Update (5:00.m. ET): The Dodgers agreed to a five-year deal with Cuban shortstop Erisbel Arruebarruena on Friday, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Financial terms of the deal have not yet been reported.
Erisbel Arruebarruena signs with Dodgers
The 23-year-old Cuban shortstop struck a five-year deal with Los Angeles.
Koji Watanabe
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The Dodgers are close to adding another player to their open competition for second base this spring.
The team is "only a few steps away" from adding Cuban infielder Erisbel Arruebarruena, according to MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez. Los Angeles was reportedly nearing a deal with the 23-year-old defector last week, but the legal hurdles of his efforts to become a free agent have slowed the process.
Arruebarruena has been cleared by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and has established residency in Haiti.
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After he is approved for a P-1 work visa, he’ll be free to sign with the Dodgers, at which point he will presumably enter into the team’s competition for second base.
Loas Angeles signed Arruebarruena's Cuban National teammate, Alexander Guerrero, to a four-year, $28 million deal earlier this winter to be the team's starting second baseman in 2014, but Guerrero is still adjusting to second base, so the Dodgers are hesitant to name him the outright starter.
Like Guerrero, Arruebarruena was predominantly used as a shortstop in Cuba, so he would likely need time to adjust to second base as well given that Hanley Ramirez is entrenched as Los Angeles' starter at short. In six seasons for Cienfuegos in Cuba's Serie Nacional, Arruebarruena hit .279/.333/.429 with 28 home runs and 41 stolen bases. He has a tendency to attempt to make too many spectacular plays which often result in errors, leading to the unfortunate nickname "Errorbarruena."
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