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Post by iakovos11 on Jan 30, 2023 11:58:30 GMT -5
Someone needs to find out if those figures are legit... Are we sure this isn't a Patriots signing?
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Post by manfred on Jan 30, 2023 13:05:20 GMT -5
Don’t tell me pitchers aren’t athletes.
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Post by ixnayexxus on Jan 30, 2023 13:40:21 GMT -5
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Post by incandenza on Jan 30, 2023 13:48:19 GMT -5
How did baseball come to Uganda? I'm intrigued!
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Post by ixnayexxus on Jan 30, 2023 14:04:42 GMT -5
How did baseball come to Uganda? I'm intrigued! That's a tough question to answer outright, but the sport was introduced in the 90's and they first started gaining traction with their Little League teams that made it to the world series on four different occasions as Europe-Africa region champions (though they only made it to the LLWS twice out of those four years due to monetary problems and issues with birth certificates as most of the players were orphans). Japanese baseball has actually been very hands on with Uganda baseball development in recent years and even the Dodgers decided to open up an academy in the country a few years ago, which is where their two signings came from. Also worth noting that 2 Ugandans have signed to play college ball in the US in the past few years, and another is currently in Japan training under the NPB. This year saw the introduction of inaugural African qualifiers for World Cup tournaments at the U18 and U12 age levels, both of which Uganda won; this will in turn push their world ranking up several spots and open the door for them to compete in more international tournaments in the coming years. Baseball in Uganda has been taking significant steps forward this past decade, and the fruits of their labor are finally coming to fruition.
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Post by incandenza on Jan 30, 2023 14:42:21 GMT -5
How did baseball come to Uganda? I'm intrigued! That's a tough question to answer outright, but the sport was introduced in the 90's and they first started gaining traction with their Little League teams that made it to the world series on four different occasions as Europe-Africa region champions (though they only made it to the LLWS twice out of those four years due to monetary problems and issues with birth certificates as most of the players were orphans). Japanese baseball has actually been very hands on with Uganda baseball development in recent years and even the Dodgers decided to open up an academy in the country a few years ago, which is where their two signings came from. Also worth noting that 2 Ugandans have signed to play college ball in the US in the past few years, and another is currently in Japan training under the NPB. This year saw the introduction of inaugural African qualifiers for World Cup tournaments at the U18 and U12 age levels, both of which Uganda won; this will in turn push their world ranking up several spots and open the door for them to compete in more international tournaments in the coming years. Baseball in Uganda has been taking significant steps forward this past decade, and the fruits of their labor are finally coming to fruition. Interesting stuff! Though it still kind of begs the question: how was it introduced in the 90s? Why Uganda, of all places?
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Post by ixnayexxus on Jan 30, 2023 14:54:53 GMT -5
That's a tough question to answer outright, but the sport was introduced in the 90's and they first started gaining traction with their Little League teams that made it to the world series on four different occasions as Europe-Africa region champions (though they only made it to the LLWS twice out of those four years due to monetary problems and issues with birth certificates as most of the players were orphans). Japanese baseball has actually been very hands on with Uganda baseball development in recent years and even the Dodgers decided to open up an academy in the country a few years ago, which is where their two signings came from. Also worth noting that 2 Ugandans have signed to play college ball in the US in the past few years, and another is currently in Japan training under the NPB. This year saw the introduction of inaugural African qualifiers for World Cup tournaments at the U18 and U12 age levels, both of which Uganda won; this will in turn push their world ranking up several spots and open the door for them to compete in more international tournaments in the coming years. Baseball in Uganda has been taking significant steps forward this past decade, and the fruits of their labor are finally coming to fruition. Interesting stuff! Though it still kind of begs the question: how was it introduced in the 90s? Why Uganda, of all places? Here's an article from 2015 that kind of goes into it: www.mprnews.org/story/2015/08/19/npr-uganda-baseballLong story short, Richard Stanley, who was the part owner of a minor league baseball team, just happened to be in Uganda for charity work and was asked to help with youth sports in the country. It more or less snowballed from there. Uganda's recent successes have been having some ripple effects on other African countries' baseball programs as well, though sadly monetary issues continue to plague them; Japanese baseball has been lending a hand though, even started up Koshien tournaments in Tanzania and Ghana.
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Post by seamus on Jan 30, 2023 21:38:15 GMT -5
That's pretty exciting! No reason that Africa couldn't be just as much a hotbed for baseball talent as Latin America. Hopefully those programs can get more financial support and continue to really expand the game.
