Chicago Cubs made very strong push for Anibal Sanchez

The Chicago Cubs may have lost out on starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez to the Detroit Tigers in free agency, but it was not for lack of trying. The Cubs quietly pursued Sanchez for about a month before making a strong final push on Thursday night when president Theo Epstein and chairman Tom Ricketts met with the pitcher in Miami. That night, the Cubs put a five-year, $77.5 million offer on the table and waited for the pitcher's response.

Sanchez and his agent Gene Mato went back to Detroit with news of the offer, and the Tigers quickly eclipsed it with a five-year, $80 million offer of their own. The Tigers reportedly opened with a four-year, $48 million offer, but valued Sanchez enough to outbid the Cubs.

Losing out on Sanchez certainly stings for the Cubs, as they were hoping the 29-year-old could be a top of the rotation starter for the next couple of seasons. But what made the whole situation even worse was the fact that erroneous reports popped up on Twitter Thursday that said a deal had been reached between the Cubs and Sanchez. It's the third time in the past year that a deal involving the Cubs had been reported online before ultimately falling apart.