Around AL Central: Tanaka spurns ChiSox, Albers headed to Korea & Santana at third

Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

Chicago White Sox

Windy City baseball fans are no doubt blue this afternoon after both teams missed out on signing Masahiro Tanaka. The prized Japanese star signed a seven-year, $155 million deal with the free-spending New York Yankees on Wednesday. While the Cubs were considered one of the leading candidates, along with the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, the White Sox seemed to be at least in contention.

Apparently both teams in Chicago offered Tanaka a contract.

"Terms of the White Sox’s offer have not been revealed, but both the length of the contract — especially for a pitcher — and the dollar amount are nowhere near in line with White Sox contracts in the past. The team has always balked at long-term deals for pitchers, and the biggest financial commitment they have ever made in a contract was Jose Abreu‘s $68 million deal earlier this offseason. – Doug Padilla, ESPN Chicago"

So this means the White Sox will reallocate the money slated for Tanaka to other sources, right? Not so fast…

"There is not a high expectation that the White Sox will turn to the next tier of free agents on the market, such as Matt Garza, Ervin Santana and Ubaldo Jimenez. While Tanaka would have cost more than any of those pitchers, his appeal was that he was an extremely rare pitching talent whose prime years still figure to be ahead of him. –Padilla"

As it stands today, Chicago’s rotation consists of Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and John Danks. They will be seeking a mid-range free agent for fourth starter and will pick from the trio of Erik Johnson, Andre Rienzo, and Dylan Axelrod for number five.

Follow the jump for the news on the Minnesota Twins.