2012 MLB Free Agents: Yoenis Cespedes the Ultimate Boom or Bust Import

Albert Pujols has already signed, and it won't be long before Prince Fielder also scores a new contract. Once he does, the Major League Baseball free-agent market will be noticeably devoid of top-notch sluggers.

Or at least, sluggers that those of us in America have seen before. There is still one out there that most of us haven't seen before, and he may very well be the best of the bunch.

I'm talking, of course, about Yoenis Cespedes. He's a Cuban defector who the New York Times accurately describes as a cross between Bo Jackson and Vladimir Guerrero. He's this close to gaining residency in the Dominican Republic, at which point he will be eligible to become an MLB free agent.

When that moment comes, all sorts of teams are going to be in on Cespedes. The Times points out that the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees may be set for another Jose Contreras-like battle for him, but the Miami Marlins could also get involved. Other power-hungry teams like the Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays will also be interested.

As for why Cespedes is such an attractive option, I'll let the following video do the explaining. It comes from a Dominican baseball agency, and it's essentially an outrageous highlight reel of some of Cespedes' better moments.

Observe:

First of all, I will agree that the video is a little over-the-top. Bells and whistles are all well and good, but you don't need a Star Wars-style crawl to sell a baseball player.

When it comes to Cespedes, his talents are more than enough to do the trick.

I mean, just look at that swing. He may have the body of Bo Jackson, but his swing reminds me of Sammy Sosa's. As long as we're talking about swings and swings only, that's a very, very good thing.

Of course, Cespedes has other tools as well. In fact, it is generally agreed that he has all five of the tools baseball scouts covet most. For all intents and purposes, that means Cespedes has the potential to be a superstar, hence the heavy interest.

But...

Sorry, but there's always a but. In this case, the one thing we have to keep in mind is that Cuban prospects tend to be hit or miss, and more miss than hit. Take a look up and down the list of Cuban Major Leaguers, and relatively few names jump out at you. This is especially true of the players who have defected from Cuba.

There are plenty of reasons for this, but the most obvious one is that the competition in Cuba isn't quite as stiff as it is in the majors. The whole big fish-small pond cliche is perfect for the situation.

It's possible that Cespedes may be the biggest fish in the history of Cuban baseball. And just from looking at him and watching his ridiculous highlight reel, I'm willing to admit that he could be big enough to defy the trend that has plagued most Cuban defectors.

The question teams will have to ask themselves is whether or not they're willing to gamble huge sums of money on the idea. For their tens of millions of dollars, they might get the next Sammy Sosa, but they could also get the next (for lack of a better example) Juan Diaz.

If it were up to me, though, I'd be willing to dish out the big bucks to get Cespedes.

I mean, just look at that swing.

Or maybe I'm just a sucker for Star Wars title crawls.