[There was actually a fair bit of interesting things coming out of the later panels today at the Convention, and I’ll have more on that tomorrow. For now, I’ll get to what you really want.]
Today, while I was deep in the throes of CubsConning, Bruce Levine was busy doing impressive work on the Masahiro Tanaka front. Among his tidbits today:
Wake up tweeters! Cubs made Tanaka a real offer to be there ace and grow with their other talented young players.
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) January 18, 2014
According to numerous sources living near and being a part of the American Japanese community ,is a key element for Tanaka and his wife.
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) January 18, 2014
Japanese source said Tanaka loves a challenge and wants to be the man. All that is waiting for him at Clark and Addison.
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) January 18, 2014
MLB source believes Cubs are lead team for Tanaka .
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) January 18, 2014
Taken altogether and the clear implication is that, as we’ve heard before, the Cubs are very seriously interested in Tanaka, have made a legitimate offer, and the ball is in his court on whether he is willing to come to a rebuilding team in Chicago. Whether anyone can rightly say the Cubs are the “leader” for Tanaka right now is a tougher call, given that other interested teams could simply be waiting until the Cubs made their best offer so that they can match or beat it. That said … it’s still nice to hear.
The front office was, understandably, asked repeatedly about Tanaka today, and although they didn’t give anything up, Jed Hoyer re-affirmed that there are negotiations taking place that involve the Cubs. But Theo Epstein was quick to add that there are a lot of teams interested in Tanaka, and we’ll just see what happens.
Incidentally, at the player development and scouting panel, Pro Scouting Director Joe Bohringer was very forthcoming about the fact of the Cubs’ deep knowledge of, and history scouting, Tanaka. They’ve been on him for years (though they’re likely on many international players for many years). That is not to say he was giving anything up about specific involvement in his availability, and he didn’t give up anything on what the Cubs’ scouts think of him.