According to Kiley McDaniel over at FanGraphs the Mets are rumored to have a deal in place with Dominican shortstop Gregory Guerrero for $1.8 million.
The $1.8 million would eclipse the Mets previous International bonus record of $1.75 million they gave to Amed Rosario back in 2012. The signing would leave the Mets with roughly $730,000 left in International bonus money. Due to his age, the Mets can’t officially sign Guerrero until he is eligible to sign in July.
Gregory is the nephew of former MLB All-Star Vladimir Guerrero and has been training in Vlad’s Academy in Don Gregorio, DR.
Guerrero has been compared to Brewers shortstop Gilbert Lara from last years International signing class and profiles as a power bat with speed.
“Lara has a good bit more juice in his bat and I think both eventually end up at third base, but Guerrero has looseness to his swing and above average bat speed and power projection, so he would profile fine there.”
The Mets are also believed to have a deal done for $1.25 million with Venezuelan SS Andres Gimenez (rumored to have been done last August or September according to McDaniel).
Those two deals would put the Mets over their pool, but still comfortably in the range where they could trade for enough money to cover the difference.
Here is a video of Guerrero taking some batting practice for a showcase:
