Chicago Cubs the favorites to land Masahiro Tanaka on Bovada
The Chicago Cubs have been one of the competitors for Japanese starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, and now Bovada.com is listing the Cubs as the favorite to land the potential ace who would be a welcome addition to the perennially rebuilding Cubs.
Cubs are now the favorites to land Masahiro Tanaka on @BovadaLV.
— Joe Ostrowski (@JoeOstrowski) January 17, 2014
Cubs 3/2, Yankees 2/1, Dodgers 5/1, White Sox & Mariners 10/1.
The Cubs have bevy of young prospects and hitters in the organization but are starved for pitching at both the MLB and minor league level. Adding a talent like Tanaka would give the team a potential bonafide ace to front the rotation and perhaps allow the club to trade Jeff Samardzija as the two sides have been unable to agree to a long-term extension.
"CBS Sports MLB Insider Jon Heyman writes, ” He makes perfect sense for the team that desperately needs pitching to go with its stash of very good positional prospects, and also favors young players due to their timetable and philosophy.”"
CSNChicago’s David Kaplan writes, “A highly-placed MLB source told me this morning the Cubs “are sitting at the table with the game’s heavyweights” and are prepared to spend an insane amount of money for Tanaka.”
That insane amount of money could approach $120-150 million over six or seven years and it looks as if the Cubs are prepared to be the top bidder.