Last week, The United States government removed Leslie Anderson, a Cuban defector from it’s blocked list. They no longer deem him as a threat to spread communism through out the western world, nor will he use his untold wealth-to-be to finance the Cuban government. Anderson held an open work out for over half (rumored) of the teams in major league baseball in Cancun, Mexico. What did they see? Nobody is sure yet, but if you listen to Anderson’s agent Jaime Torres, he could sign as early as this week with a major league team.
Anderson leaves Cuba after 9 seasons and a couple of gold gloves. In 2828 career at bats he had .320 batting averag with 79 home runs, 452 runs bated in, and 35 stolen bases, while sporting a 975 def. rating. Last season he hit .381 with 13 hr, 66 rbi, and 6 sb’s in 299 at bats. The Cuban baseball system identified Anderson at a young age and trained him through their special baseball academy before he joined the Cuban league. The 6’1″, 203 pound Anderson is major league ready by many accounts.
Where does that leave him? What major league team is going to shell out the cash to get him? What will that price be? How does he fit into fantasy baseball? A lot of questions to be sure. It took Kendry Morales 4 years to adjust to the American game, and I’m not convinced that hes on the same level as Morales. However, unlike Morales he can play all 3 outfield positions as well as first base and has a cannon for an arm. This alone may make him somewhat useful.
Projecting him is going to be awfully tough at the moment, we need to see where he lands and what he can actually do against world class pitchers. I think a very early projection would put him at .270 with 10 hr’s and 50 rbi’s in about 400 at bats, while playing good defense at one of the 3 outfield positions or at first base. He should go for about $6-$7 in most auctions, still I think we need to see something before we can really fine tune our projection.
The bottom line is that it’s too early to tell about Leslie Anderson. One thing is for sure, someone is going to give him a big pay day. He won’t get Aroldis Chapman money ($30 million), but he will get a helluva lot more than he would playing in Cuba or Mexico. Keep checking back with us, and we will project him when he signs with a team. OH, and don’t forget to thank uncle Fidel for the talent streaming out of his country these days, we appreciate it!
2/18/2010 *Update* - Jorge Arangure Jr. from ESPN the magazine reports today that around 9 teams, none of which sent a GM, showed up for a less than impressive show case. It’s yet to be determined if another showcase will be held to increase his value, or if he take what he can and report. As I said earlier, it’s too early to tell how this is going to play out, but we will keep you updated.
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