Oscar Colas

[IntentionalHBP]

Unlikely to happen but wanted to open up this discussion. Two way player who is regarded as one of the best Cuban prospects in a while. Plenty of teams have spent big money already so could be an opportunity for the brewers.

 

[Soupbone]

Do the Brewers have any international money left? Is he waiting till July or looking to sign now?

[Eye Black]

The latest news on the now 22 year old Cuban 1B/OF/LHP Oscar Colas who had been playing in Japan...

 

Via Francys Romero, "Sources: Cuban prospect Oscar Colas (22) was declared a free agent by the Commissioner's Office today and he´ll be able to sign with an MLB team after January 15, 2021."

 

Edit: Jesse Sanchez confirmed the same information above. If you check out this Tweet it includes Sanchez discussing Colas.

 

Reminder that the way back in 2013 the Brewers reportedly just missed out in the bidding on another prominent Cuban amateur free agent, Jose Abreu.

[nate82]

I expect him to sign with the White Sox but I wouldn't count out the A's here either.

[brewcrewdue80]

Am I missing something here? 187 games over "4" seasons.826 OPS. This isn't somebody being inserted in to a ML lineup from day 1 or maybe even year 1 right? Now if this is just signing a guy to go in to our minors for 2-4years and get called up to the majors when proved belongs, then sure. What's it take 500k-1.5mil against your international funds?

[Eye Black]

Am I missing something here?

Well yes, sort of.

 

You're looking at stats he accrued as a teenager playing in the highest level of professional baseball outside of MLB (the last of which was back in 2019). And he is reportedly a legitimate pitching prospect as well.

 

Lastly, I don't think anyone here advocated sticking him into the center of a major league lineup in 2021.

[nate82]

Am I missing something here? 187 games over "4" seasons.826 OPS. This isn't somebody being inserted in to a ML lineup from day 1 or maybe even year 1 right? Now if this is just signing a guy to go in to our minors for 2-4years and get called up to the majors when proved belongs, then sure. What's it take 500k-1.5mil against your international funds?

 

I believe the Nippon league rates out to be equal to MLB. A 21 year old who goes .302/.350/.516 would be considered extremely good and you would be looking at a top 50 player in OPS in MLB. OBP alone would put him in the top 25 in all of MLB his numbers would be about the same going from the Nippon League to MLB. I wouldn't put him in the minors and if you do you are looking at a 25-50 ranked prospect so a lot more than 500k-1.5mil. You are probably looking at least $3-5mil for him.

[wntrtxn21]

Am I missing something here? 187 games over "4" seasons.826 OPS. This isn't somebody being inserted in to a ML lineup from day 1 or maybe even year 1 right? Now if this is just signing a guy to go in to our minors for 2-4years and get called up to the majors when proved belongs, then sure. What's it take 500k-1.5mil against your international funds?

 

I believe the Nippon league rates out to be equal to MLB. A 21 year old who goes .302/.350/.516 would be considered extremely good and you would be looking at a top 50 player in OPS in MLB. OBP alone would put him in the top 25 in all of MLB his numbers would be about the same going from the Nippon League to MLB. I wouldn't put him in the minors and if you do you are looking at a 25-50 ranked prospect so a lot more than 500k-1.5mil. You are probably looking at least $3-5mil for him.

 

Japan is about equal to AAA ball. In no way does OPS and OBP in Japanese lgs. equate to MLB. Pitchers are much better and throw much harder in MLB. Thames said the biggest change coming from Japan was how hard guys threw, both fastballs and breaking balls.

[nate82]

Am I missing something here? 187 games over "4" seasons.826 OPS. This isn't somebody being inserted in to a ML lineup from day 1 or maybe even year 1 right? Now if this is just signing a guy to go in to our minors for 2-4years and get called up to the majors when proved belongs, then sure. What's it take 500k-1.5mil against your international funds?

 

I believe the Nippon league rates out to be equal to MLB. A 21 year old who goes .302/.350/.516 would be considered extremely good and you would be looking at a top 50 player in OPS in MLB. OBP alone would put him in the top 25 in all of MLB his numbers would be about the same going from the Nippon League to MLB. I wouldn't put him in the minors and if you do you are looking at a 25-50 ranked prospect so a lot more than 500k-1.5mil. You are probably looking at least $3-5mil for him.

