Yasel Puig Gets $42 Million

On Monday, I took a look at the Chicago Cubs’ interest in Cuban outfielder Yasel Puig. Puig defected from Cuba and established residency in Mexico, thus paving the way for him to sign a contract with a Major League baseball teams. The Cubs interest in Puig comes after the teams signed fellow Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler to a nine year contract that is worth $30 million.

I was against the idea of the Cubs’ signing Puig. For reason that it seemed that the Cubs front office would have been shelling money that was for an unnecessary talent. That is not to say that Puig will not have a respectable career. It just seemed that the Cubs interest in Puig was inflated due to the fact that they spent $30 million on Soler. While the Cubs were certainly interested to some extent in Puig, Jaime Torres, who represents Puig, likely wanted the Cubs involved in the bidding to increase the price for the Cuban outfielder. While Puig is believed to be more polished than Soler, Soler is believed to have the higher ceiling.

This is why it came to no surprise to see that the Cubs were not the team that signed Puig to a contract that is worth $42 million. That honor went to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who agreed to terms with Puig on Thursday to a seven year contract that is worth $42 million contract. Similar to Soler’s deal with the Cubs, Puig can opt out of his contractual terms and go through the arbitration process after his third season in Major League Baseball. Soler has the option to opt out of the financial terms of his contract.

The Cubs came away with the better prize in Soler in comparison to Puig. For that reason, I give a thumbs up to the Cubs and their deal with Soler and sratched my head when I heard the news of the Dodgers’ investment in Puig.