The Chicago Cubs have been tied to 20-year old Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler for months. Soler is now ready to sign with a major league club after being granted free agency last week, and to the surprise of no one, the Cubs plan to go after the outfielder.
You don't normally hear a general manager speak so candidly about a free agent, but Cubs GM Jed Hoyer wasn't resorting to smokescreens in regards to the team's interest in Soler. Said Hoyer:
"We’ve obviously scouted him extensively – a lot of teams have," general manager Jed Hoyer said. "We had a similar situation with (Yoenis) Cespedes this winter and it’ll be intriguing. But certainly we’ve done our work on him. That doesn’t make us unique. That’s our responsibility – (to) scout him heavily and get to know him and we’ve tried to do that.
"We’ve been following this carefully and we certainly plan to be involved."
Don't expect this situation to linger: because of a rule in the new CBA, Soler must sign by July 2, when teams can no longer negotiate with international free agents.
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