Yankees Dominican Summer League Rosters

by: Ben Embry

The Dominican Summer League starts today.  Like previous years, the Yankees will be fielding two teams.  As you'll recall, New York invested over $30 million in several international free agents, (IFA for short), last July in an unprecedented spending spree.   By most accounts, New York signed 10 of the top 30 IFA, including highly touted prospects SS/3B Dermis Garcia, CF/RF Juan de Leon, and 3B Nelson Gomez.  Of the 10 elite prospects signed, all but Dermis Garcia and 18 year old Korean SS Hy-Joon Park are starting their summers in the Dominican, (see the rosters here: DSL Yankees 1 and DSL Yankees 2).  Here are the main prospects:

DSL Yankees 1
SS Diego Castillo
SS Wilkerman Garcia
3B Nelson Gomez

DSL Yankees 2
C Miguel Flames
RF Jonathan Amundaray
CF Antonio Arias
CF/RF Juan de Leon
RF/LF Brayan Emery

Honestly, I expected most of these players to begin their careers in the United States playing in the Gulf Coast League.  That season does not start for another 2-3 weeks, so I guess it's possible that they will play a handful of games here before coming up to the GCL.  However, most of  the times prospects play whole seasons in the Dominican and do not make that transition in the middle of a season.  If anything, I'm guessing anybody who comes up will do so in July or August.

There are a handful of other prospects on these rosters worth noting, including two prospects who made my Preseason top 30 lists for hitters and pitchers: #30 hitter SS Yonauris Rodriguez and #29 SP Orby Tavares.  The Yankees signed 8 other players last summer to 6 figure contracts that I will be tracking this summer: C Jason Lopez, CF Lisandro Blanco, RF Leobaldo Cabrera, RF/LF Frederick Cuevas, and CF Pablo Olivares on DSL Yankees 1 and SS/2B Griffin Garabito, SS Danienger Perez, and CF Raymundo Moreno on DSL Yankees 2.

Yankees International Spending Spree Has Begun

Here is what the Yankees did in Day One of the International spending period:

16 year old Venezuelan shortstop Wilkerman Garcia for $1.35 million. Garcia was ranked the 7th best prospect by Baseball America and 14th by MLB.com

16 year old Dominican third baseman Nelson Gomez for $2.25 million. MLB.com had Gomez ranked as the second best prospect and Baseball American had him ranked sixth.

16 year old Dominican shortstop Dermis Garcia for $3.2 million. This was expected as the Yankees announced a verbal agreement with the best prospect available according to MLB.com and ninth best according to Baseball America.

16 year old  Venezuelan shortstop Diego Castillo for $750K. Castillo was ranked 16th by MLB.com and 24th overall by Baseball America.

16 year old Dominican outfielder Frederick Cuevas for $300K. Cuevas was not ranked by any major media outlets and is a relative unknown at this point.

Let TheYankees International Spending Spree Begin

As of midnight this morning the International spending period has begun so let the New York Yankees spending spree begin! The Yankees are expected to spend in upwards of $30 million this spending period including the fees and penalties associated with going over their allotment and spending cap.

The Yankees already have verbal agreements with shortstop Dermis Garcia is set to sign for $3.6 million, third basemen Nelson Gomez is set to sign a $2.8 million contract, and shortstop Christopher Torres is ready to sign for $2.6 million. All three players are 16 years old and from the Dominican Republic. The Yankees have reportedly agreed to other verbal agreements as well so stay tuned, it's going to be a fun one. 

Yankees Have Verbal Agreements w/ Three IFA's

The International spending signing period starts on July 2 and the Yankees are ahead of the game with three verbal agreements with international free agents already. As you remember the Yankees are said to be willing to go somewhere in the $25-$30 million range this season including penalties, which would blow their international spending cap out of the water.

Shortstop Dermis Garcia is set to sign for $3.6 million, third basemen Nelson Gomez is set to sign a $2.8 million contract, and shortstop Christopher Torres is ready to sign for $2.6 million. All three players are 16 years old and from the Dominican Republic.

Yankees International Spending Coming Into Focus

The international spending spree for the New York Yankees begins on July, 2 this year as the new international signing period begins. The Yankees have said that they plan to blow the international spending limit cap out of the water and spend somewhere in the $15-$20 million range this signing period and deal with the spending limitations and penalties for the next two seasons in hope for an International Draft to be implemented. The players and cash allotment are starting to come into focus according to Ben Badler who has the Yankees signing at least four players for $2 million or more this signing period.

The Yankees are said to have verbal deals with outfielder Juan De Leon, shortstop Dermis Garcia, third basemen Nelson Gomez, and shortstop Christopher Torres. All four players are 16 years old and coming out of the Dominican Republic. De Leon seems to be the Yankees top priority as he has the potential for plus power in the future and has great bat speed as a right handed hitter. Garcia has "some of the best raw power in the 2014 class," Nelson has shown good hands and a good glove along with some pop, and Torres is a switch hitting shortstop that screams Cito Culver to me.

Assuming all these deals get done that is only somewhere in the neighborhood of $9 million so if you believe the rumors the Yankees have plenty of money left for pitching. The Rays, Red Sox, and Brewers are following suit and are expected to spend heavily internationally this season, although not as much as New York. It's going to be an interesting couple of months in Yankee land and I personally cannot wait for July 2nd.

Yankees Have Around $12 Million Committed In International Signing

The New York Yankees have said they plan to rebuild their farm system by blowing everyone out of the water this year in the International free agent market. This is also a ploy to try and get ahead of the game for if and when an International Draft is instituted in the game. The Yankees have somewhere around $2 million in cap room before the penalties kick in but New York is said to have somewhere around $12 million in verbal commitments, something not uncommon, already with a few months left to go before the signing period begins.

The list has a bunch of names you probably have never heard of yet but you certainly will because they are some of the top prospects in what is widely considered to be a strong class this season. Names like Dermis Garcia and Nelson Gomez(both Dominican third basemen), Juan De Leon (Dominican center fielder), Jonathan Amundaray (Venezuelan outfielder), Chris Torres (Dominican shortstop), and Diego Castillo (Venezuelan shortstop).

The original article we posted stated the Yankees may be willing to go around the $15 million range and incur major penalties for the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 signing periods but now it seems more like New York could go closer to $20 million. The farm system would be instantly formidable and that really excites me, penalties or not.