Jorge Soler, an outfielder from the Cuban national team is one of three players from Cuba receiving attention for the upcoming MLB season. He has been slightly shadowed due to the huge hype around newly signed A's outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. But the weird thing about that is, " (He) profiles as a corner guy, long term. He has the same sorts of tools as Cespedes. He’s much younger too: 19." (http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/14/jorge-soler-expected-to-sign-with-the-cubs/)
Also surprising is his contract which is looking like it will be much cheaper than Cespedes; 27.5 million for four years compared to the 36 million the As are paying Cespedes.
This was especially interesting to me after reading "Money Ball"; I am confused as to why Billy Beane would go for Cespedes over Soler, with his famous frugal ways in choosing ball players. Although in the novel Beane does say that the players age is severely misconceived as being more important than it should be. Also another radical decision is the As starting Cespedes straight away in the majors, just as he did in the novel. Whatever the case, what I am most interested in is why exactly Beane thinks Cespedes is a better option than Soler and an extra 2.5 million a year.
Since in class we've discussed just how much a win is worth to a team, how many wins would 2.5 million cost? And how many more wins will Cespedes give to the As over Soler? These are questions that I'm sure Beane figured out mathematically in order to make his decision, well "Money Ball" would have us believe he did at least.
There is rumor that Billy Beane is simply giving Cespedes the platform to show his talents in the MLB and then try and sell him off. Buy low (or lower) and sell high. Although this kind of buy does seem a bit unconvential for Billy Beane.
ReplyDeleteI think that the issue with Soler, in addition to the speculation that Nathan mentions, is that he is more like a high school player. He may be cheaper, and his ceiling higher, but he is less a sure thing that Cespedes, yes? Cespedes is more like the college player that BB used to like: more likely to actually do something in MLB, even if he does not have the potential Soler has.
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