The 2026 International Free Agency period just opened up, with the Chicago Cubs going for a more spread-the-bonus-pool-around strategy than in years past. That meant there weren’t as many big-name, huge-bonus prospects in the class, and not much chatter about the signings in advance.
Interestingly, Francys Romero just reported a new expected signing for the Cubs for the 2027 class:
Sources: Cuban catcher prospect José Muñiz is expected to sign with the Chicago Cubs for around $1.5M when a new international signing period opens on Jan. 15, 2027.Some scouts compare him to Salvador Pérez. 6’4” frame, plus arm, strong contact skills, and developing power. pic.twitter.com/fmDt6vCAh6
— Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) January 22, 2026That’s a big kid! And a comp that I refuse to let myself dream on!
Jose Muniz has been a part of Cuba’s national team for a while now, and was making a big name for himself before defecting in the fall. Because Cuban prospects are often later-arriving than those in the Dominican Republic or Venezuela to the unofficial bonus pool market, they’re not always able to secure deals that rival the sizes of bonuses at the top of a given class (in other words, a lot of the 2027 bonus pool space for top spenders has been spoken for already, sometimes for years). So getting Muniz on an agreement now for $1.5 million for the 2027 class is actually a pretty significant commitment for the Cubs, and suggestive of how good they believe Muniz can be.
Ah, but there’s at least two big potential issues here.
For one, the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement on December 1, 2026 is likely to lead to a lockout. That may not explicitly preclude the signing of minor league deals on January 15, 2026 – the minor league CBA doesn’t expire until December 2027 – but who knows what kind of disruption the lockout could create for organizations in advance of the signing period opening. Sometimes you see furloughs or layoffs, and even just this past year we saw how that can impact an upcoming IFA class if a key employee is no longer with an organization. It’s impossible to predict what exactly will happen in those months while things are shut down, and maybe it introduces more unnatural movement into the system. This “agreement” with Muniz, remember, is more like an “understanding.”
For another potential issue, it’s also possible that a new CBA – if agreed to before the IFA period opens – could completely upend the entire international system. Recall, the owners aimed for an international draft last time around, and nearly got it. What if that’s in the cards again this time, but an agreement comes together, say, in early January? Suddenly, the whole old IFA system gets thrown out, and agreements like this one with Muniz may no longer matter at all.
This is how it’s going to be with early international signings for 2027 and beyond. A lot more uncertainty than usual. Odds are good that this signing ultimately does go through as expected, but those odds are lower than they would be in previous years.
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