of “owe” is the wrong word, but Pete and his collegues still need to tracked down this story becuase it’s news for baseball fans especially if Guera was fired over not getting Inoa or even if it was something else. He also might have left on his own due to philosophical differences or a better offer from another team which is still Yankee news for us fans.
well i guess theres 2 jobs he couldn’t do, then…
A google search of Abel Guerra and Tampa comes up with all of his political activity and other crap. Where is his stable of IFA signees? It’s apparent he couldn’t cut it. Bring in a real baseball guy. How about Tony Pena:)
I wonder if this has anything to do with the scandal in the White Sox/Latin American operations.
Whether Guerra screwed up or not, it’s yet another indictment of a Brian Cashman run team.
The guy can’t multi-task and handle all facets of the job.
He’s terrible with trades unless they are one sided money dumps.
He has no idea what he’s doing with free agent pitchers.
He finally builds up the system, has it at an all time hype high this past off season and doesn’t use any of the 200 RH pitching prospects we have to deal for something the club needs now.
Then what does he do? Drafts another right handed pitching prospect in the first round which again shows why Horne, IPK, Marquez, etc were expendable this past off season.
This Guerra guy probably screwed something up, but if it was a big enough gaffe to get canned like he did, Cashman should have been on a plane to fix this situation.
I think he’s too busy massaging Hughes ribs and IPK’s ego to do that.
I just found out from another site that Guera quit on his own and wanted to try somthing else.
“Brian Cashman was at the Yankees complex in the Dominican Republic a few months ago to see players work out. Damon Oppenheimer is not largely involved in this aspect of scouting. The Yankees rely on Abel Guerra and Alex Cotto to run international scouting operations.”
Pete, you posted this back on June 12th which was apparently more than a month after MR. Guerra apparently left the Yankees.
Would you mind checking with the Yankees on the whether Mr. Guerra resigned amicably in May or if there was some other circumstance that led to his separation from the organization.
Let’s see. A newspaper professional has just reported that Guerra was fired, which turns out to be totally false. I suppose corroboration is not necessary on a blog?! Look at all the negativity already generated by that comment,........and then look in the mirror.
Bob,
The Yankees never stated he was fired just that he left the organization. Did Pete make the jump like the rest of us and assume this gentlemen was fired over the Inoa not being signed? Don’t know, but I hope Pete trys to find out for us.
You should have put (the crusade) next to your name. Not (the cliche).