The Indians have signed their first European player: 16-year old Martin Cervenka. Okay, technically he is now 17, but that didn't fit the song used for the title of the post.
He is from Kotlarka, Prague. The Indians have worked a 7-year deal that lets him play in Prague until he is done with school (about 2 years). That seems to be a long time to hedge a bet on a high school kid from another country. I think it's great the Tribe is expanding its horizons, but it seems they could have found someone a little more 'ready' for the bigs. According to mister-baseball.com, he batted .214 in six games. High school or not, that doesn't scream out "pick me! pick me!"
I'll be keeping my eyes and ears out for this kid and post updates as he makes (or breaks) news over the next couple years.
In the meantime, the Tribe is already in trouble with injuries abounding: Sizemore, Choo, Miller, etc. Let's hope these things get straightened out before Opening Day rolls around or this could be a real short trip, kid...
i never understood if moves like this are incredibly prescient, or incredibly misguided attempts at prescience.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to do some research and see just how effective these kinds of arrangements have been.
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