According to Dave Van Dyck of the Chicago Tribune, the Cubs are expected to add 19-year Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler. The deal is reportedly for 4 years and 27.5 million. The deal cannot become official because Soler is technically not a free agent. He has yet to receive residency in the Dominican Republic. But when that happens, Soler is closer to becoming a free agent and 1 step close to joining the Cubs organization.
Kevin Goldstein chimed in on the matter and said “I bet there’s an agreement in place”. Goldstein was the first to report that the Cubs were heavy pursuing Soler and would do anything to sign him. Also, Goldstein went more onto detail with Soler and the Cubs. He would put Soler the #1 prospect in the Cubs farm system in front of Brett Jackson/Anthony Rizzo/Javier Baez, Soler will likely start in Low A Peoria (probably not until the first month or 2 of the season), Soler is likely to spend 3 years in the minors, has a lot of upside and if he went in the draft, he would have been a single digit pick.
However, Golstein’s biggest tweet was this and meant the most . . . “Folks, the four year deal for Soler is DIFFERENT from the Cespedes deal. Service time won’t start until big leagues, NOT a FA after the 4.” Meaning, he’ll get arbitration years and won’t become a free agent acording to paper for a long time. He will be the Cubs rights.
Soler is said to still be raw, but has a lot of upside. If he keeps playing good, he’ll be better than Yoenis Cespedes and could be a 5-tool player.
The Cubs may have overpaid for him at 27.5 million, but so many teams were interested and Team Theo may had to do so. However, if he’s as good as people say he will be, it’s worth the gamble.
Going into the off-season – the Cubs were said to be wanting to sign all 3 Cubans … Yoenis Cespedes, Gerardo Concepcion and Jorge Soler. However, Yoenins Cespedes decided to take the money and the playing time to play for, not the Miani Marlins, the Oakland Athletics. Cespedes signed a 4 year/36 million deal yesterday with NO arbitration years (that surprised a lot of people, but could have been what made the deal). A report surfaced Sunday that the Cubs were not seriously considering Yoenins Cespedes anymore and put all of their focus in on Jorge Soler. So … the Cubs signing 2 out 3 Cubans, ain’t bad (Concepcion and Soler).
From the look of it, the Cubs have signed 19-year old Cuban Jorge Soler. But we won’t know for sure until he becomes a free agent or at least when he received residency in the Dominican Republic. However, I can bet anything the Cubs will sign him either way and Team Theo got another win.