ST. LOUIS -- Who knows what the guy's real name or birth date is at this point, but the Cubs gave that hard-throwing right-hander from the Dominican $1.5 million this past week because they think the 22-year-old has a chance to start at a more advanced level and rise quicker than a typical ``amateur'' free agent.

``That was a big part of our thinking,'' Hoyer said.

Juan Carlos Paniagua had contracts with Arizona and the New York Yankees voided in the past three years and was made ineligible to sign twice over fraudulent paperwork. The Cubs signed him the day his last ineligible period expired.

The Cubs burned more than half their $2.9 million international signing allotment for the next 11 months, but that's not much different than a lot of teams at this point, Hoyer said.