 

Japan is about equal to AAA ball. In no way does OPS and OBP in Japanese lgs. equate to MLB. Pitchers are much better and throw much harder in MLB. Thames said the biggest change coming from Japan was how hard guys threw, both fastballs and breaking balls.

 

Thames played in Korea not in Japan and all of the statistical studies show that the Nippon league is really close to MLB maybe not an exact match but it is a step above AAA. I guess you could call it AAAA but it is really close to MLB.

[Simba2020]

I believe the Nippon league rates out to be equal to MLB. A 21 year old who goes .302/.350/.516 would be considered extremely good and you would be looking at a top 50 player in OPS in MLB. OBP alone would put him in the top 25 in all of MLB his numbers would be about the same going from the Nippon League to MLB. I wouldn't put him in the minors and if you do you are looking at a 25-50 ranked prospect so a lot more than 500k-1.5mil. You are probably looking at least $3-5mil for him.

 

Japan is about equal to AAA ball. In no way does OPS and OBP in Japanese lgs. equate to MLB. Pitchers are much better and throw much harder in MLB. Thames said the biggest change coming from Japan was how hard guys threw, both fastballs and breaking balls.

 

Thames played in Korea not in Japan and all of the statistical studies show that the Nippon league is really close to MLB maybe not an exact match but it is a step above AAA. I guess you could call it AAAA but it is really close to MLB.

I don't think the two leagues compare very well at all. Ignoring a couple of guys who only got a cup of coffee in MLB, it leaves 14 hitters who have made the move from Japan to MLB. In the three years leading up to the move, those players averaged posted a .307/.383/.508/.891 batting line in Japan. In the three years after making the move (in some cases less) they posted a .278/.342/.412/.754 in MLB.

[Eye Black]

Two points:

 

1) I’ve heard people who are familiar with baseball in both Japan and the United States describe NBP as a level better than Triple-A, but below MLB. So as someone else insinuated, we can consider it Quad-A.

 

2) Stats shouldn’t be weighted very heavily when you’re looking at someone so young (ages 17-20 seasons) that was competing at a high level where mostly everyone else was significantly older and more experienced. If you look at Shohei Ohtani’s stats from his same age range (through age 20) he had a .643 OPS at age 18, .842 OPS at age 19, and a .628 OPS at age 20. Even the most recent NPB stats for Colas are now more than 15 months ago. The focus should be on the talent rather than past stats.

[Simba2020]

Am I missing something here?

Well yes, sort of.

 

You're looking at stats he accrued as a teenager playing in the highest level of professional baseball outside of MLB (the last of which was back in 2019). And he is reportedly a legitimate pitching prospect as well.

 

Lastly, I don't think anyone here advocated sticking him into the center of a major league lineup in 2021.

After looking further, he only received 18 at bats in the "majors" with the bulk of his stats coming in the Japanese minor leagues. I've read that this probably equates to A ball.

 

I have also read that Colas might wait until the next signing period as most teams have already promised much of their pool space to other signees but I suspect he will sign now.

[brewcrewdue80]

Part of my comment is the reasoning that typically or always a rumor on an addition to the team is a ML player addition. If its prospects it's because were trading away 1 of the Brewers players. So should this be a minor league or even MLB draft/International thread topic vs Transaction/rumor thread?

[nate82]

Colas has been declared a free agent by MLB and thus counts toward the international pool cap.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/12/oscar-colas-cuba-mlb-free-agent.html

[TURBO]

According to ESPN's Kiley McDaniel, there is a "real shot" Cuban prospect Oscar Colas will wait until 2022 to sign with a major league team.

 

Colas was just declared a free agent by Major League Baseball this week following a fallout with his team in Japan, and most MLB clubs have already maxed out on their international spending money for the 2020-2021 international signing period. For him to get the best possible deal, it would probably be smart to push the negotiations off for another 12-13 months. Colas is only 22 years old, so he has time on his side.

 

SOURCE: Kiley McDaniel on Twitter

Dec 23, 2020, 2:26 PM ET

[clancyphile]

Depending on the amount the Crew has left, why not go for it?

 

First base is a bit of an issue.