Catching up after vacation days

I was out since my last post, then busy getting used to my children's school schedule and am catching up on some news during that time.

"Big V" is for Villalona

The Giants signed over the weekend their biggest prospect signing, Angel Villalona, 3B. This was covered in a number of avenues - the Giants website, ESPN desportes, the Chronicle, the Merc, and Baseball America - and the following uses info from all of these sources. And, boy, is he big, in a number of ways.

This is the biggest international signing by the Giants, beating the $1.3M paid to Osvaldo Fernandez in 1996. Biggest prospect signing by the Giants, period, beating the $2.0M paid to Tim Lincecum just a month or so ago. Angel got a signing bonus of $2.1M. It is the largest international signing since Joel Guzman signed with the Dodgers for $2.25M in 2001 and appears to be the third highest, with Wily Mo Pena's $2.3M signing with the Yankees in 1999 being the highest. Sabean called it the equivalent of another first round draft pick, and, from what Lincecum got, Villalona basically got what a #8-10 overall pick from the draft got. "If he turned 17 and went to the draft next year, that's what he would get," said Sabean.

The 6' 2", 210-pound Dominican only turned 16 years old on August 13th, at which time he became eligible to be signed, and the Giants had to beat out 4 other teams to sign him. In fact, Seattle offered a lot more ($3M) but because the Giants Dominican scouts, headed by former Dodgers scout, Pablo Peguero (who had signed had signed a number of D-gers stars, including Adrian Beltre and Raul Mondesi), had developed a relationship with Angel and his family over a number of years (they were already in contact and scouting when he was 13), they chose the Giants over the much higher bid. The other three teams were the usual suspects: Boston ($1.9M offer), Mets ($1.5M offer), and Yankees ($1M offer). He was signed to a 2007 contract and will begin his professional career with the Giants in this fall's Arizona Instructional League. Sabean said that Angel would be on the fast track to the majors.

About International signings, Sabean noted, "we'd like to be more involved in these areas. You just have to pick and choose your spots because of how we do our budget. In a perfect world, I would like to spend more money in player development and scouting and less at the major league level. Whether that happens from year to year remains to be seen." Rick Ragazzo, international scouting director basically since Sabean became GM, credited the Dominican scouts with having developed the relationship with Villalona that made the player want to sign with the Giants. "The player pursued us and the family confirmed the signing," he noted.

In response to Scott Boras intimations that Angel is a client of the agent, Ragazzo noted only that the player's family represented him and that "you'll have to ask the kid who represents him." But if he's really Boras' client, I doubt Boras would have "allowed" him to bypass Seattle's superior bid, the reason you hire Boras is because you want top dollar for yourself - perhaps, if Boras was really his agent, the family broke from him when they wanted to go with the Giants and Boras was against that.

The accolades for his talent and potential are off the chart. Sabean on Angel: "Angel is a phenomenal young talent who certainly has a bright future. He is very advanced in all phases of the game for his relative age." Sabean again: "For his age, the power is off the charts and he's a real physical kid at 16, being 6-2, 200 pounds," Sabean said. "You don't see those kinds of bats, whether it's here in the states or there, where it's so mature and he's kind of able to control the game with one swing. He's that type of hitter."

There were some views for people who observed Villalona. Felipe talked with a Dominican baseball person who called Villalona "the best bat of any young Dominican player of that age range." A translation of the ESPN desportes news account had this quote from Peguero: "This boy has tremendous abilities, has an enormous power, good hands and an arm by I raise of the average {NOTE: I would assume this means he thinks he has an above average arm}. I signed a (Adrián) Beltré to the 16 years; to Raul Mondesí to the same age and I close had Vladimir Guerrero and to Alfonso Soriano and no of them he had the conditions of Villalona to his age." I think this second statement means that he signed Adrian Beltre and Raul Mondesi when they were the same age and observed closely both Vlad and Soriano at the same age and none of them were as good as Villalona is. I like the comparisons to Vlad and Soriano but not so the ones to Beltre and Mondesi. :^) Peguero also noted that he expects Villalona to make the majors within 3 years.

Ragazzo had a lot to say in the BA piece. "We felt he was the premium free agent in Latin America this year." He also added, "We saw him for the first time when he was 13, and even then he had power. That was attractive off the bat. He has athletic ability, and he profiles—he has a chance to be a third baseman with power, with good hands, good rhythm in his swing, a smooth swing, a pure swing from the right side. He's got skills, he's agile, he's coordinated and can run some for a big man."

In addition, "We haven't had full access to him since he was 13, but we have seen him a lot. We've accumulated a lot of information on him . . . He's only 16 and you never know what will happen. But we've seen him in workouts and simulated games in our academy, and we've seen him hit, and we've seen him fail. The difference with 'Big V' is, we've seen him compete and fail, and get right back up. This is a player who knew he was getting some big money this year, and he still did that. To me, the guys who fail but overcome that and still succeed, those are the guys who become major leaguers. We've seen that inner strength, but we also understand he's 16. We really can't know what the effect of the money will be."

Magowan on the Giants

There was also an interview with Magowan in the Chron on the Giants. First off, Sabean will be back in 2007. Magowan: "As far as Brian's future is concerned, I have a high degree of confidence in him. I don't care about any criticism. It's not Brian's fault we haven't met expectations this year, and I'm solidly behind him." This despite gripes from some fans (not this one!) who have questioned certain moves.

In addition, there are no plan to slash the payroll either. About the 2007 budget, he noted that it will be "where this year's is, around the bottom of the top third in baseball. The issue isn't the level of spending. It's what we spend it on. There is enough there that we will be competitive. Money is not a factor." Sounds good to me. With the Villalona signing and the Lincecum signing at above this year's rates (but at rate of past three drafts), apparently they are already spending money.

Magowan again on 2007: "The Giants will spend money to be competitive. With 11 free agents, obviously there will be a lot of changes on the team. I can't say who will come back and who won't, but we'll have substantial changes. We will be a younger and healthier and stronger team." The Giants currently have nearly $40M committed to 8 players for 2007, leaving the rest for free agents or traded players or the rookies and semi-rookies who will dot the roster. "Our mentality is to compete every year, " Magowan said, also noting that the Giants will not re-build. He also noted that next year is promising because the rotation will still have three or four young starters who've succeeded at some level in the majors.

Thirdly, the Giants are not giving up on 2006 because it is still a winnable division plus the wild card is in reach {this was before the Giants won all those games against the D-backs and also before the Giants lost the D-gers' series}. "... we can make up ground in a hurry ... giving us a chance to control our own destiny." He noted the high expectations at the start of the season and that they have not met them.

Speaking of Young Starters

To punctuate Magowan's point about the starters, Lowry went out on Monday and pitched a complete game 2-hitter shutout and Cain followed up with a 7 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K performance the next night. Lowry in 4 August starts and 30.2 IP, has given up 17 hits, 4 HR, 9 BB, and struck out 22, for a 2.05 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, and .165 BAA, but, unfortunately, only a 1-0 record. Cain in 5 August starts and 30.1 IP, has given up 28 hits, 2 HR, 13 BB, and struck out 38, for a 3.26 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, and .250 BAA.

They are why I'm so positive about the transition years. If we have strong starting pitching from the youngsters, you won't need the best of offenses to stay competitive for the divisional title. Just another one from Hennessey, Sanchez, and Lincecum, and we will have quite a rotation for the forseeable future, and two, well, we could be dominant despite the transition.