Masahiro Tanaka Reactions And Fallout
The Masahiro Tanaka saga has come to an end in record-setting fashion. Earlier today, Tanaka agreed to an enormous seven-year, $155MM contract with the Yankees that contains an opt-out clause after the fourth season. Tanaka's $155MM guarantee is the second-largest in history for a free agent pitcher (the largest for a right-hander) and is also the second-largest pitcher contract in history in terms of new money guaranteed. The Tanaka buzz is unlikely to die down in the next couple of days, as pundits dissect the contract and what it means for the Yankees and the free agent market. Here's a look at some of the early reactions to and fallout from the Yankees' staggering investment…
- New York GM Brian Cashman discussed the deal from the team's perspective in a conference call today, and MLBTR's Zach Links reported on the highlights.
- ESPN's Buster Olney reports that the Yankees' internal sense is that this concludes their pursuit of major free agents this offseason (Twitter link).
- It's little surprise that the team with the biggest need and one of the two biggest revenue bases from which to draw wound up landing Tanaka, writes ESPN's Keith Law (Insider required). Law feels that Tanaka will be one of the 20 to 25 best starters in Major League Baseball in 2014 and notes that the opt-out clause works to the Yankees' advantage, in a way.
- SB Nation's Rob Neyer writes that while Tanaka is a significant upgrade for the Yankees, it's hyperbolic to suggest that this signing will change the balance of power in the American League.
- The Cubs were the runner-up in the Tanaka sweepstakes, according to David Kaplan of CSN Chicago (Twitter link). Ultimately, the fact that they're not ready to win in 2014 ended their chances, he elaborates.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the Yankees separated themselves, but not by a wide margin. The Dodgers, Cubs, White Sox, Astros and Diamondbacks were all involved in the end. According to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, all teams that participated in the second round of bidding had to come in above the six-year, $120MM level.
- Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com reports that the seventh guaranteed year is what separated the Yankees from the rest of the pack (on Twitter). According to Kaplan (via Twitter), other factors "trumped the possibility of more money," including the influence of Ichiro Suzuki and Hiroki Kuroda and the attractiveness of playing for the game's highest-profile franchise.
- The Dodgers wanted Tanaka, but drew a financial line, reports Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times. As Dilbeck explains, the team does have financial limitations that it intends to abide by. "We went as far as we thought we could go," said GM Ned Colletti.
- For the White Sox, GM Rick Hahn says that reports of the team's efforts to land Tanaka largely seemed "accurate," reports Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago. Ultimately, however, Hahn says that the money reached a level that the club was not comfortable reaching. The resources that the club would have used to sign Tanaka remain available for a similarly attractive opportunity in the future, Hahn said, but he does not see any in the current market. (Links to Twitter.)
- MLB.com's Brian McTaggart reports that the Astros' offer to Tanaka exceeded $100MM. McTaggart adds that GM Jeff Luhnow, owner Jim Crane and seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens were among the Astros contingent that went to meet with Tanaka in Los Angeles.
- Jack Magruder of FOX Sports Arizona was told that the Diamondbacks would not pursue other free-agent starters if they missed out on Tanaka, as the front office believes the asking prices to be too high (Twitter link).
- The Blue Jays were involved initially on Tanaka, but had "no way to compete" once it became clear that he would command seven years, reports John Lott of the National Post. Toronto had been willing to pay the $20MM fee, but was only interested in going to five years on the contract, Lott says. The team was also troubled by the opt-out clause, Lott tweets. Toronto figures to be among the most active teams on remaining free agent starters.
- Angels GM Jerry Dipoto told reporters, including MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez, that his team was never very involved with Tanaka and did not make a formal offer (Twitter link). As Gonzalez further explains, the Halos will instead either try to fit Matt Garza within the team's approximately $15MM of 2014 budget space or hunt for a good deal from amongst the cheaper open-market options.
- The Tanaka signing caps a nice run for Casey Close and the Excel Sports Management agency, notes Darren Heitner of Forbes. With an estimated 4% take, those two contracts would deliver a total of $14.8MM to the agency. Heitner notes also that Excel has worked out several notable deals with the Yankees in the past, given its representation of Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira. With its latest run of big contracts, says Heitner, Excel will surely climb the Forbes agency valuation chart.
Jeff Todd contributed to this post.
