MLB Investigating Age-gate cases in the Dominican Republic

by The Typical Idiot Fan on Mar 12, 2009 11:39 PM PDT Comment 32 comments

According to the link, it appears as though the recent hubbub surrounding Esmailyn "Mr. Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo If You're Nasty" Gonzalez and Vladimir Guerrero has brought about more fed meddling in baseball. Forty-two cases are apparently listed, with who knows how many to follow. No names have been leaked yet, but it's only a matter of time. Also unknown is how this will effect any case against Bowden.

Jesus God, it's a good thing we don't have any prospects from the Dominican Repub...

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUCCCCKK!!!

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Oh, we have a few DR guys...

…but I’m not really concerned about Triunfel. His character issues displayed last year, and his physical features really are consistent with his reported age. I’ll see if I can find where Jason published the photos of him. I’ve got some from a Prospect Insider photographer in my GMail, but since they’re not my photos I can’t publish them – but he looks like a teenage kid in several of the close-up photos.

I mean, he might be a year older at the very, very most. But even then I’d be shocked. The M’s have one of the best international scouting and info-gathering teams in all of baseball. I’d be utterly shocked if they were duped in Triunfel’s case.

And Jason saw him in person at the AFL. Was convinced that any age concerns were moot.

This signature space for rent.

by PositivePaul on Mar 13, 2009 9:56 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

can you really tell between a 19 and 20 year old?

But I’m with OlSalty here – no reason to speculate if we can’t know. Besides, if he;s a year older he’s still a prospect just not a great one.

by Bearskin Rugburn on Mar 13, 2009 10:57 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Depending on the individual

It can REALLY easy to underestimate their age just by looking at them

by Robert on Mar 13, 2009 11:25 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

Trust me, I know...

This signature space for rent.

by PositivePaul on Mar 13, 2009 11:29 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

And that's why you're in jail

by OlSalty on Mar 13, 2009 11:34 AM PDT up reply actions 2 recs

Live and learn, man.

Illegible

by kevin_ess on Mar 16, 2009 12:49 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

No sense worrying about it until we know one way or the other

by OlSalty on Mar 13, 2009 10:10 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Much is made of the idea

that a prospect must perform at a certain level in minor league ball at a certain age. This seems slightly misguided to me. Surely you all remember highschool and the fact that some people are shaving daily at 16 and others just had their short and curlies come in. People clearly mature at different rates. And this probably means their atheletic peaks come at different ages.

I guess the hope is that someone who tears up AA at 19 years old will continue to develop and eventually tear up the majors… but I think this is harder to predict than we imagine. Some people peak early and never develop much beyond that. Others develop later and become world class atheletes after looking pretty ho-hum at age 18.

So my question is: does it matter is Triunfel is 18 or 20? Isn’t it more important to know how close he is to his peak of athletic maturity, and how long that peak will last? And age isn’t the only factor in determining that.

If Tri lied about his age and “only” has the career of a Vladimir Guerrero, I’ll be pretty frackin’ happy.

by johnbai on Mar 13, 2009 11:13 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Age isn't the only factor, but it is a huge one

Given a situation in which Triunfel turns out to be older than we thought, then that is unquestionably bad.

by Jeff on Mar 13, 2009 11:26 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Mainly because without him being much younger than his level, the stats he's been putting up are bad

by Graham on Mar 13, 2009 11:41 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

.741 OPS in HD???? Puh-LEEEEEEZE!

This signature space for rent.

by PositivePaul on Mar 13, 2009 12:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's an average offensive performance from an average defensive player

Hardly prospect-worthy unless said player is very young ARL

by Graham on Mar 13, 2009 1:33 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

It seems like genetic profiling would be a far more effective tool

at predicting how a person will physically develop than looking at how big they are, knowing how old they are and making a wild ass guess as to what happens in the next few years.

If Tri can hang in there while being physically puny in comparison to his teammates (because he’s so much younger) then that is probably testament to his superior skills and a good predictor that he will eventually dominate if he grows bigger and stronger. The bigger question in my mind is whether or not he’s going to keep maturing physically. If he isn’t physically smaller and weaker than his teammates, then his success doesn’t seem like anything all that special just because he’s a year or two younger.

by johnbai on Mar 13, 2009 1:26 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

It matters a lot for batters because it's not all about physical condition

Batters need to learn.

by Graham on Mar 13, 2009 1:30 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

But if he's older, he has less time to develop into a star

And he has had more time to develop his current skills, putting him more on par with the rest of the world.

That would concern me.

by Ezzra on Mar 13, 2009 12:55 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bad Vlad has a crappy year and the Angels have him deported to get out of the contract.

Now that would be all kinds of funny.

by Kermit. on Mar 13, 2009 1:55 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

This is the last year of his contract anyway...

~Till the Halo burns out...

by Zu Long on Mar 13, 2009 2:48 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

We could still fantasize about it happening this year

perhaps over the All-Star break. That would be funny and fortunate, for us. Even better, now that Bavasi is gone, we don’t need to worry about the M’s immediately picking him up for 4/$60 or something.

by pygmalion on Mar 14, 2009 12:41 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sure you COULD fantasize about it

but I honestly think Jeff’s World Series scenario is more likely to happen.

~Till the Halo burns out...

by Zu Long on Mar 14, 2009 12:52 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

It wouldn't surprise me...

If he turned out to be older than listed. I remember seeing him in the winter of 06 down in the Dominican at the Mariners academy and he just seemed like he was head and shoulders more advanced than everyone else — in skill and in age. Most of the guys in the academies are real flimsy looking guys that look like they’ve missed a meal or two whereas Triunfel easily looked like the strongest of the bunch. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s older, but let’s just say he made everyone else look like they were about 13 (which I guess in retrospect they might have been). Obviously this analysis has nothing scientific about it, just observation.

by wilymo on Mar 13, 2009 4:30 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

For clarity

I do not believe there’s any reason to suspect Triunfel, that was purely done for the lulz. However, like the steroid era, how can we definitively say that we know for sure Triunfel isn’t older then he says he is?

It’s getting to the point where being the paranoid guy almost makes sense.

Fans are typically idiots.

by The Typical Idiot Fan on Mar 13, 2009 4:35 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Some would say paranoia always makes sense

aside from its effects being completely debilitating.

by pygmalion on Mar 14, 2009 12:42 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Great...

Major League baseball could be investigating bonus skimming on the part of scouts, or pushing the DR to make horse steroids like Diomino illegal to obtain without a permit for agricultural use, or cracking down on sex slavery rings in the buscon community in the rural DR…but instead, they’re conducting an investigation that will inevitably lead to blaming the victims in a broken system.

by slamcactus on Mar 14, 2009 3:40 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs