Yankees rumors: Cuban right-hander Yoan Lopez drawing interest from four teams

Cuban right-handed pitcher Yoan Lopez held a showcase for MLB teams earlier this month, and the Yankees were among the teams showing strong interest in the 21-year-old, according to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. Lopez will be holding another showcase in the Dominican Republic next week. Although he has already been declared a free agent by MLB, Lopez is still waiting on clearance from the Department of Treasury before he is permitted to sign with a team.

Lopez has pitched for Isla de la Juventud in Cuba for three years prior to attempting to make the switch to MLB. He's 6'4" and weighs 190 pounds, sporting a cutter, changeup, slider, and curveball to go with an overwhelming fastball that has been clocked at 100 mph three times during his workouts. The Rays, Red Sox, and Angels are said to be the other interested teams, in addition to the Yankees. With the Yankees having already shattered their international spending allotments they might be willing to be the most aggressive for Lopez, seeing as they are already going to be penalized for their spending spree. Teams that have not already gone past their pool money might not want to be penalized for signing Lopez.

Ben Badler of Baseball America considers the Yankees to be one of the favorites, with the San Francisco Giants, for Yoan Moncada. It's nice to see that the Yankees are interesting in going all out for international talent this season after already signing ten of the top 30 international prospects to deals earlier this season.

Do you think the team should attempt to make a clean sweep of Yoans this offseason?