Yankees Sign Masahiro Tanaka

[A New Era]

Kaplan still claims the Cubs weren't outbid.

 

@philgrogers: @pgammo has a good track record on @Cubs. On Tanaka, he says they lacked "the cash to finish it, and knew they were not seriously in it.''

 

Kap believing Kenny's lies.

[Guest]

Marlin Bystro:

 

The Cubs were underneath the Yankees offer. Pretty sure it was a pretty significant and not just a couple million.

 

Maholm will probably be a Cub soon and I would think we can restart the Samardzija trade discussions again. Might be more likely June/July though now considering the time crunch.

 

It was more than a 5 million dollar difference.

 

I agree though....I would much rather play for the Yankees if I were him, but money always is the deciding factor in these things.

 

Well, that's really disappointing.

Very. The just are not serious. They needed to blow away the field, not field a competitive offer.

 

Oh how I wish MLB would have let Cuban win.

[d_money]

My all-time favorite from Gammons will always be "It isn't a question if Mike Lowell will be a Cub, it's when Mike Lowell will be a Cub."

That's right, I totally remember that. Ahh, the good ole days when we mattered

[Backtobanks]

 

When Theo came in, he talked about how wonderful it would've been to have a home-grown Red Sox club, and regretting some of his final big purchases there.

 

Theo took over a very good Red Sox team (89 win average) and made them better (93 win average) with home-grown talent, reclamation players, some shrewd moves, and a gigantic payroll. He never started from scratch (or tore a system down and rebuilt it) like he's trying to do with the Cubs.

[Backtobanks]

We gave him the same out clause. We offered him more money.

 

Source?

Agree -- right now it seems very unclear as to which team's offer was more, the Yankees or the Cubs. We have Passan saying the Cubs may have been slightly higher, and Rosenthal saying the Yankees were higher.

 

Twitter seems in agreement that the Yankees' decision to up their offer to include a 7th year, an opt-out after year 4, and a no-trade clause were each instrumental, but none of this really speaks to which offer was "greater" in terms of total dollars (or whether the Cubs were already offering each of these sweeteners).

 

The bottom line is that all of these "experts" don't have a clue as to which team offered what except for the winning bid. All of the speculation about which team was in the lead "according to sources" was ridiculous. Each team didn't know what the other team's bids were, but these reporters had the "facts" posted all over the internet.

 

Um, you do realize the posting system changed, right? We have no idea how negotiations went. They may have known what other bids were, they may not have.

 

Well if they knew, then all of the "reports" that the Cubs (or the Yankees or the Dodgers) wouldn't be outbid are ridiculous.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

 

False choice False choice False choice False choice False choice False choice False choice

 

Disagree. It's more or less how they've framed the choice every offseason they've been here.

[Felix Leiter]

Kaplan still claims the Cubs weren't outbid.

 

@philgrogers: @pgammo has a good track record on @Cubs. On Tanaka, he says they lacked "the cash to finish it, and knew they were not seriously in it.''

 

Kap believing Kenny's lies.

 

Kaplan's schtick wore out years ago. His sources are fantasy and no one talks to him. How many times has he started out a story with "I talked with a general manager today or a source with intimate knowledge or someone who is very wired in'? He acts like it's protecting the nuclear code. Until he puts a name behind his quotes I'll never believe what he says.

 

Plus, he's a damn windsock. Four weeks ago he's spouting that the Bulls should tank their games so they can get a higher draft pick. Last week he's saying the Bulls should all their games so they can shove it up Pax/Gar's backside. What a moron.

[davell]

 

False choice False choice False choice False choice False choice False choice False choice

 

Disagree. It's more or less how they've framed the choice every offseason they've been here.

 

If we're capped at a 100 mill payroll, it severely limits your options obviously. That said, between Darvish, Cespedes, Puig, Ryu, and Tanaka-with our complete emphasis being on youngsters, at least one and in my opinion, two, of this group should be Cubs currently.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

 

False choice False choice False choice False choice False choice False choice False choice

 

Disagree. It's more or less how they've framed the choice every offseason they've been here.

 

If we're capped at a 100 mill payroll, it severely limits your options obviously. That said, between Darvish, Cespedes, Puig, Ryu, and Tanaka-with our complete emphasis being on youngsters, at least one and in my opinion, two, of this group should be Cubs currently.

 

I don't think the payroll matters going forward. Assuming Tanaka's first year plus 2/3rds the posting fee would be about $35m, we're apparently content to leave $25m or more on the table this year.

 

Edwin Jackson was 29 for his entire first season of the new contract, same with Anibal Sanchez. That appears to be the absolute upper limit that they'll go on these very large deals.

 

They'd rather leave money unspent that commit it on buying a guy's age 32-37 seasons.

[davell]

 

False choice False choice False choice False choice False choice False choice False choice

 

Disagree. It's more or less how they've framed the choice every offseason they've been here.

 

If we're capped at a 100 mill payroll, it severely limits your options obviously. That said, between Darvish, Cespedes, Puig, Ryu, and Tanaka-with our complete emphasis being on youngsters, at least one and in my opinion, two, of this group should be Cubs currently.

 

I don't think the payroll matters going forward. Assuming Tanaka's first year plus 2/3rds the posting fee would be about $35m, we're apparently content to leave $25m or more on the table this year.

 

Edwin Jackson was 29 for his entire first season of the new contract, same with Anibal Sanchez. That appears to be the absolute upper limit that they'll go on these very large deals.

 

They'd rather leave money unspent that commit it on buying a guy's age 32-37 seasons.

 

I hope you're wrong. Theo has always said when we were close and we NEEDED that guy for the first few years of that type of deal, its a necessary evil.

