With Yoan Mancada and Yasmany Tomas free agents, is there price bubble for Cuban players?

Earlier this month, at a workout in Guatemala, the latest potential Cuban star-in-waiting exhibited his skills. In front of personnel from the Mets, Yankees and every other team, Yoan Mancada gave a performance for his suitors.

Meanwhile, in a Phoenix hotel, the agent for Yasmany Tomas held court during the GM meetings. Tomas, of course, is the Cuban power-hitting free agent drawing significant interest. Just 24, he offers the rare talent that hardly ever gets to free agency now.

But as the market for Cuban players seems to get more expensive after years of countrymen earning success in the majors, another question has also become worth considering. Has all that driven up prices so high that there is now a price bubble for their services? And which team will be the one that doesn't get the right value for their buy?

"Generally you don't know until after the bubble burst whether it was a bubble," John Ricco, the Mets assistant general manager, said. "There's a general thought that that could be people saying it's inevitable so it's easy to say that. Whether this guy is going to be the guy or the next guy."

As the success of Cuban-born players have become more common over the last few years, it has also made it more difficult for teams to earn dollar-for-dollar value.

The market for Cuban players could have been seen as an inefficient one when the Athletics signed Yoenis Cespedes to a four-year, $36 million contract prior to the 2012 season. Four months later, Yasiel Puig agreed to a seven-year, $42 million deal with the Dodgers. Then came Jose Abreu for just $68 million.

Now, Tomas is expected to receive more money than Rusney Castillo, who signed the richest contract yet in August when he took a seven-year, $72.5 million contract from the Red Sox.

"Because it's harder doesn't mean it's impossible," Ben Cherington, the Red Sox general manager, said. "Give the Dodgers credit on Puig. If teams knew as much on what Puig was and how he'd project now in retrospect or at the time as they might now then maybe the Dodgers are different at the time. We'll see. In a market, people sort of act rationally."

He added: "If the prices go up it doesn't mean, to some level, there's not still good value there. And then if it starts to tip the other way teams will adjust that way. That's the nice thing about an efficient market."

How the market develops for Moncada and Tomas remains to be seen. Both are interesting players as they choose their destination.

Moncada has been dubbed as best prospect to emerge from Cuba yet. At 19, teams who vie for him can still get the entirety of his prime but are not taking on a fully-formed product.

And, because Moncada is an international free agent, teams are restricted in bidding for him by a budget that penalizes any team that jumps it with a 100 percent tariff on his deal.

Tomas, too, is intriguing. As power diminishes from the sport, his purported home-run hitting abilities become more attractive — though believed by some to lack the pedigree of Abreu.

But even if Tomas does perform well, the size of his contract will make it tougher for him to out-hit his salary, as his predecessors have. With that higher threshold to cross, teams take on more risk.

"Right now there's no cap on what you do there," Dave Stewart, the Diamondbacks general manager, said at the GM meetings. "If the player proves to be worth paying for than what really makes him different than the players in our own market? Heck, who ever thought we'd be close to paying $300 million to a player? If a player has a chance to have impact on a team then there's going to be teams out here that are going to bid on those players as long as there is a player that has kind of impact. The Cuban market is as it should be."