The Dodgers have signed 16-year-old Dominican outfielder Michael Medina and Dominican shortstop Carlos Aquino, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America & Roberto Baly of Vin Scully Is My Homeboy, respectively. Medina was signed for $275,000, whereas Aquino agreed for $75,000.

Medina, who is from Santo Domingo and trained with Amauris Nina, is 6-foot-2, 185 pounds and played in the International Prospect League all-star game last week. He showed a projectable frame with good bat speed from the right side, power and the ability to use the opposite field. He most likely projects as a corner outfielder, with a solid arm that could fit in right field.

Medina was one of the youngest players who became eligible to sign in 2012, as he didn’t turn 16 until Aug. 24. Had he been born a little more than a week later, he wouldn’t have been eligible to sign until July 2, 2013.

Carlos Aquino is a shortstop from Santiago D.R., which is the same town as Jose Reyes. The Dodgers and Aquino agree to a contract value of $75,000. The contract is pending MLB approval. I don’t have his exact age yet.

Here’s a YouTube video of Aquino batting for scouts last year in ‘Estadio Jose Reyes’. He’s batting left-handed here but I’m reading reports that he is a switch hitter.

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Both obviously still have work to do and have a long way to go, but most importantly, the Dodgers are leaving footprints all over the international market now, and it’s just weird (but awesome, of course) to experience.

The Dodgers have signed Dominican outfielder Ariel Sandoval for $150,000, according to Baseball America‘s Ben Badler.

The scouting report on Sandoval is promising:

Sandoval is 6-foot-2, 180 pounds and impressed the Dodgers with his potential to hit for both average and power from the right side of the plate. He’s an above-average runner who should begin his career in center field, though he has the arm strength to play right field if he outgrows the position.

Sandoval, 17, marks the first international amateur signing of over six figures since the new international scouting regime of the Dodgers was put into place. His signing is indicative of the continued emphasis on international player development that was lost under the Frank McCourt regime.

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The Dodgers have signed Felipe Burin, Eliezer Alfonzo, Brian Barden, Ramon Castro, and Matt Palmer to minor-league deals, and the latter four have invitations to Spring Training. The team also re-signed Danny Carela. Alfonzo and Castro, in particular, are the ones to pay attention to, as they will likely be looked at to push Tim Federowicz in camp.

As part of the ebb and flow nature of the game, the Dodgers released Derek Cone, Ronny Lugo, Bret Montgomery, Jason West, Mike Drowne, Matt Laney, Greg Wilborn, Steve Domecus, Andrew Edge, Kevin Thompson, Scott Woodward, and Charlie Mirabal. No real surprises here as far as I can tell.

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Greg Zakwin is the founder of the site Plaschke Thy Sweater Is Argyle. Follow him on Twitter @ArgyledPlaschke.

Dodger prospects could be surprisingly active come Thursday’s Rule 5 Draft, as there are two prospects drawing significant interest and two who might be plucked.

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Ben Badler of Baseball America has tweeted on more than one occasion in the last week that Jose Dominguez is seen as a potential Rule 5 draftee. Additionally, John Manuel wrote about him on Tuesday at Baseball America (subscription required).

Dominguez, 22, is facing a 25-game suspension after being busted last month for violating MLB‘s drug policy. He touched triple-digits in the minors this season and regularly sits in the high-90s.

Odds are the Dodgers left a flame-throwing reliever like this unprotected because of the drug suspension and the fact he threw just seven innings in Double-A this season after throwing 72 at Low-A Great Lakes.

Chance Of Selection: 60%

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Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports tweeted that Rafael Ynoa is generating interest as a possible selection.

Ynoa, 25, had a solid, yet unspectacular season at Double-A Chattanooga, posting a .278/.364/.352 triple-slash after drawing a career-high 58 walks. He profiles as a utility player, but his strength lies in the middle infield. Ynoa split time evenly between second base and shortstop this season. He also had a good Arizona Fall League, leading the Mesa Solar Sox in batting.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a team drafted Ynoa on Thursday. Despite having a limited ceiling, there is at least some value in his game.

Chance Of Selection: 40%

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Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com listed his top Rule 5 Draft prospects to watch and neither Dominguez nor Ynoa made the cut. However, Jarret Martin and Blake Smith did.

I hadn’t given Martin, 23, much thought — and I still don’t. He was acquired last winter along with Tyler Henson from Baltimore for Dana Eveland. He threw just 3 2/3 innings at High-A Rancho Cucamonga — his highest level of the minors.

