ESPN.com's Jorge Arangure reports (via Twitter) that the Giants may be on the verge of signing 16-year-old Dominican prospect Wagner Mateo. A deal could be finalized "within [the] next couple of weeks."
Mateo was originally signed by St. Louis in June to a contract with a $3.1MM signing bonus, but the deal was voided by the club in September after medical tests revealed that the young outfielder was suffering from vision problems. The entire situation is nicely detailed in this piece by Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, noting that Mateo's signing was an impressive victory for the Cardinals' rebuilt Latin American scouting operations.
In a tweet from last June, Arangure said that San Francisco came closest to signing Mateo away from St. Louis' grasp in the first place, but got "cold feet" offering a bonus of $3.5MM. The Cards and Giants were two of several teams interested in the highly-regarded young outfielder.
