[adinserter block=”2″]No decision came publicly from top Cuban prospect Lazaro “Lazarito” Armenteros yesterday, the first day he was eligible to sign with an MLB team – and the day that he’d previously indicated he’d be making a decision.
The fact that no word came out yesterday doesn’t necessarily mean Lazarito has decided to wait until July 2 to sign, though that is a possibility. A number of his suitors are planning to blow out their budgets in the next IFA period, which would require him waiting to officially sign with them until then, and there is a chance that he will agree to wait. He’d have to trust that the gentleman’s agreement will be honored when the time comes, but by offering now to wait, he’s expanded his market of potential suitors from only the teams that have blown their budget in the current IFA period to those teams and the ones willing to blow their budget in the next period.
Instead, the lack of word yesterday could just be a matter of negotiations ongoing or other procedural or personal stuff:
Sources: Lazarito Armenteros is still weighing his options. It's going to be a family decision. The plan was to make a decision today.
— Jesse Sanchez (@JesseSanchezMLB) February 10, 2016
Indeed, it sounds like a decision is still coming soon:
Lazaro "Lazarito” Armenteros, 16-yr-old Cuban phenom, expected to decide team today or tom Word is he was at #Padres complex 4 days recently
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) February 11, 2016
Jon Heyman still lists the Cubs as among the interested teams, so there’s no reason to rule them out just yet. But with as many as nine seriously interested teams, one of which is the Dodgers, the Cubs’ odds on Lazarito, even if they were aggressive, were never going to be too high.
We’ll see if word breaks one way or another today. Still just 16, this is a huge decision for Lazarito, and taking his time to try and find the best fit for himself and his family – he’s going to be well-paid wherever he goes – is just fine by me.