So today, we will look at the case of Luis Heredia. Heredia is widely considered to be the best player in this class. He is a right-handed pitcher from Mexico.
It has long been understood that Veracruz, a Mexican League team, held the rights to Luis Heredia. This would make his case something similar to what you see for players like Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka and Cincinnati’s Aroldis Chapman in that the Major League Baseball teams would have to submit bids to Veracruz to vie for Heredia’s services. This would also open up the possibility for Veracruz to accept any bid they want, not necessarily the top bid, which, due to other circumstances surrounding Mexican League baseball and Latin American free agency in general, makes everyone nervous.
However, a wrench was thrown into the works when ESPN’s Jorge Arangure reported that Heredia’s mom was claiming that there was no contract between Heredia and Veracruz. Of course, if this is true, Heredia would be a true free agent and he and his family would be deciding where he would end up instead of the Mexican League team.
This makes sense for the Heredia’s based on the economics of the situation. If Veracruz sells the rights of Heredia to an MLB team, several people are going to be getting a cut. First of all, the Mexican League team is going to get the lion’s share of the money. Second, an agent will be paid. Lastly, Heredia will receive a very small amount on which he will also have to pay taxes. It is also an economic reality that the winning bid will be less than what Heredia would have received if he were a true free agent. As a free agent, an agent would still receive a cut but the Mexican League team would be cut out and Heredia and his family would get the largest part of the signing bonus.
Arangure has also reported that the situation is further complicated because of a disagreement between Heredia’s mother and father, who are no longer married. It is not clear what that disagreement entails but they are not of one mind on how to proceed with regard to their son’s MLB status.
So what next? No one knows. If there is a legitimate dispute on Heredia’s contractual status with Veracruz, this could end up in court. We don’t have an expert on Mexican courts here at Baseball Instinct but, if they are anything like American courts, it could be awhile before either the Mexican League team is taking bids or the Heredia family is taking offers.
However, at this point, it seems safe to say there are essentially three teams in the running. The Pirates look to be the favorites, with the Yankees and the Blue Jays on the periphery. The Pirates have to be praying this is resolved soon, though, because any significant delay seems to weigh in favor of the Yankees. It seems much less likely the Pirates could earmark $3-4 million for a long period of time and just let it sit there waiting to pay it for Heredia. The Yankees on the other hand… well, I think we all know that $3-4 million isn’t going to affect those guys much. The Blue Jays are in stronger financial position than the Pirates but it still doesn’t seem like they could just sit on that kind of money into the offseason just hoping they can land Heredia, especially when they are probably behind Pittsburgh and New York in the race to get him.
That concludes our three-part series on the 2010 International Free Agency period. However, we will of course keep you up to date should anything actually occur. We hope you have enjoyed this series and look forward to keeping you informed on everything internationally flavored going forward.
Update: Reports are stating that the Pirates have indeed come to terms with 16 year old RHP Luis Heredia out of Mexico. The $2.6m bonus is the highest International signing by the Pirates ever. The Pirates have made a huge splash for the system this year with the signings of Taillon, Allie and now Heredia.
All details on the signing of Heredia are not yet known but we’ll keep you informed as those details become known.
