Reports link Oakland Athletics to talented prospect De le Cruz
The 2010 season in Major League Baseball ended with the National League champions, San Francisco Giants beating the American League Champions, Texas Rangers, for the World Series title, earlier this month.
For all the 30 teams in the league, the time to fight for a spot in the playoffs has ended and with the biggest year in the game coming to a close, there is a prospect to sign in players from the free agents’ market that went online, recently.
The opportunity to close down gaps with veteran players has come and many ball clubs are looking for the right set of abilities to utilize in crossing out weaknesses in the roster and management.
The New York Yankees are in hot pursuit of top pitcher Cliff Lee and while the chase for the top man on the mound is on, the Yanks are trying to retain veteran Derek Jeter with a multiyear deal. Their rivals, the Boston Red Sox have injury problems and they
are trying their best to find replacements in the short span of time available. Jayson Werth and Carl Crawford are on the list of the team and if things go smooth, the side will sign the veterans on.
The Oakland Athletics on the other hand are making strides towards the international market. Their aim is to sign on good players who can groom the talent at home. Hisashi Iwakuma of the Japanese team has been under negotiations with the side and while that
has been going on, the A’s have made another signing in the form of a young player originating from the Dominican Republic.
The 16 year old, De la Cruz has been training at the La Academia Complex in Santo Domingo. Baseball America issued a statement on the youngster citing a scout’s assessment, that the hitter possesses “some of the best all-around tools of any prospect from
this year's international signing class.”
Meanwhile, General Manager of the Oakland club, Billy Beane, has come out to comment on Iwakuma’s signing possibility by saying, “We're not going to comment a whole lot on the negotiations (with Iwakuma) until hopefully it's completed. If, ultimately, the
negotiations with him are successful, we should be in pretty good shape. Pitching was an obvious strength for us. Using pitching depth to acquire a position player was something we set out to do at the beginning of offseason”.
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