Cubs Blog

Even after the addition of Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees' rotation is third-best in the AL East, behind the Rays and Red Sox, writes Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald. The Yankees' rotation lacks depth, Lauber writes, while the Rays have David Price (at least for now) and a strong collection of young pitchers, and the Red Sox have plenty of solid starters to back up Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. Here are more notes from around the big leagues. Eight teams, including the Rockies, Orioles, Mariners, Yankees and Dodgers, have interest in Ervin Santana, Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish... Charlie Wilmoth

In today's column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe checks in with GMs, players, writers, and scouts to help run down the best coaches in baseball. On his list of bench coaches who are managers in waiting: Brad Mills of the Indians, Torey Luvullo of the Red Sox, Larry Bowa of the Phillies, Tim Flannery of the Giants, and the Brewers' Jerry Narron. More from today's column.. The Pirates probably won’t go after a pitcher if A.J. Burnett retires. Right now, Pittsburgh is looking for a full-time first baseman and would use the money that would have gone to the... Zach Links

Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski told fans at TigerFest today to expect a different style of Detroit baseball now that he's completed his offseason retooling of the club's roster, Jason Beck of MLB.com writes. We'll play better defense. We'll score from first or second on base hits or extra-base hits more than we have in the past, Dombrowski predicted, while noting that the 2014 Tigers won't have as much power as some of his previous teams. It's a different type of club. … What you try to do is give your club a chance to win a world championship every year,... Aaron Steen

There were no new developments today relating to Matt Garza, who looked to have a deal in place with the Brewers yesterday before an unidentified snag held things up. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel provided some updates from the inside, however, reporting that a source said negotiations were ongoing. When asked whether there were any new developments, GM Doug Melvin told Haudricourt nothing yet. Here are a few bits of information elsewhere on the current free agent pitching market: Bronson Arroyo and the Dodgers have had discussions since Masahiro Tanaka chose not to sign with Los Angeles, tweets Jon... Jeff Todd

Here are today's minor moves from around the league... The Indians have signed catcher Luke Carlin to a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite, according to the MLB transactions page. Carlin, 33, spent last year at Triple-A for the Angels. In 156 MLB plate appearances spread ove four seasons, Carlin has a .179/.263/.286 triple-slash. The Mariners have inked a minor league deal with righty Mark Rogers, who will receive a Spring Training invitation, the team announced. Rogers, 27, was the fifth overall pick of the 2004 draft and was once the game's 44th best prospect, according to Baseball... Steve Adams

Cuban catcher Yenier Bello has been cleared by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and is now free to sign with a Major League club, according to MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez. The 28-year-old Bello was cleared to sign by Major League Baseball back on Oct. 1 and has been scouted by as many as 15-20 Major League teams. Sanchez lists the Dodgers, Cubs and Blue Jays as teams that have been connected to Bello, who is said to offer some pop from behind the dish. He batted .274 with 13 homers in Cuba's Serie Nacional in 2011 --... Steve Adams

The Cubs have avoided arbitration with lefty Travis Wood, according to Patrick Mooney of CSNChicago.com (on Twitter). The Frontline client receives a one-year, $3.9MM contract that is slightly north of the $3.875MM midpoint between the figures submitted by the two sides. Wood, who turns 27 in two weeks, enjoyed a breakout season for the Cubs in 2013 when he posted a 3.11 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in an even 200 innings. That performance netted him his first All-Star nod, though his so-so K/BB ratio and extreme fly-ball tendencies -- Wood's 44.5 percent fly-ball rate was third among... Steve Adams

Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs took a stab at evaluating Grady Sizemore, who signed yesterday with the Red Sox, but ultimately concludes that there is too much uncertainty to make a projection reasonable. Here are some more notes on Sizemore and another notable signing from yesterday: The Reds offered a big league deal to Grady Sizemore and expected to land him, tweets Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. He changed his mind, GM Walt Jocketty told Sheldon. Discussing his decision to sign with the Yankees, Masahiro Tanaka expressed excitement with joining the game's most historically prominent club, the Associated Press reports (via the... Jeff Todd

The Masahiro Tanaka saga has come to an end in record-setting fashion. Earlier today, Tanaka agreed to an enormous seven-year, $155MM contract with the Yankees that contains an opt-out clause after the fourth season. Tanaka's $155MM guarantee is the second-largest in history for a free agent pitcher (the largest for a right-hander) and is also the second-largest pitcher contract in history in terms of new money guaranteed. The Tanaka buzz is unlikely to die down in the next couple of days, as pundits dissect the contract and what it means for the Yankees and the free agent market. Here's a... Steve Adams

After losing out on Masahiro Tanaka, the Cubs remain interested in adding rotation depth, likely in the form of a relatively minor signing, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com. Chicago will not be in the market for one of the top remaining free agent starter, such as former Cubbie Matt Garza, unless a golden opportunity arises. Neither is the club interested in bringing back Scott Baker, Rogers adds. According to Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com (via Twitter), the Mariners and Indians are more likely landing spots for the 32-year-old righty. The Cubs signed Baker to a one-year, $5.5MM deal last year, but... Jeff Todd

