Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez was signed late Friday night, by the team that gave him the highest bid. He has a fastball that sits at 91-94 MPH, and can reach 96, on occasion. He also mixes speeds with pitches like the cutter, splitter, and changeup. The 26 year old has impressed scouts and evaluators across major league baseball, say that he only needs "a few minor league starts" before he can join the rotation in the big leagues. The Phillies beat out the Red Sox in the bidding war. They signed Gonzalez to a six year, 59 million dollar deal, 48 of which is guaranteed. They also added a vesting option for a seventh year for 11 million. Gonzalez could be that "Trade Deadline fish" that you get just before the deadline. Two pluses, however. To get Gonzalez, you didn't have to get rid of your top prospects. Also, you could sign him to a long term deal, because most players traded at the deadline have one or two years left on their current contracts. This was a huge signing for the Phillies, because they didn't want to lose Jesse Biddle and Maikel Franco, their two largest prospects. They also wanted to prove that they want to stay in contention in 2013 and beyond. Imagine a rotation with Lee, Gonzalez, Hamels, Halladay, and Kendrick. This is so much like the Phillies' "four aces" from 2011. The Phillies, not known to go all out on international prospects, took a risk here. Obviously, every team take somewhat of a risk when signing these prospects, but with the production of Jose Fernandez, Yasiel Puig, Yoenis Cespedes, and Aroldis Chapman, the Phillies wanted to get into the mix on these guys. I think Gonzalez career will be fun to see, and how competative he will pitch will come from his first start in the minors. Phillies fans can just hope that this is a change of strategy and that Ruben Amaro Jr. is trying a new strategy to keep the Phillies above the competition.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
February 2017
|