Yankees Sign Masahiro Tanaka

[toonsterwu]

Wtf were they doing signing Edwin Jackson then?

 

I think they did that, expecting to do more this year, but got scared off by Castro and Rizzo not making strides. So, they took a step back, since payroll is an issue with us and they didn't want to box themselves in.

 

I think they did it because they had a need, it was a guy in his prime, and it wasn't going to be a mega-year/mega-money deal. While 4 isn't short, it isn't long enough to leave them in a bind for any long-term planning, and Edwin was hitting his prime years.

 

It was also a nice PR move - a big enough signing to say, hey, we're trying, but not big enough to hamper any long term planning.

[SouthSideRyan]

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.

 

He was responding to a post by Marlin (who everyone considered reliable 24 hours ago) saying the Cubs offer was much, much lower.

[Guest]

on one hand, i never really wanted tanaka for 150+ million

 

on the other hand, [expletive] the cubs

[questionmarkgrace]

Losing out on him sucks but its worse when you realize that there arent any other theo acquisitions out there. Losing out on 5 of 6 free agents is pretty darn horrible. I dont take solace in us being the bridesmaid it only means that we were close enough to sign him but didnt do enough to make it happen.

 

I thought theo was extremely arrogant for thinking he could do this to begin with and nothing has changed. Its hard enough to get star studded teams to make it to the playoffs. Now we are completely dependent upon our prospects all panning out which is crazy. And even then we still wont have pitching

[RammyFanny]

Patrick Mooney ‏@CSNMooney 6m

 

Cubs made a six-year, $120 million final bid for Tanaka, according to a source close to the negotiations (plus $20 million release fee).

[Guest]

Patrick Mooney ‏@CSNMooney 6m

 

Cubs made a six-year, $120 million final bid for Tanaka, according to a source close to the negotiations (plus $20 million release fee).

 

oh my

[Guest]

that also kind of squashes any rumor of a monster tv deal being imminent. tanaka was exactly what this front office wanted and they couldn't top 120?

[treebird]

Patrick Mooney ‏@CSNMooney 6m

 

Cubs made a six-year, $120 million final bid for Tanaka, according to a source close to the negotiations (plus $20 million release fee).

 

puke

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The release fee was supposed to be paid 2/3rds this year and 1/3rd next year.

 

So assuming $20m in salary and $13.3m in posting fee on this year's payroll, that would have put us on track to be right around or maybe a smidge above last year's payroll. And we're saving some money by not being able to spend on IFAs.

 

So basically, no change in the finances.

[MWV]

I guess I don't see any reason to believe this number over any other number that's been bandied about (save the fact that I'm feeling pretty [expletive] miserable about this whole situation right now, and this number validates my misery).

I don't really care what the bid was. They lost.

[Guest]

well it matters because it provides insight into how much money they think they have to spend over the next year or two.

[SouthSideRyan]

I guess I don't see any reason to believe this number over any other number that's been bandied about (save the fact that I'm feeling pretty [expletive] miserable about this whole situation right now, and this number validates my misery).

 

Because Mooney is one of the few Chicago media guys that isn't a clueless buffoon.

 

If that is true, then we were not serious about getting him.

Edited January 23, 2014 by SouthSideRyan

[MWV]

1) I have very little confidence in any of the reported numbers, so I don't think there is much to be gained from speculation based upon those numbers, and 2) even if we can trust the reported numbers, the bids we have seen tell us only about what they were willing to spend on a 25 year old elite FA pitcher. They don't tell anything about what they are willing (or will be willing) to spend on players in general, and I don't think we can infer anything based upon this bid; this bid was made for a very unique variety of player that the FO values very much. I don't think we can assume that they would spend the same amount on just any player in the near term.

[SouthSideRyan]

They don't tell anything about what they are willing (or will be willing) to spend on players in general, and I don't think we can infer anything based upon this bid; this bid was made for a very unique variety of player that the FO values very much. I don't think we can assume that they would spend the same amount on just any player in the near term.

 

YOU'RE NOT HELPING

[MWV]

I don't like it any more than anyone else here, but [expletive], it sure seems like the writing is on the wall.

[Guest]

Which should be a good indicator they're not going after Scherzer or Masterson or whomever next offseason. Some people are a too optimistic about next offseason.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I don't like it any more than anyone else here, but [expletive], it sure seems like the writing is on the wall.

 

Dude. We have all this money off the books. You can't seriously think they won't hit the FA market hard and give themselves the best chance to win they can in 2012 2013 2014 2015.

[NOLA]

Losing out on him sucks but its worse when you realize that there arent any other theo acquisitions out there. Losing out on 5 of 6 free agents is pretty darn horrible. I dont take solace in us being the bridesmaid it only means that we were close enough to sign him but didnt do enough to make it happen.

 

I thought theo was extremely arrogant for thinking he could do this to begin with and nothing has changed. Its hard enough to get star studded teams to make it to the playoffs. Now we are completely dependent upon our prospects all panning out which is crazy. And even then we still wont have pitching

These are enormous leaps that seem to be getting made over and over again in the last several pages. There's an excellent chance that a few of these prospects we've been obsessively following the last couple of years are out of here before opening day of 2015. I also am pissed we didn't get Tanaka (albeit very curious to see how this works out for the Yankees), but the narrative that this all of a sudden means that we sit on our hands now and wait for the farm to get here doesn't hold water with me.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

, but the narrative that this all of a sudden means that we sit on our hands now and wait for the farm to get here doesn't hold water with me.

