Wagner Mateo Vs. Gary Sanchez
Earlier this month, the Yankees signed 16-year old catcher Gary Sanchez from the Dominican Republic. New York gave Sanchez a $3 million signing bonus.
Sanchez’s signing bonus ranks as the 4th highest in Yankees history behind Hideki Irabu ($8.5 million in 1997), Jose Contreras ($6 million in 2002) and Andrew Brackman ($3.35 million in the 2007).
At the same time, the Cardinals signed 16-year old outfielder Wagner Mateo also from the Dominican Republic. St. Louis gave Mateo a $3.1 million signing bonus.
Mateo’s signing bonus is the 2nd highest bonus ever paid to a Latin American free agent – and the largest to a hitter, trailing the $4.25 million which the Oakland A’s gave pitcher Michael Ynoa last year. His bonus also topped J.D. Drew’s $3 million signing bonus as the most the Cardinals have ever paid to a prospect.
So, here, we have Wagner Mateo at $3.1 million and Gary Sanchez at $3 million – both signed in this year’s international signing period. It will be very interesting to watch these two highly touted Dominican 16-year olds and see which team, between the Yankees and the Cardinals, made the best $3 million investment.
I think it’s at least equally interesting that ownership, at least according to the source I read (I can’t remember where), only permitted the signing of Sanchez or Sano, not both.