Chin Music: Uncovering a Buscone, Part II

[Editor's Note: Last Sunday, Brian Doyle brought you Part 1 of 'Uncovering a Buscone'. This week, Brian continues his behind-the-scenes look into the world of baseball in the Dominican Republic.]

I immediately left for Islabon. I made sure I dressed in a scout uniform: polo shirt and khakis shorts (I would’ve preferred pants for the sake of the outfit, but it’s a hot country). The only component missing was a visor, something that I thankfully don’t own.

I arrived fully expecting to find a buscone. A buscone is a mix of a scout, an agent, and a coach. Generally what they do is find worthy players, train them to be solid prospects, and get the players signed to contracts with teams, in turn taking a cut for the work they’ve done. My intention is to find out enough information to confirm my assumption.

I introduce myself and immediately start a makeshift interrogation of the man there to see the pitchers. I was skeptical before I even got there. My hunch is that employees of Major League teams would not be spending their time in Islabon, an area of the country that is not considered a talent hotbed. The talent he came to see was…very raw, at best. There are tons of buscones roving the country; buscones end up finding most of the talent for the clubs. Enter this guy. His name is Jose Luis and he seems laid back and easy going. Part of me just wants to have fun with the guy, the other wants to keep Miguel and his camp from getting completely screwed over.

Hypothetically speaking, a buscone would take Miguel’s players and either continue to develop them with the promise of a “better” lifestyle and big signing bonus, or immediately get a player signed with a team and take a large cut, giving Miguel’s camp only a small portion while claiming that, because he’s a representative of a major league club (when he’s not) that is the original cut for developing the players (when it’s only a cut of the cut).

I asked Jose Luis what team he’s with and what brings him to this tiny town on the north coast. After asking me how I learned Spanish and joking with some of the players about how it must be disappointing that they can't use Spanish to talk trash about me in front of me, he told me he’s a scout from the Mets brand new facility in Boca Chica who had been in the area for a tournament in Sosua (about 30 minutes away). So he knew about the nice new Mets complex, but then again, so did I, and so would anyone who deals with the Mets in the Dominican Republic.

I had some information on my side that I felt would help me get to the bottom of the situation. For the last four summers I worked for the Cape Cod Baseball League. For most of those summers I worked in particular for the Hyannis Mets. The Cape Cod Baseball League is an amateur NCAA summer league, the Hyannis Mets have no affiliation with the New York Mets. But 1) would this guy know that? and 2) I met a lot of scouts at Cape League games, most of whom I don’t even remember, but one thing I did have is a handful of their business cards in my wallet. I was about to become dishonest, but I considered it to be for a good cause.

I told Jose Luis that I work for the Mets too (when in reality I was a teacher in the DR). I explained how I originally worked for the Hyannis Mets in the minor leagues and how I now work under the direction of John Smith (let’s say that’s the name of a Mets scout whose business card I present to him) to scout college players. This plan could have easily backfired if he had really quizzed me on anything Mets related Stateside. Instead, he seemed a little shocked but continued talking and telling stories.

I told him how I was on vacation while I had the chance and asked him how long he’s been with the Mets. Jose Luis said five years. I would think (although I admittedly may be wrong) that an employee of the Mets for years would know the basic makeup of their minor league system, just by following the progress of Dominicans through the system after leaving. In other words, he would know that Hyannis isn’t part of the system.

I had become increasingly skeptical. I asked if he’s in charge of the north coast or if he has to scout all over the country. He says all over, but that he is specifically in charge of the north coast.

Buscones hide players from each other, keeping exceptional prospects hidden from the public until a major league team signs them. Buscones have been known to hold workouts hidden behind trees and shrubbery, and most wouldn’t hesitate to take another buscone’s player. That’s what I thought I was seeing there: a buscone trying to lure some players away from Miguel’s camp. While I wouldn’t consider Miguel to be a buscone, simply because he doesn’t travel around to scout players, nor does he provide for prospects outside of his daily camps (all of the camp’s equipment has been donated to him from Americans, including me), I’m positive he would look for a kickback if one of his players were to be signed, which some, including me, may deem fair considering his investment in player development.

From my knowledge, I don’t really know of scouts doing what Jose Luis was doing, there’s already so many buscones out there to do most of the hard work for the real big league scouts. I had seen a handful of scouts at Winter League games in Santiago and Santo Domingo (dressed in a team polo and khakis pants). Jose Luis looked nothing like them.

One of my good American friends in the DR is a huge Mets fan; he’s always talking about Fernando Martinez, an outfield prospect who just happens to be from a nearby north coast town named Rio San Juan. I assumed that he was almost definitely found by a buscone, although I was probably being presumptuous.

I asked Jose Luis about his involvement in signing Martinez. He goes into an animated story about his role with getting Martinez signed, including how he swayed Martinez not with his potential signing bonus, but with the notion that he’d be able to play with other Hispanics like Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran (there is actually probably some truth to this, I believe the Padres offered Martinez more money). Beltran signed in January 2005. Martinez was already at spring training in March 2005. My gut, with no evidence to back it up, told me he probably signed before Beltran did.

The rest of the conversation was cordial and after we both watched some live pitching from the four top prospects, Jose Luis went on his way, but not without giving Miguel his number again and explaining how he is going to bring the players for tryouts.

“He’s lying,” I tell Miguel after Jose Luis leaves. I can tell. Don’t trust him and don’t leave him alone with any of your players. Just don’t, we both know he’ll make promises that he probably can’t fulfill. Plus there’s so much that’s suspicious about him.

Cut to a few months later. In December at a Dominican Winter League game, I went down to the field to see if I could get Martinez’ attention for a minute or two (my friend and I jokingly told an usher, who at first refused to let us into the box seats by the dugout, that we were related to Jarrod Saltalamachia, who at the time played for Escogido, the same team as Fernando Martinez. She saw two shaggy haired American-looking folks and said 'Good enough for me' and thus I had field level access. It also helped that we were one of about twenty-seven people in the entire stadium. And no, I don’t condone lying to ushers to get within talking distance of players, in fact I would suggest that the dishonesty portrayed in this piece never, ever be attempted, I just really wanted to get to the bottom of this situation).

In a slightly awkward start to the conversation, I started talking to Fernando Martinez in Spanish while he answered in surprisingly strong English. I didn’t know whether to continue in Spanish or not, so I stuck with Spanish. I asked Martinez about being signed by Jose Luis. He had no idea who or what I was talking about. I explained what had happened.

He chuckled a little bit. “Yeah, I’m sure I’ve been signed by hundreds of different people.”

I was just happy that all my doubts had been confirmed.

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