Chicago Cubs fans may not want to hear this, but the impression is that when last Thursday started, the Cubs thought they were closing in on a deal with Tatsuya Imai. Bleacher Nation's Michael Cerami had sources telling him that a deal may have been close between the two sides, and North Side Baseball's Matthew Trueblood also had intel that suggested the North Siders thought they were going to land the Japanese starting pitcher.
Trueblood's reporting on the deal that fell through suggested that while the Cubs were under the impression that their final offer to Imai was going to be the one he signed, Scott Boras took the offer to the Houston Astros at the last minute.