Leveling the Playing Field

Carlos Zambrano. Jose Valverde. Robinson Cano. And of course, Ubaldo Jimenez, Franklin Morales, and Manny Corpas. These are just a few of the players who have contributed greatly to their team's playoff appearances this season. And what do they all have in common? They were all brought up through their respective team's Latin American programs. In fact, these programs are one of the main ways for the small market teams to compete with large market teams.

What each team does is set up academies in different Latin American countries where they feel the most talented players are located. It is sort of a miniature campus where the players live, practice and attend English classes, which is mandated now by the MLB. They also learn other "skills" such as eating with a fork and using indoor plumbing. Scouts roam the country looking for young players, usually around ages 16 or 17, who they feel have the necessary skills to become an MLB prospect. When they find them, they are signed to a contract and then sent to their academy. The contracts are usually mediocre and the commitment is usually minimal. They then work with these young players for a period of time, usually around a year, and determine which ones are good enough to be sent to the minor leagues in the US. So basically, they are acquiring the top talent in their area at low costs.

Most teams have had Latin American programs for some time, but were not investing much time and effort into them. They would occasionally acquire a player who succeeded in their system, but did not rely on such success. Now some teams are investing upwards of a million dollars in their systems realizing that its a small price when it comes to finding the best talent at low costs. In the US, a first round pick can sign for millions of dollars, such as the 2007 first overall pick David Price, who signed for $8.5 million. In Latin America, a team can sign several prospects for much less than that. Also, in the US, all teams already know about the highly touted high school or college players and almost all teams are scouting them. They aren't really secrets around the MLB. This isn't so in Latin America where a key to success is finding the talented players before other teams do.

This system was heavily criticized several years ago because of its process of weeding out the less talented players. However, teams have increased their salaries to these young Latin American players and the academy accommodations have also been vastly improved. In 2003, teams invested $76 million dollars in the Dominican Republic alone, as well as $15 million to run the academies. As of today, only one team does not at least share an academy in the Dominican, the Milwaukee Brewers. Also, four teams, the Mets, Indians, Mariners and Red Sox have installed a program, Prepara, which is an adult education program that teaches the players core subjects such as math and science. After a certain amount of hours in the classroom, the kids are awarded high school diplomas. Therefore, the players who don't make it to the pros will still have an education to fall back on, especially since free education for these kids ends after 8th grade. It also helps the players become accustomed to American culture. In the early days of these academies, many players who had the talent could not make it in the US because they could not handle the adjustment to American culture. With all this money being spent, it's still much cheaper than signing a first round pick in the MLB draft. Plus you get to work with some of these Latin American players at the age of 16, two years more than you would a high school draft pick.

Just look at the two teams in the NLCS. The Rockies were 25th in payroll at the beginning of the year, and the Diamondbacks were right behind them at 26th. The Diamondbacks have done it more with draft picks but still have a few players who were brought up from their Latin American academies such as Miguel Montero, Tony Pena, Jose Valverde, and Edgar Gonzalez. But the Rockies' strategy in Latin America is the one to emulate.

Ten years ago, the Rockies spent about $50,000 a year on their Latin American program. This year they've spent over $1 million. In 1999, the first year of their rebuilding under Dan O'Dowd, they shared an academy with the Diamondbacks in the Dominican Republic. They now have their own on the island, for their players to live and practice. They treat their academies as if they were one of their minor league teams, with all the young players working with all the instructors and coaches, as if they had already made it to the pros. One of the main reasons for the Rockies success is the scouting system which has allowed them to scout players such as Morales, Jimenez and Corpas as well as others. Of the top 30 prospects in the Rockies system, 10 have started out in the Latin American academies. Before the overhaul of the program, the only two players that Colorado brought up from their Latin American program were Juan Uribe and Neifi Perez. Now the Rockies aren't surprised when a young Latin player succeeds in their system, they expect it. And they continue to increase the number of their scouts so that they can continue to find talented players throughout Latin America. Such as, they're now making huge progress in Mexico thanks to the hiring of Vinny Castilla as a special assistant to the GM.

