Ariel Ovando: Biggest Int'l Signing Bust of All Time?

[Nate Colbert]

BA has a list of top 40 international bonuses of all time (again these lists exclude Cuban players). Mr. Ovando and his $2.6MM rings up at #14.

Depending on how you want to slice and dice it (factoring in bonus size, whether still with original organization, highest level played at), you can certainly make the case Ovando is the biggest bust on the list. 

It should be noted that Michael Ynoa of the A's (signed for $4.25MM in 2008) and Adonys Cardona of the Blue Jays ($2.8MM in 2010) are not looking like the healthiest of investments right now though both are still with their original signing organizations. However, Ynoa did put together a pretty decent year in 2014 pitching in the California League while Cardona is still just 21 years old so he still has plenty of time to turn things around.

[Reuben]

Ovando has certainly been a bust. But, he is also just 21 years old himself, and unlike Cardona, he did at least have one solid year, hitting .287/.350/.444 for Greenville in 2012.

I don't know much about the other guys with bigger bonuses (besides Sano), but none of them have turned into MLB regulars yet, either, so who knows.

[Nate Colbert]

Ovando has certainly been a bust. But, he is also just 21 years old himself, and unlike Cardona, he did at least have one solid year, hitting .287/.350/.444 for Greenville in 2012.

I don't whether you've forgotten or not but he's been such an utter failure at the plate that the Cubs plan to put him on the mound. So now he has to start all over at the lowest levels as a pitcher. So best case scenario is he starts this year in EST and then moves to the AZL and then in 5 years at age 26 he makes the bigs. Could it happen? Sure. Is it likely to happen? Hell no.

But that's almost beside the point. The bottom line is he's no longer part of the organization and the only return the Astros had on their investment was the paltry $12,500 (or whatever it was) minor league rule 5 fee. At least in the case with Cardona he's still with the org that signed him and they still have a chance to see some success.

But if you still want to say Cardona is a "bustier" bust over Ovando (or put somebody else forward), that's cool.

ETA:
Just a footnote on Cardona. Although performance results have been lacking since he signed, he apparently was throwing in the upper 90s when he went down last year with a broken bone (olecranon) in his elbow.

[Reuben]

I was just pointing out a couple things regarding Ovando that I thought were mildly interesting in context.

But yes, I did remember that the Cubs were planning to convert him to pitching.

[Ron Brand]

It just goes to show that as ridiculously difficult it is to predict how 18-21 year old kids will develop with respect to baseball, it's a lot more difficult to predict that about 16 year old kids from another country with a different culture.

[Astrofan59]

International signees bust at a tremendous rate, for obvious reasons.  For that reason I have adopted the philosophy of "Sign them all - you will never miss out on the one that succeeds".  I wonder if the Astros will adopt my philosophy.

[juliogotay]

International signees bust at a tremendous rate, for obvious reasons.  For that reason I have adopted the philosophy of "Sign them all - you will never miss out on the one that succeeds".  I wonder if the Astros will adopt my philosophy.

I think that would be the Yankees.