Martin, who Mayo ranked 11th, has a good fastball that sits in the low-90s as a starter and can touch 95 MPH. He also has a slider. However, control issues have hindered him, as his 5.8 walks per nine innings would indicate.

Chance Of Selection: 10%

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Finally, Smith (one of my boys), is more appealing than I may have first thought. Mayo ranked him as the 18th-best prospect available.

Smith, 24, had a decent season with the Lookouts, hitting 13 home runs and posting a 12.1 percent walk rate — a career-high. Smith has good power potential, plays a good right field, and has a cannon for a right arm. All those skills are enticing. Last season was his first in Double-A, so I’m not sure just how attractive he is to other teams.

Chance Of Selection: 20%

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As for the Dodgers, I don’t really see them taking anyone. After all, part of the reason some of these guys are available to begin with is their 40-man roster crunch. On the other side though, odds are good that they end up losing a guy or two on this list to the draft.

Should be interesting to follow.

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Dustin Nosler is the founder of the site Feelin’ Kinda Blue. He also co-hosts the weekly podcast Dugout Blues. Follow him on Twitter @FeelinKindaBlue or like his site on Facebook.

The Dodgers have secured the rights to 16-year-old Mexican left-handed pitcher Julio Urias, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America.

Some scouts considered Urias, whose rights were transferred from Mexico City of the Mexican League, to be one of the better pitching prospects on the market. He has touched 92 mph and shown good feel for pitching for his age. Baseball America subscribers have access a complete scouting report on Urias.

Terms of Urias’ deal were not immediately available, but whatever the Dodgers did pay to secure his rights, not all of it will count against their $2.9 million international bonus pool for the 2012-13 signing period. MLB has said that for Mexican League transfers of Mexican-born citizens, only the amount that goes to the player (usually 25 percent) will count against the team’s international bonus pool.

He has a good delivery, a loose arm, he’s able to cut his fastball and throw it for strikes, which is why some scouts prefer him to Venezuelan lefthander Jose Castillo. His changeup is one of the best secondary pitches in this year’s class, throwing the pitch in the high-70s and earning plus to plus-plus future grades from scouts.

As I said before, the investment the new ownership is putting back into player development is wonderful. With kids these young, who knows what will happen to them, but it’s promising that the Dodgers are now willing to go out there and spend to get the top guys.

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Bucs Dugout gave this information on the player, compiled when the Pirates offered him a deal last November.

Urías has thrown a no-hitter to lead his amateur team to a championship, played for the Mexican national team in the youth World Cup, and thrown out the opening pitch for the LMP season. Not too shabby.

The Puro Beisbol article also makes reference to the Pirates offering to pay for the cost of rehabilitating one of Urías’s eyes as part of their offer. This piece from 2010 indicates that he was born with a tumor in his left eye, and that he required surgery to correct the condition.

I wonder if he got that eye issue fixed yet. I’m guessing yes.

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While the Dodgers didn’t haul in any big names, in line with what was previously speculated, they did ink five players.

Ben Badler of Baseball America reported that the Dodgers signed 16-year-old shortstop Cristian Gomez out of the Dominican Republic.

Gomez, 16, is 5-foot-10, 180 pounds and stands out in the field with soft hands, good range and an average arm. He’s an instinctive player in the field and has gap power from the right side of the plate. Terms were not available but Gomez was expected to sign for a low six-figure bonus.

The Dodgers themselves officially announced the signings of four 16-year-old players: pitchers Lenix Osuna, Victor Gonzalez, and William Soto, and catcher Julian Leon.

“We’re pleased to announce we have been extremely active in the July 2 signing period and have signed multiple players with more on the horizon,” scouting director Logan White said. “We are able to get three fine young arms with bright futures.”

Osuna is the son of former Dodgers pitcher Antonio Osuna, who went 24-21 with a 3.28 ERA over six seasons as a reliever. Osuna, Gonzalez and Leon are all from Mexico, while Soto is from Venezuela.

Always loved Antonio Osuna and signing his son is just perfectly typical of Logan White‘s bloodlines obsession.

#Dodgers spent about $1 million on the four international amateur players they signed today.

— Dylan Hernandez (@dylanohernandez) July 2, 2012

Probably leaves the team around $1.8 million to $1.5 million to sign other players, but it doesn’t seem like they’ll get close to the cap unless they come out of nowhere on some of the remaining bigger names.

If the initial reaction to the Dodgers giving Yasiel Puig the contract they did wasn’t pessimistic enough to make you feel the same, then Ben Badler‘s compilation of reactions from around baseball might send you down that road.

