BA’s pre-Signing Period Article

Chris Kline, over at BA, offers up a laundry list of top international guys available this year.  When it comes to working the phones on the international guys, Kline’s the man.  The article is subscriber-only, but offers up some interesting nuggets I feel ok about reproducing here.

Most notably, this piece of information:

According to another source, the price tag for most players has been elevated this season because of the increased network of improved facilities and more agents than ever, especially in the Dominican and Venezuela, flooding those areas.

“It’s going to become more the norm than the exception,” a front office official from an American League club said. “The market is just so much more sophisticated than is was even five years ago.”

This has been happening the past few years, as the introduction of American agents has really revolutionized the international signing game, but the explosion of the market really went into overdrive last year, and signs point to that continuing.

The development of the international market and the closing of the gap in pricetags between Latin American players and players acquired through the draft is very good news.   The more sophisticated the infrastructure of international scouting becomes, the closer we get to the possibility of an international draft.

Random Observation

Every once in awhile, I like to tune into minor league baseball games via the awesome centralized multimedia service offered by milb.com. I’ve spent a lot of time this past year in cities where you are not really supposed to go outside at night alone, so when I’m lucky enough to find myself in a place with 24-hour internet that isn’t fast enough to access mlb.tv (which is every connection I’ve experienced since leaving Okinawa), milb gameday audio is a nice alternative to keep affiliated baseball as a part of my life.

This is usually a pretty enjoyable experience, but for the love of God, minor league baseball needs to take its announcers aside, organize a 5-minute conference call, and teach them how the hell to pronounce the names of Latin American baseball players.

Memo to every announcer I’ve ever heard butcher names: VOWEL SOUNDS DON’T CHANGE IN SPANISH! Each vowel has a distinct sound, and none of them are ever silent. It takes 30 seconds to learn how to pronounce Spanish names and words. Once you learn it, you’re set for life.

Repeat after me:

A: ah

E: eh

I: eee

O: Oh

U: ooh

There. There are a couple other little tricks (ll is pronounced ‘y’), but for the most part, now you know how to pronounce every single Latin American name you will ever be confronted with in the broadcast booth, and you are better at your job because of it.