The Crane Pool Forum

Elian Pena, a 17 y/o SS from the Dominican Republic.

His name had been mentioned in some of the discussion over Rori Roki Sasaki.
Sasaki's bonus had to come out of each team's Int'l Bonus pool money and the Mets were already said to have committed a bulk of it ($5mil of the total $6.2) towards Pena.
This may have been part of the reason for Sasaki saying 'Sayonara' to the Mets, but his agent had stressed to Sasaki that his money was going to be made over the long term so the difference in up front signing bonus was going to represent chump change in the long wrong ... so probably not.

This kid is extremely highly regarded. I'm eager to see how quickly he moves through the Mets system, and what position he'll settle in at. The Mets appear set at shortstop for the next seven years, but few things are set in stone.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: ↑Wed Jan 15, 2025 12:33 pm This kid is extremely highly regarded. I'm eager to see how quickly he moves through the Mets system, and what position he'll settle in at. The Mets appear set at shortstop for the next seven years, but few things are set in stone.

From what I read he has the body type that will continue to grow, and the report said the scouts were already talking about him moving to another position.

Later

Those scouts sound like the scouts sitting around in Moneyball.... 😂


Probably has good hands, moves his feet well , room to grow , coachable, nice look about him

So, they spent $5 million on him.
That leaves $1.2 million.
Who else did they sign?

Later

Committing this much to a top guy is a departure from prior regimes where the preference was to spread it around more lower ranked guys. The thinking was that these guys are so young it's basically a crap shoot. We'll see what works.

It's too early to tell on the recent signings, so let's look at the top ranked guys from 5 years +.

2019
1. Yoelqui Cespedes
2. Jasson Dominguez
3. Robert Puason

2018
1. Victor Mesa
2. Yennier Cano
3. Diego Cartaya

2017
1. Shohei Ohtani
2. Wander Franco
3. JP Martinez

2016
1. Luis Robert Jr.
2. Kevin Maitan
3. Adrian Morejon

2015
1. Yadier Alvarez
2. Vladimir Gutierrez
3. Yusniel Diaz

Not counting Ohtani, we have 14 players. 1 of them (Franco) ended up as a star player before running into off-field issues. Luis Robert is a major leaguer coming off a down season, but could still be a star. Jasson Dominguez is still highly rated and should get a chance to play this year. Other than that, there's a lot of disappointment on that board.

In other words, I'm glad we signed him, but he's by no means a lock.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: ↑Wed Jan 15, 2025 12:33 pm I'm eager to see how quickly he moves through the Mets system, and what position he'll settle in at. The Mets appear set at shortstop for the next seven years, but few things are set in stone.

Yeah, apart from pitcher, the position amateurs sign as most frequently is shortstop. Almost nobody gets signed as a leftfielder. Just a bunch of shorties, catchers, and centerfielders, and from teen years onward, they drift rightward on the defensive spectrum.

The current Met infield includes three guys who started their professional careers as shortstops and a firstbaseman who started his college career as a thirdbaseman.

All-Time Team o' Mets Converted from Shortstop as Pros

　　 p: Mike Marshall (and of course Jacob deGrom and Ron Darling were collegiate shortstops before converting)
　　 c: Robinson Chirinos
　　1b: Wilmer Flores
　　2b: Jefe McNeil
　　3b: Edgardo Alfonzo
　　ss: José Reyes
　　lf: Hubie Brooks
　　cf: Juan Lagares
　　rf: umm ... Shawon Dunston

It can be fun to see where the drift starts ... or doesn't. Wilmer Flores surprised everybody by making it all the way to the big leagues as a shortstop. It wasn't that he ever excelled there, but as he climbed the ladder, he never found himself on the field with a prospect with the juice to push him off the position. And then he made it to the bigs and there wasn't much competition there, either.

The Mets somehow actually played an entire World Series with Wilmer Flores as their shortstop.

2015 was a particularly interesting year in the international pool.

The Mets signed Andres Gimenez. He was the 19th ranked prospect that year. That class featured:

#7. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
#25. Juan Soto
#30. Fernando Tatis Jr.


https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/2015/international/

Dunno if it closed any deals, but Juan Soto was at the Mets Dominican complex the last day or two meeting with some of the players they signed today.

Also notable that, among today's international additions, the Mets signed a guy named "Roni" and a guy named "Darling."

Proof of the Roni Darling

Mets don't sign many guys from Panama

Seeing names like Jhoanel, Yorber, Yobanny, Aiberson, Kleber, and Giomar makes me wonder if those two guys named Jose got teased for having a weird first name.

I tend to associate the JH construction with Venezuelans, but apparently Dominicans (like Jhonny Peralta!) rock it too.