Mesa, AZ (Sports Network) - The Chicago Cubs signed 20 players to one-year contracts on Wednesday, including catcher Geovany Soto and soon-to-be closer Carlos Marmol.
Soto won the NL Rookie of the Year award in 2008 after posting a .285 batting average with 23 home runs and 86 runs batted in. He was 13th in the MVP race in his first year in the majors, appearing in 141 games.
Marmol served as the primary set-up man for Kerry Wood in 2008 but stands to be the closer now that Wood has moved on to Cleveland. Last season, Marmol pitched in 82 games, posting a 2-4 record with a 2.68 earned run average, striking out 114 batters in only 87 1/3 innings.
Also signing with the Cubs on Wednesday were pitchers Jose Ascanio, Mitch Atkins, Justin Berg, Angel Guzman, Kevin Hart, Marcos Mateo, David Patton, Jeff Stevens, Randy Wells and Sean Marshall, catcher Koyie Hill, infielders Mike Fontenot, Micah Hoffpauir and Ryan Theriot and outfielders Jake Fox, Sam Fuld, Richie Robnett and Brad Snyder.