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Post by ixnayexxus on Feb 9, 2023 14:37:59 GMT -5
Lots of rumblings now about the NPB's Orix Buffaloes posting Yoshinobu Yamamoto after the 2023 season
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Post by freddysthefuture2003 on Feb 9, 2023 16:17:43 GMT -5
Lots of rumblings now about the NPB's Orix Buffaloes posting Yoshinobu Yamamoto after the 2023 season Offer him 5/150 the second he's posted, let him hit free agency again at 30.
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ematz1423
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Post by ematz1423 on Feb 9, 2023 17:48:59 GMT -5
Lots of rumblings now about the NPB's Orix Buffaloes posting Yoshinobu Yamamoto after the 2023 season Offer him 5/150 the second he's posted, let him hit free agency again at 30. The way this guy sounds I'd perhaps push it b higher. He sounds awesome but then again so Daisuke so who knows.
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Post by seamus on Feb 9, 2023 17:57:52 GMT -5
Anecdotally, the splitter seems like a very popular offering for Japanese pitchers, more than it is for pitchers in the US. I wonder if it has to do with the differences between the NPB and MLB balls.
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Post by vermontsox1 on Feb 10, 2023 18:43:49 GMT -5
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Post by vermontsox1 on Feb 10, 2023 18:45:56 GMT -5
So the Red Sox currently have the fifth most $$ left:
White Sox $1,699,000 St. Louis $1,474,000 Arizona $1,370,500 Reds $1,250,000 Boston $1,054,500
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Post by julyanmorley on Feb 10, 2023 18:54:09 GMT -5
Oh no, anything but a Tony Ruiz sized hole.
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nomar
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Post by nomar on Feb 10, 2023 19:25:56 GMT -5
Oh no, anything but a Tony Ruiz sized hole. Ruiz signed with the Royals so I wonder how it’ll be used
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Post by soxfanatic on Mar 8, 2023 10:24:42 GMT -5
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Mar 8, 2023 10:55:03 GMT -5
Rare, but last year they used $400k on Cristofher Paniagua, so while rare, later, non-Cuban-defector mid-tier bonus signings do happen.
FWIW, I sincerely doubt there will be WBC pop-up guys. By the time guys are on radars enough to be in the WBC, even in less prominent baseball countries, they've likely been scouted plenty.
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Post by vermontsox1 on Mar 8, 2023 10:59:12 GMT -5
A little over, actually - $1,054,500 to be exact. I feel like they have to have someone in mind already for a big chunk of that, but we'll see. Really hoping they sign someone soon-ish so that player can get reps in the DSL this season.
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Post by stevedillard on Mar 8, 2023 11:22:07 GMT -5
Either they have someone in mind, or Ocams Razor, it’s the funds (give or take a couple of low end additions) they anticipated using for Ruiz that they are stuck with using or losing.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Mar 8, 2023 11:31:04 GMT -5
A little over, actually - $1,054,500 to be exact. I feel like they have to have someone in mind already for a big chunk of that, but we'll see. Really hoping they sign someone soon-ish so that player can get reps in the DSL this season. To be fair, our number was wrong when he posted and it's since been fixed.
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Post by patford on Mar 8, 2023 12:51:03 GMT -5
Once Walter and Casas graduate six out of the top ten Red Sox prospects will be IFA signings. At what point does the IFP become more important than the MLB draft?
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Post by vermontsox1 on Mar 8, 2023 13:25:30 GMT -5
Once Walter and Casas graduate six out of the top ten Red Sox prospects will be IFA signings. At what point does the IFP become more important than the MLB draft? I don't think one is more important than the other. Casas will graduate, and Walter may, too. But so will Mata potentially. And then you have to factor in that there will be at least one guy from the draft in July that will enter the top 10. It ebbs and flows.
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Post by julyanmorley on Mar 8, 2023 14:42:07 GMT -5
Either they have someone in mind, or Ocams Razor, it’s the funds (give or take a couple of low end additions) they anticipated using for Ruiz that they are stuck with using or losing. Yeah I'd say the simplest explanation is that they intended to sign Ruiz but the Royals swooped in late and stole him, possibly because they offered another ~200k.
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Post by ramireja on Mar 8, 2023 16:41:29 GMT -5
That's a pretty interesting distribution of funds relative to recent spending. Last year, they had 0 bonuses in the space above $30K but below $85K. This year, 12 bonus figures fit in that space with obviously plenty of time for more...
Also, it may not seem like it...but the $1.4M bonus to Cespedes is the 2nd largest bonus across the past 5 classes, second only to the $1.5M bonus for Bleis. Let's hope the bat is for real!
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