How Masahiro Tanaka Would Have Impacted The Cubs

I think Masahiro Tanaka would have helped the Cubs A LOT in the near future if he would have signed with them. Tanaka would have taken a lot of pressure from Samardzija and Wood. Tanaka would have been the ace for the Cubs, which, in my opinion, would have made Travis Wood the number 2 starter and Jeff Samardzija number 3. Yes, I think Wood is the Cubs’ “ace”, for he had a lower ERA and a lot more quality starts then Samardzija. Samardzija does have ace material at times: he can run his fastball up to 98 MPH and had 9.0 K/9 in comparison to Wood’s 6.5. Samardzija also has a devastating splitter that is his out pitch. Yes I know he pitched 200 innings and struck out over 200 batters. I just think that Samardzija needs to lower his ERA to the mid to upper 3 and have more quality starts and he can easily be the ace. Samardzija had a 4.34 ERA versus Wood’s 3.11.  Back to Tanaka, if he would have signed with the Cubs it would have also taken some pressure off of pitching prospects CJ Edwards, Pierce Johnson, Arodys Vizcaino, etc. Tanaka would have definitely added a measurable amohnt of wins for the Cubs. No, not making them a playoff team in 2014, but with young help of Baez, Bryant, Almora, and Soler on the way, the Cubs could and should be ready to make a splash in 2015 or 2016.   What I’m trying to get at is that Tanaka would have helped the Cubs win sooner and would have given them a legitimate number 1 ace.