Should the Yankees Look Into The Defected Gurriel Brothers?

According to MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez, sources have indicated that Yulieski Gurriel and younger brother Lourdes Gurriel have both defected from Cuba while the Cuban National Team was competing in the Dominican Republic during the Caribbean Baseball Series this past weekend.

Each will seek a contract with a Major League club, which can potentially will make whatever’s left of the current off-season much more interesting, especially considering both brothers and their talent level. After all, both Yulieski and Lourdes Gurriel are considered two of the best international players, and now they will join the free-agent frenzy for MLB clubs to bid over.

Our question over at Yanks Go Yard now becomes whether or not the Yankees should pursuer either of the Gurriel’s?

Yulieski, 31, is one of Cuba’s most popular players. He competed for Cuba in the 2004 Olympics and also represented his native country in all three World Baseball Classic’s to date. He also was a member of the Cuban Championship teams that took home gold at the Pan Am Games, Central American Games, Caribbean Series’ and World Baseball Championships just to name a few.

The third baseman was also ranked by Baseball America’s Ben Badler as the No. 1 player remaining in Cuba after Yoan Moncada joined the Red Sox last season. He is a career .333/.414/.577 hitter over a 15-year span, including a brief cup of coffee over in Japan where he batted .305/.349/.536 with 11 homers in 62 games for the Yokohama Bay Stars.

Yulieski was slashing an insane .535/.604/1.012 with 10 homers in 106 plate appearances this season down in Cuba until he recently defected.

With his combination of power and speed, Yulieski has drawn major league comparisons to David Wright and the good version of Hanley Ramirez. Because of his age and professional experience in both Cuba and Japan, Yulieski would be free to sign with any of the 30 major league clubs, including the New York Yankees without restriction once he’s declared a free agent by the league.

However, I’m not so sure Yulieski fits the Yankees current structure. Not only would he be blocked at third by Chase Headley (signed through 2018) and blocked at second by the newly acquired Starlin Castro (signed through 2019), but the Cuban star is also set to turn 32-years old in June, which a little bit on the older side when it comes to the Yankees and their youth movement.

The only way I really see the Yankees pursuing Yulieski Gurriel is if they completely give up on the injured Greg Bird and try to convert the Cuban slugger across the diamond to an everyday first baseman, but even that seems far-fetched.

It’s also worth noting that he’ll probably place himself out of the Yankees price range. Remember, Hector Olivera received $62.5MM guaranteed from the Los Angeles Dodgers last March before being traded to the Braves, and he’s just 15 months younger than Yulieski Gurriel.

On the other hand, younger brother Lourdes Gurriel, who won’t turn 23 until October is a much better fit to the current and long-term layout of the New York Yankees. However, if he signs with a major league club before his 23rd birthday, it won’t be the New York Yankees.

The Yankees along with the Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Angels and Arizona Diamondbacks all exceeded their 2015-16 international spending pool, so they can’t sign any international free-agents until next signing period.

Should Lourdes wait until his 23rd birthday on October 19th, effectively sitting out the entire 2016 season, he would be free to sign with the New York Yankees or any others club without restriction.

Lourdes Gurriel will be an interesting case to watch. It’s unclear how long it’ll take the MLB to declare him a free-agent, but once they do he’ll likely have to wait just a few months to be exempt from bonus pool restrictions, which is obviously the more appealing route as I mentioned above.

While he doesn’t have quite the professional resume as his older brother, the 22-year old Lourdes owns a career .269/.355/.414 slash line in 1,036 professional at-bats. Known as a defensive standout, Lourdes has spent much of his time in Cuba at shortstop, but he also has experience at third, second and left field.

All signs point to Jorge Mateo being the Yankees shortstop of the future, but they don’t have any clear-cut long-term solutions at third base or left-field, making Lourdes quite appealing should he wait until October to test the waters during free-agency.

Next: A-Rod Emerging as a Leader for the Yankees

Both Yulieski and Lourdes Gurriel will need to establish residency in a new country before being declared a free agent by the MLB, which sometimes takes quite some time.

When they are both declared free-agents, it’ll be interesting to see if Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees enter the mix.