According to Ben Badler of Baseball America, 23-year-old outfielder Yasmani Tomas has defected from his home island of Cuba, and is now looking for a contract with an MLB team.
Teams interested in Tomas will not be subjected to international costless agency restrictions, because Tomas has been playing professional baseball in Cuba for five seasons.
"A righthanded-hitting corner outfielder, Tomas can hit towering home runs thanks to the strength from his thickly-built 6-foot-1, 230-pound frame. Tomas has 70 raw power on the 20-80 scale," Badler writes. "He has some experience in center field and is a decent runner for his size, but his speed is still below-average and he’s going to be a corner outfielder in pro ball."
Power is far and away the most intruiging skill in Tomas' arsenal. While he swing is unrefined, his raw power is comparable to fellow Cuban Jose Abreu, who has 21 homeruns and a .609 slugging percentage in his first 60 MLB games. Abreu's 21 bombs are the third most in all of baseball, and only two behind the leaders. In Abreu, the Chicago White Sox have seemingly found a cornerstone player to build around. Tomas has a similar skillset, and he is four years younger.
There will certainly be a ton of teams involved in Tomas. The ability to acquire a potentially elite young talent, while only giving up money is incredibly enticing for MLB teams. International costless agency commonly offers MLB teams the best chance to acquire these young players, making teams sign huge contracts for unproven players. While it is risky, there are plenty of success stories.
Ever since Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer took over the baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs, the North Siders have been heavily involved in IFA. While the only high-level player they have landed has been outfield prospect Jorge Soler, the Cubs have been serious contenders on almost every recent IFA that has become available. Most recently, the Cubs reportedly had the second highest offer to Masahiro Tanaka, before he signed a $155 million deal with the New York Yankees.
While the Cubs have just missed out on the likes of Tanaka, Yu Darvish, Yoenis Cespedes and Hyun-Jin Ryu, it proves that the front office sees a legitimate opportunity in IFA. After missing out on Tanaka this offseason, the Cubs mostly sat out of costless agency. Epstein and Hoyer have said many times that the money that was set aside for Tanaka will be rolled over, and is ready to be used however the baseball operations see fit.
How about for a 23-year-old near MLB ready OF, with huge power and a ton of upside? Tomas appears to be a perfect fit for the Cubs. Not only do they have clear needs in their MLB outfield, Tomas is of similar age to the Cubs’ most intriguing talent. Anthony Rizzo (24), Starlin Castro (24), Kris Bryant (22) and Javier Baez (21) make up an incredibly talented offensive core for the Cubs.
Rizzo and Castro are showing huge progress at the major league level this season, while Bryant and Baez are going through the final stages of development at Triple-A. Expect all four of these supremely gifted players to be in the MLB lineup together starting sometime next season.
Adding Tomas to this stock of talented young players would make the Cubs an even more interesting squad.
He will not come cheap, but the Cubs’ front office puts a premium on power hitting prospects, and Tomas certainly fits that mold. This appears to be a match made in heaven so the Cubs could be heavily involved for his services.