There we go. After a 24-hour delay because reasons, two of the Cubs’ International Free Agent signings have reportedly finally gone official:
The @Cubs have agreed to deals with two of the Top 50 international prospects:
10. Juan Cabada, SS ($1.5 million)
13. Wilfri De La Cruz, SS/3B ($2.3 million)
Keep updated on the latest signings: https://t.co/85U9SjTqH8 pic.twitter.com/3YHhGN4VbX— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) January 16, 2025
We don’t yet know what was going on behind the scenes that led to the delay – which is minor, but has never happened before – and it’s possible we’ll never know. My best guess is that the Cubs were just waiting a little longer to see if something opportunistic would shake loose thanks to this year’s very atypical spending situation (Roki Sasaki and the related impacts). I do hope we find out, mostly just because I am really curious what was going on.
There is more coming today, I’m sure. Most likely? The end result will be that the rest of the top signings will get made official, and the Cubs will have used up almost all of their $6,261,600 bonus pool, just like any other year. I’ll have more on the signed prospects soon, though you can see much of the expected class here.
UPDATE: And there’s the third top member of the Cubs’ class:
Chicago Cubs today signed Dominican shortstop Juan Tomas for $1.1 million.
Big, big upside.
Scouting reports on the Cubsโ 2025 international class: https://t.co/oNHU7snax9 pic.twitter.com/iUt4QybBgl— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) January 16, 2025
UPDATE 2: Hey, some more pictures! Here’s a group among this year’s class:
Breaking News: Angel Gonzalez, 17-year-old LHP, signs with the Chicago Cubs organization. He is a left-handed starting pitcher and trains for the Team Pro Puerto Plata academy. #Cubs pic.twitter.com/s7RrJdHXIo— Mike Rodriguez (@mikedeportes) January 16, 2025
None of the names are shared with the list of signees expected by BA, which is not unusual – these classes tend to be upwards of 20 prospects or more, so not everyone is going to be on that first list.
And some pictures for De La Cruz and Cabada:
UPDATE 3: More details:
The Chicago Cubs opened the 2024-2025 international signing period by officially signing 17 players today:
SS Wilfry De La Cruz 2.3M
INF Juan Cabada 1.5M
SS Juan Tomas 1.1M
3B Luis Santos 135,000
CF Julio Acosta 125,000
OF Jeuri Ramirez 80,000
SS Luis Abreu 60,000
OF Breinerโฆ pic.twitter.com/rZ8dxqZdD8— Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) January 16, 2025
That’s about $5.4 million worth of bonuses, though it doesn’t include every name we’ve heard connected to the Cubs. So it’s possible the full $6,261,600 is now used up. It’s also possible a little is still available to be dealt, or to be held for later signings in the period as later-arriving prospects come onto the scene.