Now that Yu Darvish's negotiating rights have been won by the Texas Rangers, that leaves one more notable international free agent still up for grabs: Cuban outfielder Yoennis Cespedes.
Cespedes is close to establishing residency in the Dominican Republic, the first step toward making him eligible for MLB free agency. After that, additional paperwork could take another couple of weeks.
That would make Cespedes ready to accept bids from interested teams sometime in mid-January, about a month before the start of spring training.
The Red Sox are one of about a half-dozen teams most interested in the outfielder, but with speculation centered on a 50 million price tag -- in the form of a major-league deal -- the bidding may be too rich for the Sox this offseason.
Cespedes, 26, is projected as either a center fielder or right fielder though some teams are said to question whether he could play center.
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