The Masahiro Tanaka clock is ticking, and the right-hander has until Friday to agree to a deal with his first Major League team. Recent reports have indicated that the Cubs are emerging as one of the favorites, but their status as a losing team could stand in the way of landing Tanaka. Yesterday it was reported that Tanaka could agree on Tuesday or Wednesday this week in order to give his new club time to perform the necessary physical and paperwork to make things official. We'll keep track of today's Tanaka-centric links here... Whichever club is chosen by Tanaka should... Steve Adams

The Cardinals' Kolten Wong sits atop the list of baseball's 10 best second base prospects compiled by Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB.com. As Mayo points out, St. Louis' trade of David Freese allows Matt Carpenter to move to third base, opening second for the highly touted University of Hawaii product. Rougned Odor, Mookie Betts, Arismendy Alcantara, Devon Travis, Jonathan Schoop, Taylor Lindsey, Eddie Rosario, Micah Johnson and Wilmer Flores round out the free list, which also includes scouting reports on each prospect. Here's more out of the NL Central... Fangraphs' Mike Petriello writes that the Brewers' signing of... Steve Adams

The Orioles have behaved with a lack of urgency this offseason, writes Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan. The team has a number of key players set for free agency after the 2015 season, including slugger Chris Davis and catcher Matt Wieters. After that, the shape of the organization figures to change dramatically. That means they ought to go for it now, Passan argues, but they haven't so far. Here are more notes from around the big leagues. The Cubs are a wealthy team pinching baseball pennies, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. The team appears to have the means to... Charlie Wilmoth

Masahiro Tanaka will reportedly command a contract in the neighborhood of $120MM over six years (plus the expected $20MM posting fee) and is said to have received such an offer from the Diamondbacks. Here's the latest with five days remaining before Tanaka's posting period expires Friday at 4pm CT: The Cubs' convention this weekend was rather quiet, but that might have been different if Tanaka's deadline had been a week earlier, Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago writes. One source told Rogers that the Cubs would be willing to sign Tanaka for up to six to eight years at $25MM per... Edward Creech

New Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta disclosed at a fundraising event on Saturday that he was targeted by several clubs this offseason who were interested in him as a shortstop, according to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. However, St. Louis offered the opportunity to play for an annual contender, Peralta said at the team's Winter Warm-Up event. Here's more from the NL Central: Top Cardinals prospect Oscar Taveras says he expects to be fully healthy when he reports early for Spring Training next month, MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch reports. The outfielder, who underwent an ankle procedure to repair torn ligaments and remove loose... Aaron Steen

Clubs angling to sign Masahiro Tanaka made formal offers by Jan. 16, Nikkan Sports reports (Japanese link). The list of teams includes the Yankees, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, White Sox and Cubs, with nearly all clubs putting together offers worth more than $100MM over six years. The Diamondbacks have made no secret of their pursuit of Tanaka this winter, and according to Nikkan, they've offered him a deal for six years and $120MM. Such a contract would be the largest in Diamondbacks history by a wide margin. Like other teams, we're very interested, CEO Derrick Hall was quoted as saying at a... Aaron Steen

Tonight in Los Angeles, California, the biggest stars in the game are gathering to help honor baseball's behind-the-scenes heroes. The eleventh annual Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation dinner will honor Hank Aaron, Bruce Bochy, Jack McKeon and more to help raise money for scouts who have fallen on hard times due to job loss, illness, retirement, or other setbacks. You can read more about the event (and donate) on the PBSF website. To learn more about PBSF founder Dennis Gilbert, a special assistant to White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, check out his recent interview with MLBTR's Zach Links. Adam Wainwright tells... Aaron Steen

Here's the latest on the bidding for Masahiro Tanaka. The Cubs are the lead team for Tanaka, a source tells Levine (via Twitter). The Cubs have made a real offer to Tanaka, tweets 670TheScore.com's Bruce Levine, who also notes that one key factor for Tanaka and his wife will be the presence of a Japanese community in his new city. On Thursday, we heard that the Cubs were pushing hard for Tanaka, and Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reported on the sales pitch the Cubs made to Tanaka last week. Charlie Wilmoth

Max Scherzer of the Tigers is one potential beneficiary of Clayton Kershaw's huge new contract, writes MLB.com's Jason Beck. Now that Kershaw has signed, Scherzer and Jon Lester become the top 2014-2015 free agent pitchers. Scherzer obviously isn't likely to top Kershaw's $215MM total, but the prospect of hitting the free-agent market probably just became even more attractive for Scherzer, which should make it even tougher for the Tigers to first sign him long-term. Scherzer and the Tigers recently agreed on a one-year deal worth $15.525MM for 2014, avoiding arbitration. Here are more notes from the Central divisions. Theo Epstein... Charlie Wilmoth

Jeff Samardzija's exchange of arbitration filing numbers with the Cubs (Samardzija has filed for $6.2MM, with the Cubs at $4.4MM) has led to more talk about the pitcher's likelihood of being traded or signing an extension. Samardzija is eligible for free agency after the 2015 season, and has already seen many of his veteran teammates traded as the Cubs build for the future. That doesn't mean the Cubs are poised to trade him, however. Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune writes that teams like the Diamondbacks and Braves believe the Cubs have requested too much in return for Samardzija in... Charlie Wilmoth