November 12th, 2012 at 1:01 pm 
by Ron Cervenka The Dodgers have added six experienced scouts to their international team with the signing of Pedro Avila, Gene Grimaldi, Patrick Guerrero, Pat Kelly, Jamey Storvick and Mike Tosar. The six scouts will serve under Bob Engle, who was hired by the Dodgers on November 1 as Vice-President of International Scouting.
The Dodgers also named former catcher Josh Bard as special assistant – player personnel and professional scouts Willie Fraser and Scott Groot. Former Dodger third baseman Bill Mueller, who served as special assistant, player personnel, will become a full-time professional scout.
The six international scouts will cover the following areas—Avila will be coordinator of Venezuela operations, Grimaldi will be coordinator of European operations, Guerrero will be coordinator of Latin America, Kelly will be coordinator of the Pacific Rim, Storvick will be special assignment scout in the Pacific Rim and Tosar will be coordinator of Cuba and Mexico.
“The experience and international knowledge these scouts possess will benefit our organization immediately,” said Colletti.
Avila has been scouting Venezuela for 16 years, working with Toronto (1996-99), Seattle (2000-08) and the Texas Rangers (2008-12). He was instrumental in the signing of Felix Hernandez.
Grimaldi returns to the Dodgers, where he began as an international scout from 1990-2000. He also scouted for the Minnesota Twins (2000-2007), the Cincinnati Reds (2008) and the Seattle Mariners (2009-12).
Guerrero had been with the Seattle Mariners since 2000. The son of Epy Guerrero worked for Toronto in 1995, the Baltimore Orioles from 1996-98 and returned to Toronto in 1999 before joining the Mariners. Guerrero was instrumental in the signing of right-hander Michael Pineda.
Kelly, who resides in Adelaide, Australia, returns to the Dodgers, where he was Pacific Rim coordinator from 2000-2005. He left the Dodgers to join the Seattle Mariners for the past seven years. Kelly played nine seasons in the Majors with the Yankees, Cardinals and Blue Jays.
Storvick, the first American scout based in Taiwan, had been with the Seattle Mariners since 1999. His role was expanded in 2008 to include South Korea. Storvick is a graduate of Faulkner State College and Oklahoma City University and a native of Anoka, MN.
Tosar played in the New York Mets, Yankees and Montreal Expos organizations from 1991-95. He was a coach in the Minnesota Twins organization in 2002 and turned to scouting the following year and eventually scouted for the Seattle Mariners from 2005-10.
Bard caught for 10 years in the Majors (2002-11). He joined the Dodgers in 2012 and was a back-up for the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes.
Fraser comes to the Dodgers from the Angels, where he has scouted since 2010. Fraser pitched parts of eight seasons in the Majors with the Angels (1986-90), Blue Jays (1991), Cardinals (1991), Marlins (1994) and Expos (1995). He also pitched three years in Japan.
Groot returns to the Dodgers, where he worked from 1998-2004. Prior to joining the Dodgers, he started his scouting career with Minnesota (1991-98). After 2004, he worked as a sports management consultant and teacher and returned to scouting for Kansas City (2010-12).
Mueller, who played 11 years in the Majors, joined the Dodgers in 2009 as an assistant to general manager Colletti. He will join the Dodgers’ scouting staff in 2013.
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This is really good news and clearly shows the commitment that this new ownership group has towards rebuilding the Dodgers farm system here and abroad.
I can’t wait to hear what Bluenose Dodger has to say about this.
This area has been badly lacking in the past few years as we settled to the bottom in budgets for international signing, the absolute bottom.
We aren’t going to get very many, if any, high first round draft picks in the next few years. Finishing up in the standings and having a lot of players signed for the long term, we will not be getting compensation picks. In fact, we may well lose first round picks by signing free agents like Kuroda. International scouting then becomes our only way to obtain good young players who may equate to first round picks. It is now very competitive on the international scene so a team has to have a very good scouting team going all out all the time. We presently have few guys we could trade for good players in other team’s farm systems. That is, out players carry big contracts that make it difficult to move them without paying them to play somewhere else. Let’s not do that anymore.
Some of these guys are returning to the Dodgers but it appears the Dodgers raided the Seattle scouting system. That is, Bob Engle brought them along. They have the bases covered already on the international scene.
I expect the new team owners realize that money will buy them a chance to win and may even win a championship, but the key to continuing success is to build it from within and supplement with free agents. That is the only way to remain competitive every year, having young players always ready as the regulars break down or opt for free agency.
A good more by the team in an organized fashion, not a piecemeal approach.
The nature of international signings will change with the new restrictions on international spending and the possibility of an international draft. No more Puig’s. But, all teams will have to play by the same rules.
Bob Engle: “I think scouting will always remain the same,” he said. “Obviously, there are different strategies with the bonus ceiling, but scouting is scouting. That’s not going to change.”
Larry Stone of the Seattle Times wrote: The Mariners have lost one (Bob Engle) of the best scouts in the business.