After much debate and speculation, Rakuten Golden Eagles ace Masahiro Tanaka has been posted and is up for grabs for all 30 Major League Baseball clubs. Bidding for Tanaka's services opened at 8:00 a.m. today, and will remain open until January 24th at 5:00 p.m., according to reports.
Under the new posting procedure, which generated much controversy and nearly led to Tanaka remaining in Japan for the next two years, any team that comes to an agreement with the pitcher must pay a posting fee to the Golden Eagles that may not exceed $20 million.
Tanaka is the apple of most teams' eye this offseason when it comes to the free agent crop for starting pitchers. Last season for Rakuten Tanaka was literally unbeatable, posting a 24-0 record with a miniscule 1.27 ERA. He racked up 183 strikeouts while walking just 32 batters, and posted a sub-1.00 WHIP.
Upon news breaking that he'd be posted, Tanaka said, "I'm grateful to the team for allowing me to try. Now I've made a first step. I hope I would receive offers from as many teams as possible so I have a wider option."
His options figure to be many, as several big-budget teams are pitching needy. The most interested clubs are rumored to be the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago Cubs. Of the three, the Yankees have had the most successful Japanese import-outfielder Hideki Matsui.
Boston's last foray into the Japanese market yielded Daisuke Matsuzaka, a major bust for most of his time in MLB with the exception of an 18-3 2008 campaign, his second with the BoSox.
The track record of Japanese players in MLB is spotty, but the recent dominance of Texas' Yu Darvish has re-ignited the market for top level talent from Japan. That is especially true for 25-year-old strikeout machines that have better numbers than Darvish prior to their MLB debuts.
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