Position: Outfielder Bats: Right • Throws: Right 6-2, 210lb (188cm, 95kg) . (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel), Who gets COVID-19 vaccine first once it's available? Both are part of the team’s satellite camp in Springfield this summer. “We felt we were in very good position and felt we were in it right to the end of the process,” Rodriguez said. It’s not the same as the amateur draft of players from the United States where the only team that can sign a player is the one that drafts him. They also had no idea that Robert would be cleared by Major League Baseball in time to sign before the deadline in early June. According to media reports, his signing bonus from the White Sox was $26 million. “That team was pretty loaded. 9:52pm: X-rays came back negative, Van Schouwen tweets. Texas has a plan, HFD: Mother, daughter safely escape house fire in north Houston, Houston Forecast: Feeling like Fall, for now, Astros top Rays, 7-4 to force deciding Game 7 | See highlights, Daryl Morey stepping down as Houston Rockets GM; Jeff Van Gundy interviewing for head coach job, Cardinals coach, team hall of famer Willie McGee opts out for remainder of 2020 season, Cardinals baseball is coming back! When Robert did become available, however, the Cardinals – despite the money they had already spent in the international free agent market – tried to extend themselves as far as possible financially in hopes of getting a deal completed with someone they thought would develop into an elite player.

Had they signed him, they also would have had to match that amount in a check to Major League Baseball as the penalty for going over their cap – so signing Robert would basically have cost the Cardinals more than $50 million. Luis Robert. CHICAGO — Luis Robert will be patrolling center field in the Cardinals game on Saturday, just as a lot of their top scouts and officials envisioned a few years ago. The Cardinals won’t confirm what their final offer was to Robert, but it was believed to be somewhere between $20 million and $25 million. The two are now ranked among the top prospects in the organization. “That happens all the time,” Rodriguez said, “with a lot of players you are seeing right now on TV. On Saturday, he'll be facing off against St. Louis for the first time, Chicago White Sox's Luis Robert celebrates as he crosses the plate after hitting a solo home run during the second inning of the team's baseball game against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, in Kansas City, Mo. Well OK, it won’t exactly be the way they envisioned it. Trying to sign a top international free agent is never easy, and that was especially true when the Cardinals were pursuing Robert, before the current bonus rules were put in place. Those signings also came about 11 months before Robert signed in May 2017. They believed they had a good read on Robert’s potential from his appearances in the international tournaments, his track record in Cuba and their evaluation of workouts once he became eligible to sign. He was playing first base because every other position was taken by somebody that had more experience.”.

The 22-year-old Oviedo projects as a middle-of-the-rotation starter in the major leagues while Herrera could be the heir apparent to succeed Yadier Molina in the not-too-distant future. All of those and more signings, however, left the Cardinals in a position where they had to pay a dollar-for-dollar penalty for every dollar they spent that exceeded the cap on their bonus pool. CHICAGO — Luis Robert will be patrolling center field in the Cardinals game on Saturday, just as a lot of their top scouts and officials envisioned a few years ago. Back in 2017, when the Cardinals were in full pursuit of the then 19-year-old amateur free agent, John Mozeliak, Moises Rodriguez, Matt Slater and the other Cardinals officials involved in scouting Robert foresaw a future where he would one day be playing center field for the Cardinals.

He was a guy you could dream on.”. Sports Plus at Home Episode 15: Cardinals plan return from quarantine, St. Louis City SC introduced and how worried should we be about the Blues. Instead, as the Cardinals return to play after their season was interrupted because of a COVID-19 outbreak, they will be watching Robert playing against them instead of for them. The Cardinals also spent $1.25 million to sign Randy Arozarena, who made his way to the major leagues in 2019 before he was one of the players traded to Tampa Bay last winter in the deal that brought left-handed pitcher Matthew Liberatore, another top prospect, to the Cardinals. “I first saw him when he was 15 years old, playing first base for the Cuban national team, in an 18U world tournament in 2013 in Taiwan,” Rodriguez said this week. Included in that group were pitcher Johan Oviedo, also from Cuba, who got a $1.9 million signing bonus, and catcher Ivan Herrera. Team: Chicago White Sox (majors) Born: August 3, 1997 in Guantanamo, Cuba cu Debut: July 24, 2020 (Age 22-356d, 19,693rd in MLB history) Rookie Status: Still Intact through 2020 2020 Contract Status: Not Updated, 6 yrs/$76M (20-25) & 26-27 team option “By then, he really stood out,” Rodriguez said. Rodriguez, now the team’s assistant general manager, was the director of international operations for the Cardinals at the time, and Robert was somebody who had been on his radar for a while. Seeing prospects develop like Herrera who did not receive six-figure bonuses helps to offset the sting of players who, for whatever reason, fail to progress and develop as the organization expected.

Several of the teams that usually spent heavily on international free agents were ineligible to sign players for more than $300,000 because of previous over-pool signings.