Written by Greg Fertel | 29 June 2008

BA has the story here.  They are reporting that Inoa to Oakland for a 4.25 million dollar bonus is a done deal.  This bonus would be record for a Latin teenager, about 2 million higher than the previous record.  This section of the article, however, which describes the Inoa negotiations, disturbs me:

The Yankees initially were the leader for Inoa, reportedly agreeing to terms with Inoa's Dominican buscon on a deal with a $2.7 million bonus. However, multiple sources have indicated that Katz was then brought into the deal and raised the signing bar to a minimum of $3.5 million. The Yankees reportedly dropped out at that point in principle over having had a deal struck and then taken away.

It seems that the Yankees had a deal in place with Inoa, and then the deal was broken, as Inoa's representation decided to raise the price. While I am fully supportive of players trying to get as much money as they can, backing out of an agreement is highly unethical. The Yankees' refusal to raise their offer from the previously agreed amount is certainly a principled stand, but it is hard to watch the Yankees lose out on a "generational" prospect because of principle. I am sure this is not the first time such shenanigans have occurred, given the unregulated nature of IFA scouting and signing. It has even happened in the Amateur draft, with the falling-out between the Dodgers and Luke Hochevar in 2005 a prime example (Hochevar had a deal in place, then fired his agent, hired Boras, and demanded more money). I am ok with the Yankees having principles and trying to have firm negotiating practices, but I wouldn't mind seeing them be a little more flexible in an instance when the player at hand is such an exceptional talent. I am sure the Yankees will get a bunch of great players this July 2, but if Inoa turns into the great pitcher the A's (and others) believe he will be, the Yankees are going to regret holding so firm to their principles. I guess I a more angry at Inoa for backing out on them than the Yankees for refusing to up their offer, but this seems like the type of signing that should have gotten done. In completely unrelated news, for those of you who are free tomorrow night, Baseball Prospectus is hosting what they call a Pizza Feed at Foley's NY on 33rd between 5th and 6th at 8 PM tomorrow night. They will be talking baseball (obviously), and there should be some great discussion. In addition to several members of the BP crew (Will Carroll, Joe Sheehan, Steve Goldman, etc.), other notable attendees will include Will Leitch (formerly of Deadspin) and the famous Peter Abraham of the LoHud Yankees blog.  I'm not 100% sure I'll be there, but if you are available, it could be a great opportunity to meet some great writers and hear some high quality baseball talk.  If I can go, I would definitely love to talk prospects, though BP's prospect guru, Kevin Goldstein, won't be there.

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