Juan Carlos Paniagua is very familiar with signing deals with MLB teams. He's just not used to them actually going through.
The 22-year-old right-handed pitcher from the Dominican Republic signed with the Cubs Thursday for 1.5 million, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America.
This is Paniagua's third deal with a big-league club. He first signed with the Diamondbacks in May 2009 under the name of Juan Carlos Collado for 17,000. That deal was terminated due to fraudulent paperwork and was ineligible to sign for one year.
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According to Badler, Paniagua's fastball rose from 92 mph to 98 mph, which enticed the Yankees enough to sign him to a 1.1 million deal. The deal was under his current name, but the league also terminated that deal due to "falsified documents". He was again deemed unable to sign for one year.
That penalty ended today.
Paniagua isn't throwing as hard now -- he's in the 93-95 mph range -- but has impressed scouts with his offspeed stuff.
The signing counts against the Cubs' 2012-13 international draft bonus pool...if his contract is approved.