Astros lose out on Tanaka

So much for my fevered dream that the Astros signed Tanaka. The Yankees benefited from the Alex Rodriguez Witch Hunt, because - for at least a year - they'll off-set what they would have spent on their dumb third baseman by spending it on Masahiro Tanaka with a 7yr/$155m deal (a deal in which Tanaka can opt-out after four years). The Astros were rumored to have interest of varying degrees, but two tweets minutes apart show the level of interest:

A source tells MLB.com Astros' offer to Tanaka was more than $100 million.
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) January 22, 2014

The Astros' offer to Tanaka was over $100 million, according to a person with knowledge of the Tanaka negotiations.
— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) January 22, 2014

This is going to be one of those stories that only serves to reinforce your already-established position. Nobody's mind is going to be changed here.

If you are of the opinion that a new day has dawned on the organization, then this serves as confirmation. After all, the Astros offered Jose Abreu between $50-60m, and he just ended up going to the White Sox for $68m. The Astros offered a ton of money to Tanaka, he just chose the more storied team who also happened to offer $30m more than anybody else.

That said, if you are of the opinion that Jim Crane will never invest a bunch of money into the team, you can look at these and say, "Awww! Crane did to Tanaka exactly what he did in the Abreu sweepstakes!" And that would be to offer (a) enough money to get some press, but (b) not enough to actually land the player. 

Nobody's mind will be changed by this. The Astros are a polarizing team, even to their own fans.