Friday, Jul. 03, 2009

Cards win race to ink Dominican prospect — for near-record $3.1 million

ST. LOUIS -- Center fielder Wagner Mateo is only 16, but his arrival at the big-league level might not be far away.

The St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday signed the talented prospect from the Dominican Republic for $3.1 million --the second-largest bonus ever given to a free agent from Latin America.

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Mateo, who bats and throws left-handed, also was hotly pursued by the San Francisco Giants.

"It's a significant deal for us if you think about the investment we've made in Latin America over the last few years and the commitment we've made to trying to be more aggressive in that players' market," Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak said. "So to be able to get a deal like this --a top player in that market --says a lot. We're excited to have Mateo in our organization."

Mozeliak said for Mateo, considered the top prospect in Latin America, to reach the major leagues while he's still a teenager "would be a little aggressive."

"But he's that type of talent," he said. "He's a very polished hitter. He's very advanced for his age. In terms of how quickly he can move, we do think he can be on the fast track. To say by the age of 19 is a little bit of a reach for us, but we're comfortable thinking that at a very young age, he'll be in the big leagues.

"We have talked about the likelihood of him reaching here at a certain age, but I think it's really hard to handicap as we sit here today. Putting him in real organized baseball will be the true test. I do think he'll be a quick mover for someone who's physically mature. He still has some work to do, but he's advanced for 16."

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa wasn't even aware that the team had signed Mateo, but was glad to hear the news.

"They signed the young guy?" La Russa said. "Good. It's all about getting talent. It's the lifeblood of this game."

Mozeliak said a few details remain before Mateo could begin playing for the Cardinals' Dominican Summer League team, including passing a physical.

"You have to do a lot of background information down there --dealing with age and also trying to do verification on some things," Mozeliak said. "But a lot of that has already been done. Major League Baseball has ramped up how they do those checks as well. So overall, we think the process should go quickly.

"Once we get that tackled, if there's time to play in the DSL this year, we'd like him to do that."

The DSL regular season ends Aug. 21.

"I am proud to sign with the Cardinals, a team with so much history," said Mateo, who projects as an above-average hitter with decent speed and defensive ability.

"I know this guy had a market and I know his talent warranted other teams' interest," Mozeliak said. "He's very advanced.

"This was a young man that was showcased extensively in the spring-training camps of Florida and Arizona. He was well-scouted, and he performed at a high level. Being able to watch what he did and have so many different people see him, that helped our confidence level of trying to aggressively pursue that."

Mozeliak views Mateo in the same way as many of the first-round picks in the recent amateur draft.

"If you tried to look at where would he be if he were in high school right now, I think he'd be in that elite group of players," Mozeliak said. "If he were in the draft, we valued him as someone that would be in that top 10."

Mateo is so blessed with ability that Mozeliak said no one in the Cardinals' scouting department was against doing whatever it took to sign him.

"The one thing that made myself and ownership feel this made a lot of sense was just the overall conviction our scouting department had on this young man," Mozeliak said. "We've all been in meetings where people talk highly about a player, but this was across the board on how people looked and evaluated this young man. That's why we decided to be aggressive here and try to get something done."

The Cardinals still haven't signed their No. 1 pick, Shelby Miller, a right-handed pitcher from Brownwood High in Brownwood, Texas. The two sides aren't close, but Mozeliak said that has nothing to do with the Cardinals' focus on Mateo.

"I do not think any of that had anything to do with not addressing Miller at this time," Mozeliak said. "My guess is players are going to take their time in the first round. I suspect it's going to be an 11th-hour type of decision."

The deadline to sign players taken is the draft is Aug. 17.