Cubs Blog

Let's round up the day's rumblings on Masahiro Tanaka, who will have chosen his new club by this time next week: Both Chicago organizations are real contenders for Tanaka, Dan Martin and Ken Davidoff of the New York Post wrote yesterday. An industry source says that the Cubs and White Sox have serious interest in the Japanese ace. Seven teams met with Tanaka during his trip to the U.S., the pair notes, though the Sox are the only ones to have publicly acknowledged a face-to-face. Those meetings have not yet resulted in feedback, according to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com (via... Jeff Todd

We'll keep track of today's smaller deals to avoid arbitration in this post. Click here for background on the upcoming arbitration schedule and how MLBTR is covering it. You can also check in on our Arbitration Tracker and look at MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz's arbitration projections. Today's noon CT deadline to exchange arb figures has passed, but negotiations to avoid an arbitration hearing can continue into February. The Braves are the only strict file and trial team that did not agree to terms with all of its arb-eligible players, meaning they could be headed for several hearings. The Nats and... Steve Adams

MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker is the place to go to see the arbitration contracts agreed upon thus far, as well as the figures exchanged between teams and players that were not able to reach agreement before today's noon deadline to swap salary positions. Matt Swartz's arbitration projections are available here. As MLBTR has previously explained, 146 players officially filed for arbitration (after some eligible and tendered players had alread reached agreement). Of those, 40 players will exchange figures with their clubs. Of course, those players can still reach agreements before their hearings (which will take place betwee February 1st and 21st).... Jeff Todd

The Cubs and outfielder Nate Schierholtz have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year pact worth $5MM, according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter). Schierholtz is represented by Damon Lapa and Scott Leventhal of All Bases Covered Sports Management. Chicago picked Schierholtz up on an affordable one-year, $2.25MM contract last offseason after he was non-tendered by the Phillies (Philadelphia had acquired him in the Hunter Pence trade with San Francisco). The 29-year-old Schierholtz slashed .251/.301/.470 with career-bests in home runs (21), RBIs (68), runs (56) and plate appearances (503). As usual, most of his damage came against right-handed pitching, as... Steve Adams

We'll keep track of the day's updates on Masahiro Tanaka right here: ESPN's Jayson Stark tweets 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. Earlier Updates The Angels are telling other clubs that they are not seriously involved in Tanaka negotiations, tweets ESPN.com's Buster Olney. The Cubs are pushing hard for Tanaka, reports FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal on Twitter. The Angels remain involved on the 25-year-old righty, says Rosenthal, along with other teams... Jeff Todd

The Cubs have signed Chris Coghlan to a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (on Twitter). Coghlan, a Scott Boras client, will earn $800K if he makes the Major League roster and has another $250K of incentives built into his contract, Sherman reports. Coghlan can also opt out of his deal on June 15 if he is not in the Major Leagues at that time. Coghlan, 28, was the National League Rookie of the Year with the Marlins back in 2009 when he batted .321/.390/.460 with nine homers... Steve Adams

Here's the latest on the Cubs from CSN Chicago's Patrick Mooney... Jeff Samardzija and the Cubs are still far apart on a contract extension, though there’s mutual respect on both sides and hope they can eventually find common ground. Samardzija's name has surfaced in several trade rumors this offseason but Mooney reports that the Cubs now plan to keep the righty until closer to the July 31 trade deadline. This would theoretically improve the quality of trade offers, such as how the Cubs scored a nice package of prospects from the Rangers last summer in exchange for Matt Garza. The... Mark Polishuk

With the courting of Japanese starter Masahiro Tanaka now firmly underway, here is the latest on the top remaining free agent (in the estimation of MLBTR's Tim Dierkes): Tanaka is in Los Angeles not only to meet with clubs, but to undergo a physical, reports Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times. Tanaka will have his physical on Thursday and release the results to interested clubs. With a sizeable workload already under Tanaka's belt at age 25, says Dilbeck, agent Casey Close may be looking to get out in front of any health concerns. After Dodgers GM Ned Colletti said... Steve Adams

Free agent starters have largely been held up by Masahiro Tanaka, but Ubaldo Jimenez hasn't let them hurt his asking price. Want to sign the right-hander? It'll still cost you $14MM annually. While we wait to see how that plays out, here's the latest on the Japanese sensation.. Braves president John Schuerholz says that he's not in on Tanaka but that his club did their due diligence on him, tweets Jim Bowden of SiriusXM. The Angels may be a long shot to land Tanaka, but history shows us that they shouldn't be counted out, writes Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com. Some... Zach Links

The Pirates have earned the No. 1 spot atop the organization talent rankings in the 2014 edition of the Baseball America Prospect Handbook (Baseball America's J.J. Cooper has the details). The Bucs' strong 2013 draft and their multitude of quality prospects throughout the farm system contributed to the ranking, BA editor John Manuel explained to Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “They have several players we felt would contend to be No. 1 in a lot of different organizations,” Manuel said. “They have several players who fit the profile to be starters on championship-caliber teams. They have more of those... Mark Polishuk

The Angels are likely to eclipse the $189MM luxury-tax threshold eventually, despite their efforts to avoid doing so this offseason, Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal writes. Sources tell the columnist that the Angels have between $13MM and $15MM of space left beneath the cap, figures that are much lower than what will be required to sign Masahiro Tanaka. However, extending Mike Trout at, say, $300MM over 10 years would make it difficult to avoid surpassing the threshold anyway, so the Angels may as well do so now, Rosenthal surmises. Here's more from his new column: This offseason's big contracts for less-than-durable... Aaron Steen

The Diamondbacks consider Masahiro Tanaka to be their No. 1 target and are serious suitors for the Japanese ace, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reports. Had Arizona not acquired Mark Trumbo, the Snakes were open to spending the $140MM that agent Scott Boras said it would've taken to sign Shin-Soo Choo, and Rosenthal notes that D'Backs management could instead invest that money (the $20MM posting fee and a $120MM contract) towards landing Tanaka. The D'Backs could have an extra source for information on Tanaka in the form of scout Rick Short, who played with Tanaka from 2007-09 on the Rakuten Golden... Mark Polishuk