[Strikeout King]

The Cubs have officially signed Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler, according to Doug Padilla of ESPNChicago.com (via Twitter). General Manager Jed Hoyer says that Soler, 20, will start in the minors as a rightfielder with no timetable to come to Chicago, Padilla tweets.

The Cubs won the bidding for Soler with a nine-year deal worth roughly $30MM earlier this month. The two sides wound up cutting it close as Soler had until tomorrow at 11:59 p.m. to ink the deal with Chicago or lose approximately $27MM. Any international deal signed after Sunday can only be for a maximum of $2.9MM under the new rules.

The Praver Shapiro Sports Management client also had interest from a number of other clubs, including the Phillies, Astros, Pirates, Indians, Red Sox, Yankees, and Blue Jays. Chicago can now add Soler to the 40-man roster after designating Randy Wells for assignment.




http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/06/cu...m=facebook

[Strikeout King]

It's also rumored that the Cubs will trade both Matt Garza and Ryan Dempster.


I hope Garza stays but I'd be more than glad to see Dempster go