The Pirates (Coonelly) have mentioned Sano would have put them well over their international budget.

Have they signed anybody of consequence? How could this be?

It must not have been much of a budget to begin with.

Agreed. I know I read, I believe Baseball-America, said the Pirates have the best talent coming from the DR that covered the last two signing periods from down there.

But did we sign any talent this year? Seems all the eggs were put in the Sano basket and that went down the drain.

Well Goose...their budget was 3 million I believe, so you do the math.

I am waiting for your response to my 2010 team?

Great......

That may be the truth, it may not be, but regardless, Frank will be called a liar.

I won't call him a liar, I have no doubt that it is true. But the real question is why didn't we meet his objectives instead of low balling him?

RoninBuc: I am realistic about how long it will take to fix many years of mismanagement of my beloved franchise, as Syd Thrift said, "Raising the dead ain't easy." How will the loss of not signing Miguel Sano affect your efforts in Latin America to sign elite talent?

Coonelly: RoninBuc, I appreciate your recognition that building a championship club does not happen overnight. We have made tremendous progress in terms of adding talent to the organization over the past two years and are now in a far stronger position than we have been in years. With respect to our initiative to become a leader again in Latin America, our inability to sign Sano will not impede our success in Latin America. While certainly disappointed that we were unable to sign Sano, we made an offer that exceeded by several multiples the dollars this organization has spent on any player in Latin America. As a result, we demonstrated our willingness to be a major player in Latin America and will continue to aggressively pursue players in all international markets, including Latin America. In the Sano case, Sano's representative found a club that was willing to meet his objectives and decided against attempting to exceed that objective by coming back to the Pirates or any other club. And that is a representative's prerogative, and we move on to other targets in Latin America and the other international markets.

I still can't for the life of me being only about 500K off is lowballing...if they were that close, it is quite obvious that if they had the chance they would have countered.

500K in the world of baseball, even Bob Nutting baseball, is NOTHING.

Offering the #1 prospect in LA less than the #2 prospect signed for is lowballing. It doesn't matter that it was only $500,000 off. And if you really believe $500,000 is nothing in baseball than you should be mad at the Pirates for not offering it in the first place. After all, $500,000 in the baseball world is nothing, right?

If they didn't think there were other offers, why offer the extra money...

I am not going to rip them on their offers...I think the second one should have been open to negotiation and was a reasonable offer.

I will rip them however for not realizing that there was more interest in Sano, and not seeing that....but I won't say they lowballed him....which I know sounds convoluted, but there is a difference.

TTT

Arangue is reporting Sano is due to arrive in Minnesota today

Here's the take from the Minn Star-Tribune:

Sano is jewel of intriguing international crop for Twins

The Gulf Coast League might be the place the hang out for awhile next year -- if you like to follow prospects. The Twins intend to have three of their international bonus babies on their rookie league team there. Shortstop Jorge Polanco, from the Dominican Republic, will be there after signing a $750,000 bonus in July. German outfielder Max Kepler, who signed for $775,000, is already attending South Fort Myers High School and is in line to play for the GCL team, too. Joining them will be infielder Miguel Angel Sano, a 16-year old (0r 17...or 18?) who is listed at 6-3 and 190 pounds and has plenty of raw power. Sano is considered the jewel of the international crop and, on Wednesday, signed with the Twins for a bonus of $3.15 million, the second-largest bonus given to a Latin American prospect and most to a position player. (not counting Cubans). You add these three players to a Twins' draft class that's led by University of Missouri righthander Kyle Gibson (who is scheduled to pitch two innings on Friday in his first time on the mound as a pro) and the Twins feel they had a pretty good year on the amateur front.

"In order to be a contender, you have to have guys who are ... the top of the scale," said Mike Radcliff, the Twins' senior VP in charge of player personnel.

""In order to be a contender, you have to have guys who are ... the top of the scale," said Mike Radcliff, the Twins' senior VP in charge of player personnel."

Bears repeating...

Yes, we should follow the Twins model methinks...