MLB Rumors: Jorge Soler Should Top Toronto Blue Jays Priority List in June

For those who don't happen to be familiar with the name, Jorge Soler is supposed to be the next Cuban-born baseball phenom.

This past offseason, teams were lining up for the chance to sign the 20-year-old star outfielder.

Problems with his residency status in the Dominican Republic (Soler defected from communist Cuba.), however, prompted Major League Baseball to hold off on declaring Soler a free agent, meaning teams were not allowed to ink him to a contract under the rules established by the current collective bargaining agreement.

Over this past weekend, though, Major League Baseball finally announced that Soler is now officially a free agent and may be signed.

Now it appears as though Jorge and his agent are making up for lost time, as they have asked all interested teams to have their bids in for the slugger's services no later than June 7 (this Thursday).

While some believe that the two Chicago teams, Miami and the New York Yankees are the most likely landing spots for Soler, the youngster did work out in the offseason for the Toronto Blue Jays and they have shown interest in the up-and-coming outfield prospect.

Even though the slugger would carry a hefty price tag in the $6 million to $8 million per season range, adding Jorge Soler to one of the top farm systems in all of baseball would only make the Blue Jays future that much brighter.

With his power that grades out as a plus-plus and a cannon for an arm, Soler projects to be a corner outfielder, a position Toronto wouldn't mind having a little more depth at in their system behind Jake Marisnick.

With one of the top Latin American scouting teams in baseball over the last 20 years, there is no reason to believe that the Jays can't be the team that wins the Jorge Soler sweepstakes.

This is a team that has brought in the likes of Tony Fernandez, Carlos Delgado, as well as current prospects Moises Sierra, Adonys Cardona, Adeiny Hechavarria and Carlos Perez.

Even the current roster has a plethora of Spanish-speaking players (Omar Vizquel, Henderson Alvarez, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Luis Perez, Yunel Escobar, etc.).

Though the timing of Soler's agent's deadline may not be the best, with the MLB draft only wrapping up the day before June seventh, Alex Anthopoulos still needs to do everything in his power to ink the budding Cuban star to a deal.

With no guarantee that Jose Bautista will be sticking around in Toronto past 2015 (though Bautista seems to be enjoying his time in Toronto) when his contract expires, having a potential corner outfield who also has an explosive bat and hose for an arm ready to replace him would be a nice insurance policy.

Being able to lock up Soler sometime soon would also allow GM Alex Anthopoulos to move more pieces closer to the trade deadline in order to acquire immediate help, whether it be another bat for the top of the order, or a more experienced arm to solidify the starting rotation.

Follow @LeafsWriterBR