The Dodgers appear to have made a statement with an expensive Cuban signing, but the message they sent across baseball has mostly elicited the same response:

What are the Dodgers thinking?

One executive called the deal “crazy.” Several others were floored by the reported contract terms.

“I don’t know,” said one international director, echoing several of his colleagues. “I don’t know what’s going on in Dodger land. They must have seen something.”

“Leslie Anderson’s numbers were good in Cuba—where’s he at?” said one Latin American director. “It means nothing. You don’t want their numbers to be bad, but just because they’re good doesn’t mean anything.”

“You had many chances to see Cespedes play,” said a second Latin American director. “This guy’s kind of an unknown. I don’t know. That’s their flavor.”

“Cespedes is a much better athlete, more of a complete package,” said a third Latin American director. “He’s a center fielder, good arm. (Puig has) got power and he runs OK, the bat stays through the zone quite a bit. He’s strong, not quite as strong as (Dayan) Viciedo, but he’s currently got plus power. I don’t know if they even had anyone close to beating them.”

“For me, you have to have history in order to make that kind of investment,” said the third Latin American director, “and we certainly didn’t have that kind of history.”

If you’re trying to look for a light, talent evaluators are wrong a lot. Unfortunately, there seems to be a consensus here that the Dodgers went insane with the spending, even with the new CBA coming into effect.

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Buster Olney of ESPN reported that one team evaluated him as a $500,000 talent.

Huge disparity of opinion around the game on LAD’s $42m signing of Yasiel Puig. One team told me they pegged him as a $500,000 player.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) June 29, 2012

Surely a bit of gamesmanship and hindsight, but it does give one the idea that most teams weren’t anywhere close to the figure the Dodger doled out.

Well, this came out of nowhere, huh?

I saw the articles on Yasiel Puig being declared a free agent and I figured that the Dodgers might be interested due to their desired goal of returning to the international market, but none of the rumors had the Dodgers as players.

So much for that, as according to Jesse Sanchez, the Dodgers have apparently signed the 21-year-old Cuban to a seven-year deal worth $42 million.

According to an industry source, the Dodgers have agreed to a seven-year deal worth $42 million with 21-year-old international prospect Yasiel Puig, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound outfielder from Cuba.

The Dodgers haven’t commented on or confirmed the signing.

Puig (pronounced Pweeg) was declared a free agent Wednesday, not long after establishing temporary residency in Mexico, and was eventually cleared by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

In order to avoid being subject to new CBA guidelines that will limit spending on international prospects to $2.9 million per team without penalty, Puig must sign the record-setting deal, have the contract approved by Major League Baseball and pass a physical before Monday.

A top prospect in the island’s premier league, the Cuban National Series (Serie Nacional), Puig hit .276 with five home runs during his first campaign with Cienfuegos in 2008-09 and had a breakout year the next season, hitting .330 with 17 home runs and 78 RBIs. He did not play for Cienfuegos during the 2011-12 seasons because he was being disciplined for attempting to defect.

Puig, a member of the country’s national team, is the latest high-profile Cuban player to sign with a Major League club. Outfielders Yoenis Cespedes signed a four-year $36 million deal with the A’s in mid-February, and Jorge Soler signed a nine-year, $30 million deal with the Cubs earlier this month. Left-handed pitcher Omar Luis Rodriguez signed a Minor League deal worth $4 million with the Yankees last week, and fellow lefty Gerardo Concepcion signed a five-year, $6 million deal with the Cubs in early February.

J.P. Breen at FanGraphs wrote a profile on him when he was declared a free agent.

Now, statistics from the Cuban Serie Nacional should obviously be taken with a grain of salt. The level of competition is perhaps not even comparable to what Puig would potentially see in Triple-A, but legitimate similarities exist between the numbers Yoenis Cespedes compiled in 2010-2011 and what Puig racked up in the same year.

The obvious difference is the significantly higher home run total from Cespedes. It’s that level of power that has allowed Cespedes to transition directly to the major leagues and post a .222 ISO as a 26-year-old without any experience in the United States.

The remainder of the numbers — the on-base percentage, strikeout-to-walk ratio, etc. — are comparable. Even the doubles are comparable. Puig reportedly has above-average speed and was once considered the “fastest player in Cuban baseball” before defecting, so it’s not overly surprising that Puig would collect more triples than Cespedes.

He followed that up with an article today after the signing.

