Red Sox Prospect Daniel Flores Dies of Cancer

nvalvo

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I thought it would be good to have a thread to keep track of news related to the 2017 International Signing period. I'll start.

The Red Sox have been linked to the top prospect out of Venezuela — and certainly a top 5 International prospect overall — a 16 y/o switch-hitting catcher named Daniel Flores.

Heyman says it's a done deal. They're expected to give him most of their signing budget, more than $3m of a signing pool worth less than $5m.

 

simplicio

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A link cause I had to brush up on the new IFA signing rules: the 4.75 million the Sox have for a cap is now a hard limit, though it can be adjusted via trade and penalized for signing recipients of a QO. Bonuses of $10,000 or less don't count against the cap.

MLB has Flores at #2 overall in the class; Baseball America calls him the best international catching prospect since Gary Sanchez. I'm excited! Also, whatever happened to our last exciting catching prospect?
 

nvalvo

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It's July 2nd!

As expected, the Sox have signed Daniel Flores for $3.1m.
They also added Danny Diaz for $1.6m, and Antoni Flores for $1.4m. Both are Venezuelan shortstops.

They traded Nick Longhi to the Reds for the cap space necessary to do all that. Why the Reds want Nick Longhi more than cap space beats me.

I'm hardly expert in these matters, but it seems striking that they are paying so much attention to the high end of the market, rather than spreading out a bunch of $300,000 bonuses or whatever, and also that all three of their high-profile signings are Venezuelan.
 

Cuzittt

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The Reds have lots of cap space... but are restricted to 300K or less signings because they blew by the cap last year.

That is why they'll take Longhi. They can't spend to their cap.
 

RoDaddy

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Great news on Flores. We were all spoiled by the farm system's golden age of prospects going back only a few years, but additions like Flores and Houck, and the emergence of Mata and Chavis are encouraging
 

Cesar Crespo

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It's July 2nd!

As expected, the Sox have signed Daniel Flores for $3.1m.
They also added Danny Diaz for $1.6m, and Antoni Flores for $1.4m. Both are Venezuelan shortstops.

They traded Nick Longhi to the Reds for the cap space necessary to do all that. Why the Reds want Nick Longhi more than cap space beats me.

I'm hardly expert in these matters, but it seems striking that they are paying so much attention to the high end of the market, rather than spreading out a bunch of $300,000 bonuses or whatever, and also that all three of their high-profile signings are Venezuelan.
Longhi had a terrible April but has been pretty good since then and had a great June. He's still 21.
 

nvalvo

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The Reds have lots of cap space... but are restricted to 300K or less signings because they blew by the cap last year.

That is why they'll take Longhi. They can't spend to their cap.
That explains a lot. It's an interesting loophole.

Longhi had a terrible April but has been pretty good since then and had a great June. He's still 21.
I also thought Longhi was older than he actually is. Thank you for setting me straight.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Baseball America has us signing SS Nelfy Abreu DR and SS Denny Daza Venezuela. No contract information.
 

SouthernBoSox

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Absolutely insane. 17, just made millions of dollars, set up for life coming from nothing.

Fucking sucks.
 

paulb0t

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Oh my god. I saw the report that he may miss some of 2018 due to an undisclosed health issue, but this is just awful. Out of nowhere, too. 17 years old. Jesus.
 

simplicio

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Terrible. Glad his family will be well provided for at least, but that's small comfort.
 

Byrdbrain

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Oh my god. I saw the report that he may miss some of 2018 due to an undisclosed health issue, but this is just awful. Out of nowhere, too. 17 years old. Jesus.
Yeah I saw that report probably about 2 hours ago.
Crazy and sad.
 

simplicio

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"Complications from cancer treatment" often means a very weakened immune system that can't handle ordinary viruses, especially if there's been something like a bone marrow transplant.
 

mauidano

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"Complications from cancer treatment" often means a very weakened immune system that can't handle ordinary viruses, especially if there's been something like a bone marrow transplant.
Tragic for his family of course but why are the Sox giving $3 million to a young man who is so ill that three months later he is dead? Was there any due diligence?
 

SouthernBoSox

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The point being that with a lack of symptoms cancer can be incredibly difficult to detect, even with a rigouris physical and tests
 

simplicio

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And again, "complications due to treatment" doesn't necessarily speak to the severity of the disease itself. Even perfectly healthy people pick up fatal hospital-borne infections and illness way more than you probably want to think about.
 

tmorgan

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Aug 27, 2005
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This is really depressing but it did say he was being treated in Boston so that's at least taking it very seriously and hopefully less likely to have a hospital acquired infection while immunocompromised. That description could very easily have applied to me at a couple of points in my treatment neither due to anything foreseeable, preventable or any external infections. No idea how common those things are in general but lymphomas are likely culprits in young men in general and usually very treatable as the Sox have already experienced. It's terrible luck and doesn't imply in any way that Flores could have done or known anything different or fought any harder.
 

santadevil

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There is a main board thread too, it was pancreatic cancer.
Went to Boston a week ago to get his severe lower back pain looked into