White Sox Agree To Terms With The Brother Of Fernando Tatis Jr., White Sox Fans Have Obvious Meltdown
I mean normally this isn’t a big deal WHATSOEVER but it will be made out to be because of everything that has gone down with the White Sox the last ummmmm 10 years or so. So I’m not going to give the White Sox any shit for this, though it’s inevitable they do get shit for it from a lot of the fanbase.
Here are a few of the common jabs they’ll see:
“Signing his brother to prep for when Tatis Jr. is a free agent in 6 years!”
“Can’t wait to trade him for Chris Sale in 2 years!”
“Future 2B for the San Diego Padres!”
And on and on and on. But again… this really isn’t a big deal at all, like… at all. In the least. It’s ironic and funny, sure. But nothing ANYONE on earth should chastise or laugh at the organization for if looking at it with a rational mind.
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If you’re not a White Sox/Chicago fan, we’re laughing at this because the White Sox traded Tatis Jr. for James Shields 3 years ago in hopes to “compete” for the AL Central crown. Tatis Jr. had yet to play a game at that point and was hardly regarded by anyone at all as some future super star, while Shields went on to put up an 18-41 record and about a 1 billion ERA for the Sox. Shields is now obviously out of baseball and Tatis is anchoring down SS for the Padres as a 20 year freak show. Awesome!
Now the one thing that is not the best look for the White Sox is that Elijah is only 17 years old. Technically he’s not allowed to agree to terms with a team until July 2nd, which is the day the new international year starts. The White Sox won’t be able to comment on this signing until then, but for whatever reason it’s common industry standard for organizations to be tied to players/their handlers and have handshake agreements in place with them without making it officially official until that date. Now I don’t know if it’s common for actual numbers to come out 4 months before the J2 date, so the Sox might get a slap on the wrist for this, but again every team does this so it’s more than likely what ever.
$500,000 is a decent enough pay day for a LatAm player though, so he is probably held in decent or better regard. His older brother signed for $825K back in 2015, nothing *too* crazy, and he was ranked the 27th best international prospect back then. On the other end of the spectrum, Ronald Acuna only got $100K, while Rusney Castillo got about $72MM though that was before the new rules kicked in. All of that is what makes the LatAm market the wild wild west. Just a massive crap shoot.
Elijah, 17 years old, may very well be a stud one day. Or he might not. NOBODY knows at this juncture. What we do know is that signings like this are complete wild cards for the most part. Hopefully Marco Paddy pulled another rabbit out of his hat and found the next freak show like he did with Tatis’ brother. I do really like his frame though. Tall, lean, wiry, athletic and still growing. Could really fill out as his brother did.
If you were to look at a 16-17 year old LatAm prospect and mold them into what a future stud *should* look like, Elijah Tatis is it. He’s got the physical frame every scout looks for in an international signee.
But as of now, this quote in the ESPN article sticks out to me the most:
“Elijah se parece más a su padre que a su hermano como jugador. Ya lo firmamos y tenemos programado que debute en el profesionalismo con nuestra filial de la Liga Dominicana de Verano este año”, dijo un representante de Chicago que prefirió mantenerse en el anonimato.
This translates to “Elijah is thought to compare more to his father than his brother as a player”. Not cool fam. But again, NOBODY knows how he’s gonna fill out and develop. Nobody on the planet. Could be a freak, could fizzle out before he reaches Birmingham. We’ll see.
PS – never forget
I broke the Fernando Tatis story a week before all of the big guns did. Once I opened my idiotic mouth, it almost fucked up the trade because other teams checked in on Shields. If only I ya know…. ACTUALLY fucked up the trade, the Sox would be cooking with gas right now. Moncada at 3B, Tatis Jr. at SS, Anderson at 2B.
But nope! Godfuckingdamnit it makes my blood boil