Cubs Notes: Concepcion, Garza, Bosio, Byrd, and Soler

The Chicago Cubs finally officially signed Gerardo Concepcion to a 5 year deal worth $6M. Half of that amount is actually the signing bonus and the other half will be spread across the 5 years. But please do not look at this deal as if he is leaving at the young age of 25. Since this is a traditional deal the Cubs will not only have Concepcion for 5 years but then have him for 6 ML years. MLB rules stat that each ML team gets 6 years of Major League control once a player has been on the 25 man roster for a certain amount of days. So his ML clock does not start ticking until he is in Chicago. So basically the Cubs could have Concepcion for 11 years if he does not make it to the Bigs until he is 25. More than likely you will see him make his Chicago debut in about 3 years. The Cubs have added Concepcion to the 40 man roster.

Cubs Den has a great run down of yesterday’s game.

Don’t worry about Garza’s weak spring so far because he is not.

Chris Bosio is my kind of Pitching Coach… FEARLESS

The Nationals and Indians are still interested in Marlon Byrd according to sources. Both teams have had interest in Byrd in the past; in fact the Nationals and Cubs have discussed a possible Lannan for Byrd swap but the Nationals wanted a top 15 prospect in the deal as well which killed talks.

The Chicago Cubs and Starlin Castro are really working hard on his defense this spring.

The Chicago Cubs are still in talks about developing their own network and according to some rumors swirling the new network could come around before the WGN and Comcast contracts are up.

BleacherNation has Jed Hoyer on Concepcion.

Who does not want more Jorge Soler rumors??? Many teams and writers think he will end up with the Cubs including Alex Speier. This is what he had to say-

According to a major league source, the Red Sox do plan to pursue Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler, a 20-year-old who is awaiting approval by Major League Baseball to become an international amateur free agent. Though still considered very raw, Soler has tremendous power, with the potential to hit 30-plus homers a season in the majors if he proves capable of fulfilling his potential.
That said, the Sox – like most of the baseball industry – expect that the Cubs are likely to win the bidding for Soler.

Until Next Time..