November 22nd, 2015 at 4:31 pm 
by Ron Cervenka As only they know how, the Guggenheim Baseball Management-owned Los Angeles Dodgers turned an otherwise slow news day into a blockbuster news day when MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez broke the news that the team had signed 19-year-old top Cuban outfield prospect Yusniel Diaz and 17-year-old Cuban infield prospect Omar Estevez. The deals are reported to be worth $15.5 and $6 million respectively – pending physicals.
Yusniel Diaz
(Photo credit – Reynier Batista)
Although there has been no official word from the Dodgers yet, the timing of the signings is yet another stroke of pure genius by the Andrew Friedman / Farhan Zaidi-led Dodgers, as they got the deal in before their MLB-imposed signing limit of $300,000 per player for the next two international signing periods kicks in. They still, however, will be required to pay an estimated $22 million in taxes for (seriously) exceeding their allotted bonus pool of $2,020,300 – which they smoked past last spring by signing Cuban infielder Hector Olivera. The Dodgers later traded Olivera to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for pitchers Alex Wood, Jim Johnson, Luis Avilan and Bronson Arroyo and infield prospect Jose Peraza, who many believe with become the Dodgers everyday second baseman – at least until Estevez is MLB-ready, that is.
While the signing of Diaz – who bears a strong resemblance to fellow countryman Yasiel Puig – came as a surprise to many, it didn’t to Baseball America’s Ben Badler, who as far back as last May indicated that the Dodgers were among several teams interested in the young outfielder. Fortunately for the Dodgers, Diaz had registered with Major League Baseball before the May 15 deadline (as did Estevez) so that they would be eligible for the 2015-2016 international signing pool instead of having to wait until the 2016-2017 pool on July 2, 2016. Diaz held a workout in the Dominican Republic on August 6 which was attended by scouts from several MLB teams including (obviously) the Dodgers.
Diaz was ranked 17th in Baseball America’s Top 20 Cuban players last April and according to Sanchez, Estevez “showed above-average power in games and solid raw power in batting practice.”
ThinkBlueLA will provide updates on the Diaz and Estevez signings as they become available.
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[…] According to Think Blue, he held a workout in the Dominican Republic when he was 19, which was attended by scouts from several different MLB teams. He eventually signed with the Dodgers for $15.5 million. Ben Badler, the for Baseball America, said that the Dodgers had been keeping tabs on Diaz dating back to May 2014, and that they made a point of signing him as soon as he was eligible for the 2015-16 international signing pool. […]