The courtship of Rakuten Golden Eagles star Masahiro Tanaka is nearing its end. He must make a decision on a Major League Baseball landing spot by Friday, and according to reports, there are five serious suitors still in contention.
The Los Angeles Dodgers seem to have the most money readily available to them, but appear to have the least need for Tanaka. Their rotation is chock full of quality pitching, with the only obvious opening being oft-injured Josh Beckett's spot. They also just inked ace Clayton Kershaw to a seven-year, $215 million pact.
Even though Los Angeles is flush with cash though, the Yankees are desperate for an upgrade in starting pitching. Rumor has it that the Bronx Bombers "will not be outbid," especially with Alex Rodrigez's $25 million off the 2014 books. That means they're prepared to make a significant commitment to the unproven international pitcher.
"It is believed that all of the serious teams are prepared to offer Tanaka more than $100 million over at least six years," The New York Times reported. The teams involved are the Dodgers, Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Chicago White Sox.
Surprisingly enough, the Cubs are believed to be a legitimate sleeper candidate for Tanaka's services. They could not pitch the recent track record of success that Los Angeles and New York could, but instead are selling the Golden Eagles ace on being the centerpiece of a young core.
"[Our pitch] to him is that we're a club on the [upswing]," new manager Rick Renteria said. "We're a club that has a lot of talent [in the minor leagues] besides the guys that we have here [at the major league level]. The organization has quality players coming up that's going to significantly impact the organization."
Renteria has even gone so far as to begin learning Japanese, so he can more easily communicate with the 25-year-old. Last year for Rakuten he was a sizzling 24-0 with a microscopic 1.27 ERA.
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