O's reportedly agree to terms with Dominican third baseman

The O's have finally made a splash of sorts on the international signings front. Here is an article from Baseball America on the possible signing of Hector Veloz. It is very unlikely that any O's club official will comment for the record on Veloz. His signing will need to be cleared through Major League Baseball's Dominican office and that could take weeks or months. The reporter mentions in the story that a club official did not return calls when he was seeking comment. Let's just say I can relate on that front. As I've stated before, just because you sign a player for big dollars doesn't mean that player will turn out to be good. And signing a 16-year-old Dominican talent is fine, but at 16 he is light years away from the high minors, much less having a shot at the Majors. Having said all that, the O's still need to do it. Their record producing Dominican talent is poor to say the least. To me they seem to need to make a much stronger commitment there in terms of number of scouts, resources and dollars. They seem to come up short in all three areas. Maybe getting this player, if they do, is a step in the right direction. Minor League Series on the way: Many of you have written to say you enjoy the minor league coverage on this blog. Just wanted everyone to know, I'll have a series of stories coming next week during the All-Star break on the Orioles farm system. Kind of a state of the O's farm address. For the series, I have interviewed many people and have had extensive discussions with Andy MacPhail, John Stockstill, Gary Allenson and Will Lingo of Baseball America. Look for the series on the minors beginning on Monday morning and running for several days next week.