Diamondbacks Break Record, Sign Yoan Lopez

PHOENIX - The Arizona Diamondbacks continued their pursuit of Cuban talent by signing RHP Yoan Lopez with a record breaking bonus. Thanks to new international prospect guidelines the Diamondbacks were able to offer Lopez $8.27 million, beating the $8 million bonus given to Cuban infielder Roberto Baldoquin by the Angels about a week ago. Thanks to bonus restrictions only a small handful of teams were able to meet Lopez's price tag. The Dodgers, Padres, Yankees, and Reds were all involved in the bidding process.

Lopez, a 21-year-old Cuban defector, has taken up residence in Haiti and is training in the Dominican Republic while working out for MLB scouts. He held a showcase in November of last year and participated in a number of private workouts, and he came away impressed with Tony La Russa and the Diamondbacks organization. One surprising bit of information that has leaked out is that Arizona was not the highest bidder, so La Russa must be doing something right. He should be invited to Spring Training, but most expect he will start the 2015 in Class-A.

Lopez is a very interesting prospect with a wide arsenal of pitches and a decent build, things could change with coaching but there is a lot to work with. Lopez's best pitch is his fastball that sits in the 93-95 range with reports of him hitting 100 at times, he also uses a cutter, changeup, curveball, and a slider.

Will Lopez be worth the trouble?

The signing of Lopez represents a risky move, but not just in terms of how he pans out as a prospect. The $8.27 million bonus, well over international signing limits for the period, essentially wipes out Arizona's ability to sign high-end prospects for the next two signing periods. The team will be limited to $300,000 bonus payments during that period, hardly anything, and with the team headed for one of the worst records in baseball it could wipe out a larger bonus pool. Once you take the future costs of signing Lopez into account, he could be the most expensive pitching prospect in history.

The Diamondbacks also announced the hiring of Ariel Prieto, also Cuban, to the Diamondbacks MLB coaching staff. Prieto will serve as a coach and a translator, the same role he served with the Oakland A's while working with Yoenis Cespedes. Prieto will likely work primarily with Arizona's other expensive Cuban import, Yasmy Tomas.