 

All of a sudden? We are in the process right now of finishing up an entire offseason of doing just that.

[NOLA]

, but the narrative that this all of a sudden means that we sit on our hands now and wait for the farm to get here doesn't hold water with me.

 

All of a sudden? We are in the process right now of finishing up an entire offseason of doing just that.

Yes, and I don't care for it either, but it's been clear since Day One that this FO has taken the longview to rebuilding the franchise, and the fruits of the farm are now getting close enough to A) be evaluated to see if they can help the club or B) be extremely valuable chips to obtain big league talent. If we had won on Tanaka and he was as advertised, then this conversation wouldn't be taking place. I just don't see how losing out on him changes the entire narrative on how we do business for the next 13 months.

[MWV]

It doesn't change the narrative. The narrative never involved blowing cash on random FA ballplayers. Tanaka was an aberration. That's why they were willing to spend on him. But they didn't get him. The narrative remains as such: only invest in young, pre-prime ballplayers until the fruits of the farm system are entrenched at the MLB level. At that point, the roster can be supplemented with FA signings.

 

I'd love to be wrong, but acquiring Justin Ruggiano and a bunch of relievers has done little to disabuse me of this notion.

[NOLA]

It doesn't change the narrative. The narrative never involved blowing cash on random FA ballplayers. Tanaka was an aberration. That's why they were willing to spend on him. But they didn't get him. The narrative remains as such: only invest in young, pre-prime ballplayers until the fruits of the farm system are entrenched at the MLB level. At that point, the roster can be supplemented with FA signings.

 

I'd love to be wrong, but acquiring Justin Ruggiano and a bunch of relievers has done little to disabuse me of this notion.

The only part of this where I may differ is the bold part. I don't agree with the "entrenched" part. I think (hope) we add meaningful parts by this time next year. It sucks that we may well be sellers again at the ASB, but I think (hope) this is the last one.

[davell]

6/120 sucks, that's a fact, in this situation. That said, my GUESS at what happened is this: We had the highest bid, just as had been reported prior to the last couple of days. It appears Tanaka always had the Yanks as his top choice, after reading things that have come out today. Close got the Yanks to move up to 7/155 and likely told us that Tanaka is content. As it IS an agents job to get his guy where he wants to be. Which then left us needing to overpower 7/155 by a decent amount, in order to get him.

 

We were used to bid the Yankees up. I believe that wholeheartedly. Would I have went to 8 years and 200 mill? Yeah, I would have. But, I have no idea if Ricketts would have allowed Theo to do it. Nor do I know if Theo would have, if given the chance. I can certainly understand if that type of number would have made him back out.

 

But, this is where we're at: We're the team that gets used currently. And that's not going to change, because FA wants to go somewhere and win immediately. Our presentation is going to have to include "hey, our plan is to get you AND(blank) right now. If it doesn't, we aren't getting the big names without overbidding by quite a bit.

 

So we're left hoping more of our question marks turn out well than not, in hopes of giving us a more feasible shot on paper, heading into next offseason.

 

Those question marks?

 

What do Rizzo, Castro, and Castillo look like in 2014?

 

Does Shark(if he's here) take a step forward?

 

Does Travis Wood show last year wasn't a fluke?

 

Does Arrieta turn into a definite rotation piece? How about Hendricks, Grimm, or Rusin?

 

Do we get anything out of Mike Olt? Does Ryan Sweeney show he can be a league average starter? How about Lake? Do either of Vitters or Brett Jackson show enough life to be considered salvageable? Does Alcantara, Villanueva, or Szczur show enough that they're considered a lock to be on the 2015 Opening Day roster?

 

Does our group of bullpen power arms take the step forward that we expect? Not EACH of them, but at least a few of Strop, Parker, Rondon, Vizcaino, Cabrera, and Rivero.....

 

And finally, most importantly, in my opinion, are we able to definitively pencil Javy and KB into our Opening Day 2015 lineup, by the end of 2014?

 

Obviously, there are going to be some hits and some misses out of this stuff. The key is going to be which are which and if we have more positives than negatives. From an individual standpoint, it's feasible to see any singular thing go right. We know, as a whole though, that they won't ALL work. But it's something that I can understand the FO wanting to see play out though, even if I am impatient.

 

At any rate, we NEED as much as humanly possible to go right, especially since I'm not exactly confident in the business department having the renovation saga settled or having a new, big TV deal in place, by this time next year.

[UMFan83]

Gordon Wittenmyer @GDubCub

Can confirm @CSNMooney report Cubs final Tanaka offer 6 years, $120m (plus $20m posting fee). Increased it from 6/114.

 

I'm sure Gordon was eager to confirm that report.

 

More negativity from Gordon:

 

 Internal attendance projections that estimated another 300,000 drop from last year — to 2.3 million — could be even worse after the unrealistically high hopes created by some of the exaggerated reports that suggested the Cubs were favorites.

 

Cubs officials declined to comment on the process or the outcome.

 

But make no mistake, said one rival executive: “Today was a huge day for them. They needed to get this guy.”

 

The exec said that’s not only *because of the declining faith among the fan base in what the Cubs are selling for the third-highest ticket prices in the game. There’s also a perception developing within the industry that the Cubs’ business plan won’t support the planned baseball renaissance.

 

That would be a lot bigger loss than any pitcher.

[Ryne Ween]

I can answer one of those. No, we won't get anything out of Mike Olt.