Exciting Cuban Pitcher Signing Possibly Not a Thing

Remember that time the Phillies did nothing at the trade deadline.

Apr 21, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr talks with media prior to playing the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

But then they did kind of do one thing, and sign a Cuban pitcher named Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez to a six-year, $40 million deal?  The guy was projected to be a number three starter in a rotation, something you need to prevent your four or five starters from being bumped into a position they do not possess the ranking to handle.

We don’t want John Lannan starting in the third game of a series instead of the second game of another series! What are we, animals?!

So we’ve got this Cuban guy, and he’s got this $40 million deal, except nobody wants to talk about him – not the Phillies, not Ruben Amaro, nobody. Which is kind of a red flag.

As Todd Zolecki writes, yes it is.

"“Since the agreement late last month, numerous reports have mentioned scouts with questions about Gonzalez’s elbow.”"

Elbow?!  Who needs their elbow to pitch?!  Suckers, that’s who.

Well, nonsensical conclusions or not, this is all starting to look like some sort of Cuban Something Crisis.  Apparently, Gonzalez had some elbow spurs removed at some point in the recent past, and has made a “full recovery,” but signings don’t just sputter and die for no reason. Why don’t we just let Ruben handle this one, so if it ends in crushing disappointment, we won’t have to shift any blame.