What happened to Yasmany Tomas and his $68.5 million contract?
Despite owing him more than $40 million, the Arizona Diamondbacks have outrighted Yasmany Tomas off their MLB roster.
With his removal from the Arizona Diamondbacks 40-man roster, outfielder Yasmany Tomas appears set to be the latest Cuban bonus baby to flame out of Major League Baseball. The outfielder was signed by Arizona in 2014 to an exorbitant $68.5-million contract and played only five games at Triple-A before debuting in the big leagues. Tomas showed flashes as a rookie and impressed in 2016, hitting 31 home runs and slashing .272/.313/.508 with 31 home runs and 83 RBI in 140 games.
Injuries cut short his 2017 season, and Tomas never fully recovered his standing as a starter for the Diamondbacks. The presence of Superior defenders Jarrod Dyson, Steven Souza, David Peralta and Chris Owings all but guarantee that Tomas has likely played his last game as a member of the Diamondbacks. He could have elected to decline the demotion to Triple-A, but that would have voided the remaining $42.5 million owed to him over the next three years.
Tomas is just the latest in a long line of Cuban imports to fail to live up to the hype. The Boston Red Sox have Rusney Castillo and his $72.5 million in the minor leagues, while the Los Angeles Dodgers wasted nearly $30 million on malcontent Alex Guerrero. The Dodgers also took a big swing and a miss on Erisbel Arruebarrena for $25 million. The biggest bust of all my be Hector Olivera, who signed for $62.5 million and then received the longest suspension for domestic violence in MLB history. Olivera’s career is effectively over after only 30 games.
Speculation on Cuban players back in the early years of the twenty-tens was hotter than any cryptocurrency get-rich-scheme is today. Like the random altcoins pumped and dumped into your e-mail inboxes, the signing of Cuban defectors was largely unregulated by the league, at least in terms of spending limits. Guaranteed MLB contracts worth tens of millions of dollars were given out to unproven players, many of whom had not even played organized baseball in over a calendar year while establishing their residency outside of their home country.
The Cuban players, like Tomas, who arrived at the tail end of the unlimited bonus days, were saddled with expectations that were impossible to meet and very little time to get up to speed. Even at the age of 24 and 25, many of these players should have been given a year in the minor leagues to develop and adjust to the level of play in the United States.
None of this is to remove the blame from the player. Yasmany Tomas has a bad body and a poor approach at the plate. In parts of three MLB seasons, he has walked in only five percent of his plate appearances and has been a cumulative -17 in the outfield in terms of defensive runs saved. There isn’t a place for a player like that on most smartly-assembled rosters, especially in the National League without a DH spot in which to hide a defensive liability.
Next: 14 Biggest MLB Brawls Ever
The rules for Cuban players are different now, and Tomas caught the final rush of the blowout bonuses and guaranteed MLB deals. His contract, like that of Castillo in Boston, has become a lead anchor that will effectively kill his chances of finding a place with another team (because why would the Diamondbacks pay him to play for someone else when they can stash him at Triple-A and hope something changes). Is the MLB career of this once-promising player over?
Never say never, but it will be a difficult road back to the show for Yasmany Tomas.