Reports have Japanese star pitcher Mashiro Tanaka making a call this week on both the Cubs and White Sox. Tanaka will get a taste of an arctic weather blast, as cold and foreboding as the teams last season records.
The Cubs claim they are "all in" in the Tanaka signing derby. The White Sox are laying in the weeds not making a big deal about it. Of the two teams, it is more probable yet still highly remote that the White Sox would sign Tanaka over the Cubs.
Talk is free and signing free agents is quite expensive.
Media columnists are now wondering out loud whether the Ricketts family is willing to spend a ton of money to acquire premier free agents like Tanaka. The Ricketts have not tapped any new revenue streams that they have been pushing for the last year or two. Attendance, a major revenue source, continues to decline. The question is why would ownership spend millions of dollars for a good pitcher for a team that will continue to be bad for at least the next two or three years?
The same media pundits are also beginning to question the front office. This is Theo Epstein's third winter with the Cubs, and he has basically nothing tangible to show for his efforts. Yes, he has made trades and signed free agents, but those were second tier assets that have been moved for more prospects. The constant tale of the great prospects down the line is turning into a hollow promise.
Many are looking at Epstein's Cub tenure as "kicking the can down the road." You put off something for tomorrow that you should be doing today. Epstein's job was to build a competitive major league team. So far, it has been a utter failure. The excuse has been the reason for failure is that the Cubs minor league system was so poor it could not support the major league team. But that does not stop big market teams like the Red Sox or Yankees from fielding quality teams. And that does not stop small market clubs like the Orioles quickly promoting quality prospects to majors (especially young starting pitchers). So why not the Cubs?
The one-prong strategy of betting the farm on the farm is the reason why the Cubs are unwinding their major league roster to a basic AAA/AAAA squad. It is not to win the hearts and minds of the fans or the media. It is pare back the payroll with the hope of hitting a dozen prospect home runs in the near future. A near future which also according to the pundits seems to be inside the can being kicked down the road.
