By Kiley McDaniel
SaberScouting has learned from MLB sources that Dominican right-handed pitching phenom Michel Inoa has agreed to a $4.25 million bonus with the Oakland A’s. The A’s have called a press conference to announce
the signing of their new prize.
As covered in this scouting report, Inoa has proven himself to be a rare pitching talent and, as his talent would indicate, has the top bonus in Latin history to prove it, shattering the previous record of $2.44 million to Wily Mo Pena.
Inoa is a 6′7, 205 lb pitcher with a low 90’s fastball that reaches 95, along with good feel for a curveball and changeup with a projectable body and feel that is beyond his years, despite lacking top-level coaching and being only 16 years old.
He also comes from an athletic family, with a father that played in the minor leagues, and a mother that was a standout softball player.
Nearly every club with an international presence was interested in Inoa at the start. The bidding began in the low $2 million range and slowly rose throughout the spring and into the summer, with a small group of teams still interested with Inoa’s asking price well over $3 million.
The A’s stepped up and pushed the bidding past the $4 million barrier that no other team was willing to cross, and that proved to be enough to close the deal.
Stay tuned to SaberScouting for news on other July 2nd signings as they break.
(Michel Inoa photo credit: Victor Perez/ESPNDeportes.com)
14 responses so far ↓
1 JC321 // Jun 30, 2008 at 10:05 am
Dios te vendiga,y llegue lejo en tu carrera.
2 kelvin martinez // Jun 30, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Dios te dio ese talento y cuerpo aprobechalo y suerte k el te bendiga
3 Dilcia Luna // Jun 30, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Solo te deceo lo mejor y q trates de madurar ya en todos,asi q a leer muchos y a poner ese intelecto super alto para q vea loq vienes turbio antes q otros.
4 Jose Duran // Jun 30, 2008 at 5:22 pm
El Culo ,6′7 !!!!! Y Yo Con 16 5′11 164lbs ojala que gane Cy Young
5 obsessivegiantscompulsive // Jun 30, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Any whispers on who was the last team(s) remained when the A’s won the prize? I was mainly curious if any other team reached $4.0M (i.e. the A’s simply outbid the other teams or did they jump from the low 3’s, say, to $4.25M in order to seal the deal) though it would be interesting to know what other teams bid before they fell out of the bidding.
Sounds like he truly took the highest bidder.
6 francisco de la cruz // Jun 30, 2008 at 6:48 pm
me llema de orgullo y de alegria . un consejo sigue trabajando duro y no te distraigas con el dinero no es el dinero que es malo es las distraciones que hay fuera del terreno si tu padre fue pelotero el sabe de lo que hablo cuidate y dios te bendiga
7 Manuel Mercedes // Jun 30, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Dear Michel: Good Luck in your new life, and dont forget your people and when you come from.
God bless you.
8 Ryan // Jul 1, 2008 at 2:48 am
Its good to see he got fair value; 2.7 or whatever the yankes offered was a low-balling. Hope it all works out for him!
9 alexandra Parra // Jul 1, 2008 at 10:44 am
Felicidades, te deseo mucha suerte…
Ganate un CY Young para orgullo de tu pueblo.
10 Travis G. // Jul 1, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Really Ryan? $2.7 mil, the highest ever for an IFA would’ve been a lowball offer?!
the funny part is that if the Yanks and A’s roles were reversed, everyone would be screaming bloody murder.
11 Ryan // Jul 1, 2008 at 3:09 pm
‘they’ might scream so, but I wouldn’t. I do think 2.7 is lowball, as Inoa really is a supreme talent, and not as much a risk as most IFA’s (that is, he already has some things that you hope others like Portillo end up having). The reports are that the Yanks stopped bidding after the lower agreement was canceled, and that’s what is where the low-balling comes in. Ultimately, I think IFA’s should get bonuses similar to the bonuses top draft high schoolers get(and by and large it is getting closer to that), and Inoa rightly commands more than 2.7.
12 Eric // Jul 2, 2008 at 1:06 am
Wow, the Reds and the Rangers both offered over 5 million for Inoa at the last minute, but he stuck with the A’s offer.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3470209
13 Travis G. // Jul 2, 2008 at 11:42 pm
inoa went back on his word, so the Yanks stopped bidding out of principle. if they had originally kept negotiating to $4+ million, i doubt there would’ve been a problem. but inoa agreed, then backed out.
i agree that there should be a worldwide draft, but July 2 IFAs are two years younger than even the youngest draftees - that’s partly why they command less money.
14 Solenny // Aug 4, 2008 at 6:36 am
Los DR CREW se han convertido en la sensacion del momento el Alemania,el grupo latino tambien conocido como “EL CORO MAS FUERTE” se han ganado el amor y el afecto de todos su fans.El grupo esta compuesto por 6 jovenes latinos que cantan reggaeto,rap,hip hop y mampo.
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