This podcast is fascinating to me. I've always enjoyed chatting with Mike Radcliff. He has such a great scouting history in the organization. There is a lot of talk about scouting Byung Ho Park, but they also talk extensively about Miguel Sano's signing. It's fascinating to hear where Radcliff was when they agreed to terms with Sano's agent.

 

Lots on the Miguel Cabrera story that we've heard about how close the Twins were to signing him, and why they didn't even make an offer.

 

Good stuff on Morneau... 

 

Is being a GM an ambition for him?

 

 

Good interview, thanks for sharing.

 

I'm going to have to call BS on his excuse for not signing Miguel Cabrera, though.  If TR couldn't convince Pohlad to go anywhere near $1.9 mil for Cabrera, but a few months later was able to give $1.2 million for one year of Sean Bergman, the primary fault lies with the GM's priorities and salesmanship, not the owner's budget.  And this wasn't a one-time thing -- the Twins consistently failed to land good international amateur talent throughout TR's first tenure, even when money wasn't as tight as it was in 1999.

 

Also, it's hard to tell, especially now looking back, but at least one source (below) implies the Marlins had a negotiating advantage due to their record with young Hispanic players.  That's certainly something the Twins didn't have.  Maybe the Twins over-rated their own personal connection with Miguel?

 

http://www.jockbio.com/Bios/Cabrera/Cabrera_bio.html

 

 

 

The baseball bird dogs had already started sniffing around after Miguel at this point. The Minnesota Twins sent scouting director Mike Radcliff to Venezuela to evaluate him. The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers were also hot on Miguel’s trail. His favorite team was the Florida Marlins. He watched them win the 1997 World Series with key contributions from fellow Latinos Livan Hernandez and Edgar Renteria.

Florida scout Louie Eljaua held a workout for Miguel, who amazed him with his maturity and power. Eljaua called the Marlins brass and implored them to get out their checkbook. The bidding war for Miguel escalated when the Dodgers and Yankees both intimated they’d go as high as $2 million.

The Marlins, however, had the inside track. Their offer—$1.8 million—was more than generous enough, but Miguel’s parents were most impressed by the team’s commitment to developing young Hispanic players. He signed with Florida in July of 1999.

 

That was good.  Well worth listening to. 

Kudos to Radcliff for saying what a long of us have been saying: Not sure that Byron Buxton belongs to the majors as far as the stick goes right now and not sure if he will fix his deficiencies by next season...

 

Refreshing.

Edited December 4, 201510 yr by Thrylos

Without listening, what was the stuff on Morneau?

That was a great interview. Interesting stuff.