CONFIRMED: CUBS GET SOLER!!! 9yrs/30 mill

[Vanilla Ice]

2015 lineup? Fire up the Delorean...

 

Jackson cf

Castro ss

Baez 3b

Rizzo 1b

Soler rf

FA lf

Lake 2b

Castillo c

 

Almora CF

Jackson LF

[Banedon]

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/eye-on-baseball/19332202/cubs-sign-cuban-of-jorge-soler

 

Cuban free agent outfielder Jorge Soler has signed a nine-year, $30 million contract with the Chicago Cubs, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com has learned.

[Vanilla Ice]

2015 lineup? Fire up the Delorean...

 

Jackson cf

Castro ss

Baez 3b

Rizzo 1b

Soler rf

FA lf

Lake 2b

Castillo c

 

Almora CF

Jackson LF

 

Kelton/Montanez/Hill/Choi blahblahblah

[toonsterwu]

I mean ... I can't really fault KG for either comment right now. We really don't know what we have in Soler. We have a lot of nice reports, and he should be a top 2-3 prospect in the system to start next year, maybe first overall, but Sano is producing in the minors right now and has loads of upside, while Cespedes is producing in the bigs. That said, the 2nd question makes little sense in this regard - I know the Cubs pursued Cespedes, and maybe we were a finalist, but Soler makes a ton more sense for the organization, since the FO decided to rebuild, than Cespedes, and in that regard, I would easily take Soler over Cespedes.

 

Anyhow, this is a pretty awesome win for us in the last weeks of throwing money around. Too bad there aren't many other studs out there to throw money at. The system's fairly loaded on the positional side, but the majority of it is in the lower levels (heck ... one could make an argument that the top 12 prospects in the system shouldn't included any pitchers right now).

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I for one welcome spending tens of millions of dollars to bring in our new #4 prospect.

 

 

Kyle, did I do that right?

 

 

Whether or not you did it right depends on what you were going for, I guess.

 

But I'd put him at No. 3, behind Almora but ahead of Baez, personally.

[C.C.]

Since it's been a while, anyone have a scouting report on him or how quickly we could expect him to move through the system? What's his best tool?

 

LOL!

[treebird]

if this is really 9/30 instead of the 4/30 i was expecting, i'm so excited i don't even know how to put it into words.

 

i feel like there has to be more to it, though.

[davell]

Oh, and NINE years? That is [expletive] AWESOME.

[Splendid Splinter]

Man... I haven't been back to Peoria ever since Felix Pie was on the team. Looks like I'm due to go back there again.

Wasn't Pie on Lansing?

 

Dude... you're totally right. Haha But I was in Peoria in '05 when they came back there. Now that I'm thinking about it, who the heck did I see there that made me go watch a game???

 

Anyway... I need to go so to see Baez/Soler/etc...

[UMFan83]

Man... I haven't been back to Peoria ever since Felix Pie was on the team. Looks like I'm due to go back there again.

 

Just wait until they come to Kane County like I have done.

 

Edit: Ashamed to admit I went to see Vitters, and watch Chris Archer uncharacteristically walk a bunch of people.

Edited June 11, 2012 by UMFan83

[toonsterwu]

2015 lineup? Fire up the Delorean...

 

Jackson cf

Castro ss

Baez 3b

Rizzo 1b

Soler rf

FA lf

Lake 2b

Castillo c

 

Almora CF

Jackson LF

 

Kelton/Montanez/Hill/Choi blahblahblah

 

I'd also add that to expect Almora to be ready by 2015? I have my doubts, to say the least. Let's give him a positive scenario. Not ridiculous, but positive - he starts 2013 in Peoria, maybe hits Daytona late. 2014 he succeeds and does some combination of Daytona/Tennessee. To expect him to go to the bigs as a key member of the lineup in 2015? While not impossible, it seems unlikely.

 

I tend to think that Szczur is a safer bet for CF in 2015 (he should be up by 2014, if not late 2013, assuming he doesn't collapse).

Edited June 11, 2012 by toonsterwu

[Guest]

Nice job. This may well turn out to be one of the most successful years in Cubs history, and that's with a potential 100 loss ML team.

