The odd summer and now autumn of Cuban center field prospect Eddy Julio Martinez took another odd turn earlier this week when an agreement he sort of had with the San Francisco Giants fell apart, meaning that he was still a free agent and could sign with any club. He's a premium talent, so his market would be limited to teams with cap room left or the willingness to ignore the international cap and pay the 100 percent penalty that signing him would incur.

The Chicago Cubs jumped at the opportunity, agreeing to terms on a $3 million bonus, pending a physical, earlier Thursday night, according to a source close to Martinez.

I flew to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Tuesday and watched Martinez take batting practice, and he put on a very impressive display of bat speed and power.