MLB: Yoenis Cespedes can negotiate

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball has told teams that Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes is eligible to negotiate with big league teams.

The commissioner's office notified clubs on Wednesday, a day after Cespedes established legal residency in the Dominican Republic.

His agent, Edgar Mercedes, confirmed the residency in a telephone interview Tuesday.

MLB said Cespedes cannot finalize a contract until he obtains an unblocking license from the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control because he is a Cuban national who has established residency in another country.

Earlier this month, Cespedes said six major league teams -- the Miami Marlins, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs and White Sox -- are interested in him.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press