Puig’s Cuban numbers back up the possession of a solid hit tool (just 39 strikeouts in 327 at-bats) as well as discipline (49 walks) and power (.251 ISO), at least as far as international statistics can. Clay Davenport roughly compared Cuban baseball to Class Low-A, and Puig’s numbers at age 19 (he didn’t play in 2010-2011 due to discipline over his attempts to defect) would be impressive there.

Speed is speed, and Puig hit six triples with his Cuban team but also was thrown out in four of his nine stolen base attempts. Evaluation of Puig’s defense will be toughest of all. Workouts can show raw ability, but they may not show the kind of reactions and decision-making necessary to defend at the MLB level.

It may seem rash to commit $42 million to a player with no first-hand knowledge of how he plays in games. But, given Heyman’s note that the Dodgers weren’t the high bidder (at least in terms of gross dollar amount; it’s possible a team offered more years and a lower average salary), it appears less that the Dodgers were smitten by one great workout and more that there is something legitimately enticing about the player. At least one scout has noted his power as “not quite Giancarlo Stanton or Bryce Harper, but close.”

Ben Badler of Baseball America noted that seeing him in person has been difficult and reports have not been overly positive.

Reports from scouts on 21-year-old Cuban corner outfielder Yasiel Puig have been underwhelming. The Rangers have been the only team linked to Puig, though their senior-level decision makers were not in attendance at his recent workout in Mexico, where teams have reported that his conditioning appears to be an issue. Teams have no performance data or game video to work off from Puig in more than a year because he was suspended for the 2011-12 season in Serie Nacional. The last time any scouts could have legally evaluated Puig was in June 2011 in Rotterdam, where scouts seemed lukewarm at best on him. He’s shown plus raw power and hit well in Cuba for a year before his suspension, but there are question marks about both his bat and his rawness in the outfield. How Puig could have acquired permanent Mexican residency documents after having been in the country for what’s believed to be less than a month is also a widespread question, though Major League Baseball has yet to declare him a free agent.

Upon being declared a free agent, he repeated the point.

Reports on Puig, 21, have been modest, and other than a few light workouts this weekend, teams are working off limited information. He was suspended this past season in Cuba—some sources believe it was due to his attempts to leave the country, though some teams have conflicting information—so scouts haven’t been able to see Puig in game condition since June 2011 for the Cuban national B team at the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam. The Rangers are the only team that Baseball America’s sources have linked to Puig.

“How can we evaluate someone like that?” asked one Latin American director.

Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus chimed in with basically the same report. We don’t know much.

His workout in Mexico was really just an extended batting practice, as he never ran and barely did anything in the outfield. His previous attempts to defect left him on the sidelines in last season’s Serie National in Cuba, so overall, he just hasn’t been seen that much. Puig has plus-plus raw power, but reviews on every other tool vary wildly for the 21-year-old. Some think he has speed, some think he’s merely an average runner, and there are definite concerns about the stiffness of his swing and a history of swing-and-miss. No matter what exactly he is, talk of this as a desperation move to help a woeful Dodgers offense seems more than a bit foolhardy, and the Dodgers have to get him into the country first, and they’ll be lucky to get six weeks of minor league time out of someone who has barely played the game in the past 12 months.

Speaking of upside, Danny Knobler of CBSSports relays this:

One scout on Puig: “You see him on the right day, he could be Vladimir Guerrero.”

— DKnobler (@DKnobler) June 28, 2012

Could probably say the same for a lot of inconsistent/toolsy players.

Keith Law of ESPN furthers the skepticism.

Based on what I’ve heard about Puig, this is a bizarre overreaction to the upcoming international spending cap, and a huge bet that, despite a stiff swing and less athletic body than Soler, Puig’s bat is good enough to justify an investment of this size. I’ve also heard that Puig was badly out of shape in his recent workouts in Mexico, and that his throwing arm is not as strong since it was last seen in games. And unlike Soler or Cespedes, Puig barely has played in games outside of Cuba, so major league scouts have not had much of an opportunity to evaluate him properly.

Yeah.

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So basically, we shouldn’t get too excited about the fact that he signed such a massive deal, as it’s less indicative of his actual talent, and more indicative of the rules under the new CBA.

I don’t see any way this isn’t an overpay in the end, but if the Dodgers have this type of money to take a shot in the dark with, perhaps that’s an overall net positive. I just hope they haven’t spent this simply to make a statement and have it take out of the 2013 budget.

Furthermore, Dodgers scouts have a good track record with international signings … which is why I’m worried about this one, because apparently Dodgers scouts haven’t seen him play or do anything.

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