"They hired me to scout; I'm scouting."
Freshman AGM Esteban Costa (technically hired late September) has had his hand in signing nine more international free agents for cash since our winter report of his first seven such signings. With seven IFAs thought to be still available, no one's sure if Costa has finished. He's also been busy making international scouting discoveries and, most recently, serving as the team spokesperson.
The most recent IAFA to join the DM organization is 6' 4" second baseman Clint Rice out of the Northen Negev, Israel. Rice, 16, projects to 4/6/5 and has 7/10 running speed. $48K convinced the kid to commit to the Kernels.
On April 1, no fooling, Costa signed the 6' 4" Egyptian C Fudail Yaseen (5/6/5) and the Greek third baseman Timoleon Tsirimokos (6/5/5). Tsirimokos was immediately nicknamed the "Greek Gadget" when he reported to the D-Lab with what appears to be a combined toothbrush-telescope.
In mid-March Costa signed C Nick Schwer (6/6/5) from Sydney (so sign where the scouts for the GBC Sharks were), a highly-adaptible player (he was a heartthrob as a teenage wicket-keeper); and centerfielders Idris Afeef (4/6/5) and Aldo Gambetta (6/6/5) from Lebanon and Italy respectively. Afeef reportedly signed for $113K and Gambetta for $390K.
"$390K was about as high as we could go this season" Costa explained, "based on the league IAFA signing rules, which are somewhere between hazy and Hazleton [IA]. But, Gamby, yeah, we're all about him. Can't believe nobody else was chasing him. That kid's gonna be something else. We've even given' him a nickname: Gumby Gamby." Reports are that early gifts of nicknames by the DM Publicity Dept are meant to be an extra incentive in the players' development.
Early March saw the signings of RP Fareed Mazin (5/4/2), Lebanon; RP Akasa Sarin (6/4/7), India; and leftfielder Aksobhya Shishir (7/2/4), also of India. The word on Shashir is that he "can shut out the stress and put it on automatic." The PD is scratching its head trying to decipher this. "Probably something lost in translation."
The 16 signings, total (so far), have recast the "International Complex" as something more than a red sea of 20-20 prospects.
