Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
July 02, 2008
Organizations Matter

The Oakland Athletics signed a prize Dominican pitcher due to their success developing pitchers:

Dominican prospect Michael Inoa has agreed to a minor league contract and a $4.25 million signing bonus with the Oakland Athletics, said the 16-year-old from Santo Domingo.

Inoa and his parents turned down more lucrative offers from the Cincinnati Reds and the Texas Rangers due to Oakland's positive results developing young pitchers. The Reds offered a $5 million signing bonus and a major league contract, while the Rangers offered $5.2 million, according to Inoa.

"After careful thought, my parents and I decided that Oakland has a better pitcher development program, and that will be more important for my career in the long haul," said Inoa, who became eligible to sign with any major league ballclub on Tuesday at the strike of midnight.

At sixteen, he's already 6' 7" and 210 pounds. He's going to be a monster on the mound. It's good to see he's thinking about his future income. If he turns into a good pitcher with the Athletics, he knows he'll get a chance to sign a Barry Zito like contract at some point. His determination that Oakland gives him the best chance of that allowed Beane to get him below market. It's all about process, even in signing free agents.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:06 AM | Transactions | TrackBack (0)
Comments

There's way more to this story than what you're reporting here. According to reports in Baseball America, Inoa had a deal in place with the Yankees. He then switched agents and dropped that deal with the Yanks before signing with the A's for nearly twice as much. Lots of shady dealings with the international free agents.

Posted by: Ben K. at July 2, 2008 11:41 AM

And there are still people out there who think Billy Beane is only interested in college arms?! He obviously thinks there's room for the A's to exploit the market here. When the A's are outbidding the Yankees for someone, you know there's got to be a wider plan at work underneath.

Posted by: Matt Smith at July 2, 2008 04:19 PM
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