Editorials

Dodgers Among Teams Interested In Cuba’s Yasmani Tomas

[new_royalslider id=”340″] The Los Angeles Dodgers are certainly strangers when it comes to international signings. In recent years, they’ve added Ersibel Arruebarrena, Alex Guerrero, Yasiel Puig, Hyun-Jin Ryu and others.

Puig and Ryu have undoubtedly had the biggest impact to this point, though given the uncertainty surrounding Hanley Ramirez’s free agency status, the international infielders that have been signed could see their roles increase in 2015. According to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com, the Dodgers have taken interest in Cuban outfielder Yasmani Tomas:

Puig not necessarily withstanding, Tomas fits the mold of another power-hitting outfielder from Cuba, according to As has seemingly been the case with outfielder who have defected from Cuba, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America:

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, and with Jose Abreu already gone, the only player still in Cuba with more raw power than him was Alfredo Despaigne.

Tomas defected in June after having played for Industriales since 2008. The power right-handed batter was also part of Cuba’s national team at the 2013 World Baseball Classic. In the tournament, Tomas went 6-for-16 with two home runs and one double.

Where Tomas would factor into the Dodgers’ outfield picture is a bit muddied. While there have been rumors Puig is on the trade market, it’s difficult to fathom him being moved. Along with having a crowded Major-League outfield, there’s Joc Pederson who’s at the most, a year away from reaching the Majors.

Tomas looks to follow in the footsteps of Puig, Yoenis Cespedes, Jose Abreu and Rusney Castillo, who have all defected and signed lucrative contracts with Major League Baseball teams.

8 Comments

  1. The Only PR move that Dodgers management could do that would be worse than not having them on TV all year would be to trade Puig. It would be the Mike Piazza trade all over again.

  2. “The Los Angeles Dodgers are certainly strangers when it comes to international signings.”

    In a bit of a rush to get a story, any story, out are you?
    How about *are certainly NOT strangers*

  3. Outfielders we’ve got; how about middle relievers and I don’t care about the country of origin if they can throw strikes.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button