 

At this point though, I don't know what to think. Our current payroll obligations lead me to hope we're readying ourselves for a couple of large contracts soon. But without a good TV deal(and I'm not counting on it with the dumbasses we've got running the ship) we may be a mid market team for a while.

[imb]

Who are some salary dumps this season? I know it's not a real preferred method, but we've got $30 million or whatever with no one to spend it on.

[cubbyvirus00]

Oh well, they lost the bid. Keep drafting studs and everything will be okay.

[Martin]

Are we ever likely to find out how much we offered Tanaka?

[sneakypower]

Who are some salary dumps this season? I know it's not a real preferred method, but we've got $30 million or whatever with no one to spend it on.

Kemp?

 

Are we ever likely to find out how much we offered Tanaka?

yeah, you just have to ask SSR, who knows what every team bid

Edited January 22, 2014 by sneakypower

[pitchcs]

Marlin Bystro:

 

The Cubs were underneath the Yankees offer. Pretty sure it was a pretty significant and not just a couple million.

 

Maholm will probably be a Cub soon and I would think we can restart the Samardzija trade discussions again. Might be more likely June/July though now considering the time crunch.

 

It was more than a 5 million dollar difference.

 

I agree though....I would much rather play for the Yankees if I were him, but money always is the deciding factor in these things.

 

Well, that's really disappointing.

Very. The just are not serious. They needed to blow away the field, not field a competitive offer.

 

Oh how I wish MLB would have let Cuban win.

 

Nope, not serious at all. This was all just a charade.

 

Should have offered him $40MM/per.

[imb]

Who are some salary dumps this season? I know it's not a real preferred method, but we've got $30 million or whatever with no one to spend it on.

Kemp?

 

What about Hamels?

[jersey cubs fan]

Who are some salary dumps this season? I know it's not a real preferred method, but we've got $30 million or whatever with no one to spend it on.

Kemp?

 

What about Hamels?

 

If Philly really takes a dump, they could. But they have a crap ton of revenue coming in now and can easily afford to keep him while trying to rebuild with other things. I don't really see them wanting to move him, plus it would probably take a whole hell of a lot of talent. So, not a true salary dump.

[Felix Leiter]

Rosenthal on The Score says: Even he doesn't know what separated Yankees from everyone else-years or $$$. He suspects it was $$$.

[davell]

Who are some salary dumps this season? I know it's not a real preferred method, but we've got $30 million or whatever with no one to spend it on.

Kemp?

 

What about Hamels?

 

I doubt either are available as salary dumps, to be honest. The posting system issues sucked in more ways than one for us. I'm sure Theo valued him enough to wait it out instead of shooting our wad on ONE other big name FA, but if it HAD happened earlier in the offseason, I could have saw them going after Ellsbury.

 

That said, it really seems like all these guys are using us as leverage to get their preferred destinations to bid more, as it's not ideal to come in to a losing situation. The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking our first real shot at ANY of these big names is when we go into the offseason with the pitch of "Lets add multiple big names".

 

Pairing two big names(or more, yeah I laughed too) seems to be our best shot. If we're truly stuck around a 100 mill payroll, next year, or anytime after, is when we will conceivably in a position to do something like that, even without a new TV deal.

[Guest]

Gordon could come available if the Royals tank. Same with Cargo and Bourn. Cespedes might become expendable if he doesn't bounce back to previous levels. Same with Maybin. If Cincy isn't in the hunt they'll be pretty interested in giving up Phillips(although there's not a super match for the Cubs). The Brewers could decide to give up on Braun, although that wouldn't be done as much as a salary dump.

[Guest]

@JeffPassan: @BleacherNation Don't have exact numbers on all teams. Told dbacks and cubs were short. Guessing extra year + money + opt-out won for Yanks.

[Guest]

Marlin Bystro:

 

The Cubs were underneath the Yankees offer. Pretty sure it was a pretty significant and not just a couple million.

 

Maholm will probably be a Cub soon and I would think we can restart the Samardzija trade discussions again. Might be more likely June/July though now considering the time crunch.

 

It was more than a 5 million dollar difference.

 

I agree though....I would much rather play for the Yankees if I were him, but money always is the deciding factor in these things.

 

Well, that's really disappointing.

Very. The just are not serious. They needed to blow away the field, not field a competitive offer.

 

Oh how I wish MLB would have let Cuban win.

 

Nope, not serious at all. This was all just a charade.

 

Should have offered him $40MM/per.

The results speak for themself.

[XZero771679666304]

The results speak for themselves.

 

FTFY.

 

All the results indicate is that New York was more persuasive, be it financially or otherwise (and by many accounts the Yankees utilized a number of things to woo Tanaka). It doesn't mean the Cubs weren't serious in their pursuit. If it comes to light that the Cubs offer was much, much lower, then we can question how serious the club was.

[SouthSideRyan]

Who are some salary dumps this season? I know it's not a real preferred method, but we've got $30 million or whatever with no one to spend it on.

Kemp?

 

Are we ever likely to find out how much we offered Tanaka?

yeah, you just have to ask SSR, who knows what every team bid

 

Or you could take the reports of everyone outside of Dave Kaplan, along with EVERY rumor of what the Cubs were bidding and compare it to the Yankees final 7Y/175 (inclusive of posting) and realize the Cubs were most likely outbid.

[SouthSideRyan]

@JeffPassan: @BleacherNation Don't have exact numbers on all teams. Told dbacks and cubs were short. Guessing extra year + money + opt-out won for Yanks.

 

Bah, what does this guy know, Ms. Tanaka just likes going to Broadway shows.