Yankees Editorial: Why They Have To Hope Yadier Alvarez Gets Cleared To Sign Soon

The Yankees spent a ton of money in the international market to target bats. They gave out $30 million in bonuses, obliterating their limit (so there goes the theory they are cheap). The Yankees spent most of their first few draft picks on arms like Jacob Lindgren and Austin DeCarr.

Hector Olivera was just allowed to sign with a team late Friday night, but as I’ve mentioned in this space before, the Yankees will not be in on his services.

There is an intriguing prospect in Yadier Alvarez, who if he clears before July 2nd, would be a great addition for the Yankees to add. 19 year old kids who throw 97 as starters don’t grow on trees. There’s a reason teams are ready to scoop him up.

According to Baseball America’s Ben Badler, Alvarez is lobbying to sign immediately. He just established residency in Haiti, but Badler describes the important hurdle Alvarez must clear:

"However, while Alvares is not registered to sign during the current signing period, it’s believed he is trying to become eligible to sign immediately. According to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, a player who misses the registration deadline (which for the current signing period would have been May 15, 2014) “will not be eligible to be signed during the next signing period unless the Commissioner determines that the player has a compelling justification for his failure to register.”Since Alvares was living in Cuba at the time, he could argue that he has “a compelling justification for his failure to register” because he was legally prevented from doing so at the time. However, the commissioner’s office has never granted an exemption to its registration policy, and it has made clear that it does not intend to change its consistent policy in the future. The league has never been forced make a decision about its registration policy with regards to a Cuban player before, so whatever its decides on Alvares will have larger ramifications on the future of young Cuban signings."

If he isn’t cleared, because the Yankees already spent so much, can only get him for at most $300k. They have as much chance of signing him for that as Kentucky does losing to a 16 seed in round one of the NCAA tourney.

The Yankees have to hope he gets cleared, and if he does, it’s time to throw the chips on the table.

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