Months after rumors persisted that the Cubs had agreed to a deal with Jorge Soler, the 20-year-old Cuban outfielder has finally been declared a free agent, according to FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal.
In February, it was reported the Cubs and Soler had agreed to a 27.5 million deal, although that turned out to be inaccurate. Per David Kaplan's report, though, Soler is close friends with Gerardo Concepcion, who signed with the Cubs in the offseason and is currently pitching with Single-A Peoria.
About a month later, more reports surfaced that the Cubs had inked Soler. Cubs GM Jed Hoyer was quick to shoot the reports down, though, calling them "completely bogus."
But the Cubs have done their homework on Soler, according to CSNChicago.com's Patrick Mooney, and are very interested in him.
The Cubs, Indians, Orioles, Red Sox, Yankees and White Sox have all been linked to Soler -- although White Sox GM Kenny Williams played coy when asked despite his left fielder admitting to reaching out to Soler and then-free agent Yoenis Cespedes earlier in the month.
Soler is expected to sign in the next month, as the new MLB collective bargaining agreement puts restrictions on international spending after July 2. Until then, teams can bid as much as they want for Soler, so it'd be in his best interests to ink a deal before that date.