December 29, 201312 yr Surprised this hasn't been mentioned anywhere yet, but one of the biggest arms to come from across the pond since well Yu Darvish and Dice K finally got posted last week. Looked like Rakuten would maybe hold onto him after MLB passed their new posting fee limit. Dice K was kind of a bust and Darvish has been pretty solid. Tanaka expected to be a much better prospect than those two. You all know the story, 24-0 with 1.27 ERA last year in Japan playing for the Rakuten Golden Eagles. Helped lead them to the Japanese title and has looked good in Olympic and WBC appearances. Early favorites are Yankee's (of course), Cubs, D-backs, Braves, Dodgers and Rangers.
December 29, 201312 yr Author Since MLB recently changed the posting system to cap the maximum posting fee at 20mil, Tanaka can negotiate with any team as long as they pay the posting fee. This should change things up a bit as before you had to win with the highest posting bid before you could negotiate. Now more teams can get involved. Hoping Theo and the Cubs can pull this one off, I really think he's going to have some success over here. You never really know about prospects like this but he's only 25 so he still has plenty of time.
December 30, 201312 yr Author I hate the way international players are handled by MLB. Yeah they usually just go to the highest bidder which is always the same three or four teams. They're hoping that by lowering the posting fee and capping it with a max it may even the playing field a little bit and allow more teams to get involved.
January 8, 201412 yr Author Meeting with Cubs this week..... Cubs Rumors: Masahiro Tanaka Will Meet With Cubs In Chicago - Bleed Cubbie Blue
January 8, 201412 yr I believe that Tanaka is a starting point for the Cubs to begin competing. They have been stocking up on young talent and will look to start bringing in some big names in the next couple of off-seasons. Theo & Jed have got rid of all their bad contracts and have been saving up for a big spending spree before long.
January 8, 201412 yr Author I believe that Tanaka is a starting point for the Cubs to begin competing. They have been stocking up on young talent and will look to start bringing in some big names in the next couple of off-seasons. Theo & Jed have got rid of all their bad contracts and have been saving up for a big spending spree before long. Yeah they've definitely pinched pennies until this point, glad to see them ready to pull the trigger on a big deal for a change. It's a smart move (unless he ends up being a total bust) because unlike most high dollar free agents, Tanaka is just entering his prime and not already on the downslope.
January 11, 201412 yr Author Reports out that he favors playing in a big time market, either NY or LA.
January 18, 201412 yr I now know how the haters feel. As a Yankee fan, I want Tanaka. I am afraid the Dodgers may outbid us for him. This is the first time I have been worried about this in 20 years- lol.
January 18, 201412 yr According to MLB Trade Rumors, The Cubs have made a "Real Offer" for Tanaka. Jason Stark tweeted that it was amazing how many owners at the quarterly owners meetings in Arizona were convinced that the Cubs were preparing to blow away the rest of the field with their offer to sign Tanaka. Sounds like the Cubs are gonna go all out in order to sign Tanaka
January 18, 201412 yr According to MLB Trade Rumors, The Cubs have made a "Real Offer" for Tanaka. Jason Stark tweeted that it was amazing how many owners at the quarterly owners meetings in Arizona were convinced that the Cubs were preparing to blow away the rest of the field with their offer to sign Tanaka. Sounds like the Cubs are gonna go all out in order to sign Tanaka I can't see the Cubs outbidding the Dodgers and Yanks for Tanaka.
January 19, 201412 yr Author I can't see the Cubs outbidding the Dodgers and Yanks for Tanaka. Dodgers and Bankees certainly have more cash to work with but from everything I've read Theo is going to do everything he can to reel him in. Cubs have everything they need to build their team in the farm system, that is except for pitching. Acquiring Tanaka is really about the only thing they can do to secure a good young arm ready for the big leagues and ready to be the arm of the future with all the other cubbies of the future. Theo needs him bad if not they will be without pitching for the foreseeable future. They do have CJ Edwards in the farm system, he's really about the only good arm close to making an impact. Possibly the Cuban arm they signed with Soler eventually but not for a while. However if they can land Tanaka and work out an extension with shark they could have a future rotation of Tanaka, Samardija, Jackson, Wood, Edwards which isn't bad. Especially if those guys can get some hitting to back them up.
January 19, 201412 yr Author Cubs are still a few years away but if they can get Tanaka I really like what Theo has done for the future with the young core. Instead of the Hendry method of blind spending Theo and Jed have instead re supplied the farm system and shed all the bad contracts. This will eventually pay off I hope as they are tied for most top 100 minor league prospects. I eventually expect to see a lineup similar to... C - Who knows hopefully a young prospect 1B - Rizzo 2B - Baez (Alcantara) SS - Castro 3B - Bryant (Baez, Mike Olt) LF - ? (Junior Lake, prospect, Kris Bryant) CF - Almora RF - Soler SP - Tanaka SP - Samardija SP - Wood SP - Edwards SP - Jackson/Pierce Johnson Not a bad looking squad in theory but doing it in the majors is a lot different than the minors. The direction the franchise is heading in is promising though.
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