Another team to look at is the Houston Astros. From 1989 to 2005, their Venezuelan academy developed over 130 professional players including Bobby Abreu, Melvin Mora, Carlos Guillen, Richard Hidalgo, Freddy Garcia and Johan Santana. Granted, only Richard Hidalgo actually played for the Astros, these players' success shows they were able to scout and develop talent in their Latin American program. Also, Carlos Guillen and Freddy Garcia were involved in the Randy Johnson trade of 1998 which helped them win their division. So they've benefited from their program in a different way than the Rockies, but they still were able to better their team by investing the time and effort needed.

A mix of having great scouting programs in the US and in Latin America is the way to build a franchise from the ground up and is definitely a way to level the playing field like Colorado has shown this year. Just how successful is the Rockies scouting? Their minor league system is in the top 5 and they have a $54 million dollar payroll and are in the NLCS this year. And $17 million of that is going to just Todd Helton. So that's $34 million dollars left for 24 other players. Small market teams such as the Royals and Pirates probably shouldn't be spending $55 million dollars for a starter or trading for a pitcher still owed $19, they should be improving their Latin American programs so that they can sign 4 or 5 players with that money. The Gil Meche's and Matt Morris's of the MLB might work out for that type of money, but by investing in young, cheaper talent, you improve your team's future just like the Rockies and Diamondbacks have done. Even Tampa Bay has learned that it is the only way they can even try to compete within their division. This year they opened a new academy in Valencia, Venezuela and plan on eventually opening their own academy in the Dominican Republic where they currently share one with the Dodgers. They've also hired the two men responsible for Houston's success in Venezuela, Gerry Hunsicker and Andres Reiner. With all these improvements, Tampa Bay is at least giving themselves a shot to become a better team without having to spend millions of dollars on free agents.

So what have the Cubs done to take advantage of all the talent that's available in these countries? Well, not much. When Jim Hendry was hired as GM, he revamped the entire Latin American program in hopes of obtaining more talent from it. He opened an academy in the Dominican Republic but was already at a disadvantage being one of the last to do so. They hired a new head scout, Oneri Fleita who went on to hire more scouts since the previous ones hadn't produced. They had players, but not very good ones. Fleita planned on changing this.

We all know about Carlos Zambrano, the tall and skinny player the Cubs signed at age 16 for $120,000. In 1996, they signed Francis Beltran as their first ever Latin American player for their program. He pitched in 41 games for the Cubs and then was involved in the Nomar Garciaparra trade in 2004. This year, Carlos Marmol jumped to the front of the line of success stories with his great season out of the bullpen. As of now though, the success of the program is still in question with the likes of Ronny Cedeno, Angel Guzman and Felix Pie still not playing larger roles with the big league club. Here's a rundown of some players the Cubs have signed from their Latin American program who have made it to the professional level:

1996 - Francis Beltran (P)
1997 - Juan Cruz (P), Carlos Zambrano (P)
1999 - Ronny Cedeno (IF), Carlos Marmol (C)*, Angel Guzman (P), Jose Reyes (C), Reynel Pinto (P)
2000 - Robinson Chirinos (IF)
2001 - Felix Pie (OF), Juan Mateo (P), Carlos Rojas (IF), Alberto Garcia (OF), Edward Campusano (P), Adalberto Mendez (P), Issmael Salas (IF)
2003 - Jon Mota (IF)
2004 - Wellington Castillo (C)
2005 - Marco Carillo (P), Rafael Dolis (P)
2006 - Larry Suarez (P), Robert Hernandez (P), Marwin Gonzalez (IF), Gian Guzman (IF), Herman Ramos (P)

*Carlos Marmol was originally signed as a catcher but quickly was converted to a pitcher. Thankfully.

The 2006 class is highly thought of by the Cubs organization with 17 year-old Larry Suarez being the team's big signing. Hopefully some of these players will contribute to the big club in the future and the Cubs will continue to improve their Latin American program. But for now, let's hope some of our other guys step up and play big roles in next years team just the Rockies big 3 stepped up for their team this year.