[Prizefight]

Heyman saying 9/30.

[Banedon]

Man... I haven't been back to Peoria ever since Felix Pie was on the team. Looks like I'm due to go back there again.

Wasn't Pie on Lansing?

 

Dude... you're totally right. Haha But I was in Peoria in '05 when they came back there. Now that I'm thinking about it, who the heck did I see there that made me go watch a game???

 

Anyway... I need to go so to see Baez/Soler/etc...

 

Kerry Wood pitched a rehab game there that was big news at the time as I recall.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

9/30? After all the spiraling crazytalk in the last few days, I had prepared myself to be excited about 6/40 with free agency at the end.

[ctcf]

Theo and Jed just killed it on this signing. Outstanding.

 

Kevin Goldstein ‏@Kevin_Goldstein

I said I'd be surprised if Soler got to $30m, but I never saw nine years. That's a great deal that definitely limits risk.

[Have a seat, Neifi]

Kevin Goldstein ‏@Kevin_Goldstein

 

I said I'd be surprised if Soler got to $30m, but I never saw nine years. That's a great deal that definitely limits risk.

[bukie]

9/30? After all the spiraling crazytalk in the last few days, I had prepared myself to be excited about 6/40 with free agency at the end.

So does knowing that the original call was wrong ruin the excitement for you?

[davell]

Little to zero video on Soler. Potential 70ish power, strong arm, fairly quick for now, body has lots of projection, so he'll slow down. All I've got. Not even sure how his plate discipline or contact skills are for sure, although if I remember, he needs to be better at both.

[Brian]

at 9 years, I'd say he's definitely only making it to the DR at the most this season

[Irrelevant Dude]

I was stuck on a plane just waiting to land so I could check for Soler news and this is exactly what I hoped to hear when I landed. Way to get it done Theo.

 

Sent from my LG-LS840 using Tapatalk 2

[Have a seat, Neifi]

I mean ... I can't really fault KG for either comment right now. We really don't know what we have in Soler. We have a lot of nice reports, and he should be a top 2-3 prospect in the system to start next year, maybe first overall, but Sano is producing in the minors right now and has loads of upside, while Cespedes is producing in the bigs. That said, the 2nd question makes little sense in this regard - I know the Cubs pursued Cespedes, and maybe we were a finalist, but Soler makes a ton more sense for the organization, since the FO decided to rebuild, than Cespedes, and in that regard, I would easily take Soler over Cespedes.

 

Anyhow, this is a pretty awesome win for us in the last weeks of throwing money around. Too bad there aren't many other studs out there to throw money at. The system's fairly loaded on the positional side, but the majority of it is in the lower levels (heck ... one could make an argument that the top 12 prospects in the system shouldn't included any pitchers right now).

Agreed. I feel there's a distinction between the player and the prospect. I think I like the Soler contract because of its length and the Cubs' control over Soler's prime mid-to-late 20s, but prefer Cespedes as a player because he plays CF and is already producing in the major leagues. It's not a guarantee that Soler will ever make it to the majors, much less produce. In other words, Soler is still just a prospect; Cespedes is a fully functioning major league CFer.

 

All said and done, I think I still prefer our deal with Soler vis-a-vis the As' deal with Cespedes just because of the length.

Edited June 11, 2012 by Have a seat, Neifi

[UMFan83]

If Soler, Almora and Baez are all in Peoria at the same time, I'd either be disappointed in Baez's progress or thrilled at Soler's progress or both.

 

I think meeting in Daytona or Tennessee is more likely if at all.

 

Luckily my brother lives in Daytona Beach and is 5 min walking distance to the park.

[Banedon]

9/30? After all the spiraling crazytalk in the last few days, I had prepared myself to be excited about 6/40 with free agency at the end.

So does knowing that the original call was wrong ruin the excitement for you?

 

I lol'd.

[treebird]

9/30? After all the spiraling crazytalk in the last few days, I had prepared myself to be excited about 6/40 with free agency at the end.

So does knowing that the original call was wrong ruin the excitement for you?

 

8.9