Update: According to Rolando Napoles and later confirmed by Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com the Astros have signed Cuban infielder Yulieski Gurriel to a five year deal worth $47.5 million.
Original Report
Yulieski Gurriel, the latest cuban defector who had been on the Mets radar is not believed to be on his way to New York anytime soon. Adam Rubin of ESPN reports that the team is unlikely to sign Gourriel.
On top of the expected multi-year deal required to obtain his services, it is believed he may need some time at the minor league level to ready himself to help a big league club. Rubin advised that Mets brass came away less than enamored with the 32 year-old Cuban star from his June 27 workout for the team.
With a possible resurgence of Jose Reyes, who has been off to a solid start in his first six games back as a Met, the team does not seem to believe that Gourriel would be worth the contract. Reyes has started his season with a .250/.308/.708 slash to go with three homers, three RBI and five runs scored. He though of course is not looked at as a long term solution.
Reyes though is not the only player the Mets have to help man the infield as Wilmer Flores had been on a mission prior to the All-Star break. Over his last 30 games, Flores has hit unbelievably to a .293/.337/.565 slash. In that same time period he has seven homers with 21 RBI and 11 runs scored. Anytime Flores has a threat of losing his job, he seems to excel as he has done here.
Yoenis Cespedes has spoke very highly of his good friend, Gourriel, calling him the best player in Cuba. It is always hard to tell how a player’s game though may translate when making their way to the States. Weeks prior it seemed there was a hot pursuit for Gourriel’s services, but talk has died down and we have yet to hear anything of where he may be leaning. It does not seem though the Mets will be a part of that decision.
