San Diego Padres hold private workout for Cuban Slugger Yasmany Tomas
By Joel Burdeos
San Diego, CA- According to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com, the San Diego Padres held a private workout with Cuban slugger Yasmany Tomas last Friday.
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Sanchez reports that Yasmany Tomas was officially declared a free agent by Major League Baseball last Thursday and is now free to sign with any team. Tomas held an open workout for Major League teams in the Dominican Republic last month and according to Ben Badler of Baseball America the Padres were well-represented, as Padres executives and new general manager A.J. Preller were in attendance.
Yasmany Tomas has also had private workouts with the Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillies in the past month.
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Tomas, 23, is an athletic 6-foot-1 and 230 pound outfielder with tremendous power. Tomas is expected to sign for more than the seven-year, $72.5 million deal that Rusney Castillo received from the Boston Red Sox.
With the recent success of Cuban defectors Yasiel Puig, Yoenis Cespedes, Aroldis Chapman, Jose Abreu and Padres pitcher Odrisamer Despaigne, Padres ownership has made it a priority to be more active in signing impact players like Yasmany Tomas in the international market. As evidenced by Padres ownership naming former Rangers assistant general manager A.J. Preller the team’s new general manager earlier this season. Preller is well known for his expertise in evaluating and recruiting international talent. Which is an area of talent the Padres have failed to be aggressive in acquiring for the past decade.
While the Padres have been active in signing teenage prospects in the international free agent class on a yearly basis. Its good to see the Padres finally being active in acquiring impact international talent that can help the major league team right away.
According to Peter Gammons the San Diego Padres are one of the favorites to sign Yasmany Tomas.
If Ron Fowler and Padres ownership wants to gain the fan bases trust back…spend the money to sign Yasmany Tomas. Don’t just be another one of the teams that were in the running sign Yasmany Tomas, be the team that makes the big off-season splash and sign Yasmany Tomas.