Obsessive Jorge Soler Watch: A Decision Expected By Tomorrow (UPDATES)

Your up-to-the-moment latest on 20-year-old Cuban prospect Jorge Soler:

An “industry source” tells the New York Post that Soler is expected to agree to a deal before tomorrow. The Post calls it a “four-year deal,” which I am assuming means a typical four-year deal for a prospect (i.e., he gets paid over four years, and is put on the 40-man roster, but he is *not* guaranteed free agency at the end of the deal – the team still gets its six years of big league control). The Post goes on to suggest that Soler could be a replacement for Nick Swisher should he leave this offseason via free agency, which is extremely optimistic on Soler’s development time line.

Buster Olney says Soler’s reps are calling contenders right now and asking to confirm that their final bids are, in fact, final. So there was an opening round of bids, a second round of bids, and now a “are you sure you don’t want to top Team X’s bid” round of bids. He’s gonna get every last penny.
Buster adds that the Yankees are said to have “bid heavy,” but that other teams view the Cubs as the favorite.
Ken Rosenthal hears from an exec that Theo “won’t allow the Cubs to lose” on Soler.
I tentatively expect that we’ll hear something on this later today/tonight.
My take? I’d say the Cubs remain the most likely destination of all the teams, but I wouldn’t say the Cubs are more likely than not to get him. I’d give the Cubs a 1/3 chance, which would be the best odds I’d give any team. Does that comfort or alarm you?

A couple mid-day updates:

Jon Heyman has also heard that a decision will come down in the next 24 to 36 hours.
Olney just added that Soler’s agents have told teams they have their final chance to make/increase bids by tonight. If it plays out that way, I’d expect word to leak maybe late tonight/early tomorrow, and then a formal announcement on his decision tomorrow. No word yet on whether The Decision will be broadcast on ESPN.