Brian Cashman On Signing Masahiro Tanaka
Earlier today, the Yankees gave Masahiro Tanaka the largest ever open-market deal for a right-handed free agent pitcher – a seven-year, $155MM pact. It's the sort of contract that Yankees fans have come to expect from the club over the years, but there were serious doubts heading into this offseason that they would be writing those kinds of checks after about a year of talk of staying under the $189MM luxury tax threshold. Now, with free agents Tanaka, Carlos Beltran (three years, $45MM), Brian McCann (five years, $85MM), and Jacoby Ellsbury (seven years, $153MM) in the fold, it's hard to see the Bombers staying beneath that line. On today's conference call, I asked General Manager Brian Cashman when the Yankees decided that they would scrap their fiscally conservative plan. He responded:
"I think Hal Steinbrenner has spoken to that on a number of occasions now, the new basic agreement provided certain benefits if we were on our way to under $189MM, he conveyed that it was a goal, but he has reiterated that it wouldn't come at the expense of putting together a championship team. I think our fans can recognize that Hal Steinbrenner and Hank Steinbrenner [mean it] when they say they intend to put a team on the field that can compete on a yearly basis."
Indeed, the Yankees showed this winter that they were not going to accept a repeat of last season, which ended with an 85-77 finish and no postseason berth. I asked Cashman if this was the last starting pitcher or significant free agent that the Bombers would add, and while he was largely non-committal, he did acknowledge that "much of the heavy lifting" has already taken place.
Tanaka was widely regarded as the best free agent pitcher on the open market this offseason, despite never having thrown a major league pitch. His upside and his age made him an extremely hot commodity, but his odometer is of concern to some. For instance, the Rakuten Golden Eagles allowed him to toss a 160-pitch complete-game loss in Game 6 of the Japanese championship series before throwing 15 pitches in relief the next day. Cashman says that he and his staff have taken those concerns into account and were willing to forge ahead anyway:
"You always have concerns. That's always something you can't ignore or deny. But, I think that as you can see clearly by the competitve bidding on him as a free agent, with his age, talent, the scouting assessments on him, and the pitching market the way it is, it's certainly something that we're still willing to take the risk by acknowledging, yeah, there's a workload there."
The Yankees, despite their worries, came out on top in the bidding process, but Cashman isn't quite sure how much he beat the second-highest bidder by. The GM was informed that the bidding was "very competitive," but he isn't sure how the other finalists (reportedly including the Dodgers, White Sox, Cubs, and D'Backs) stacked up. He also confirmed that the opt-out clause included in the deal wasn't initially part of their pitch but instead was requested by agent Casey Close. Close told Cashman that all of the other serious offers included an opt-out clause and would more-or-less be mandatory if he hoped to land the hurler.
When asked if he shied away from fellow Japanese star Yu Darvish before the 2012 season due to concerns over some of his fellow countrymen not making the grade, Cashman was adamant that he was very interested in his services. The scouting department was extremely high on the right-hander, but the $50MM+ posting fee that was required was too rich for their blood at the time.
This time around, the Yankees got their man with a much more reasonable $20MM fee, though the total commitment to Tanaka is much higher than the roughly $108MM the Rangers committed to land Darvish ($51.7MM posting fee and $56MM salary guarantee). Needless to say, it's a sizable committment, and one that the Yankees made after years of homework. According to Cashman:
"We started evaluating him back in 2007, certainly paying close attention to him in the '09 [World Baseball Classic]. This year we went to 15 of his games including the WBC and we sent a scout to evaluate him in the playoffs as well. We made a determined effort to know as much as we possibly could."
Cubs Looking At Starters, Will Not Re-Sign Scott Baker
After losing out on Masahiro Tanaka, the Cubs remain interested in adding rotation depth, likely in the form of a relatively minor signing, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com. Chicago will not be in the market for one of the top remaining free agent starter, such as former Cubbie Matt Garza, unless a golden opportunity arises.
Neither is the club interested in bringing back Scott Baker, Rogers adds. According to Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com (via Twitter), the Mariners and Indians are more likely landing spots for the 32-year-old righty. The Cubs signed Baker to a one-year, $5.5MM deal last year, but Baker was only able to make three starts after a long Tommy John rehab.
Chicago has been linked to other mid-tier starting options, Rogers notes, including Paul Maholm and Jason Hammel. Both pitchers would seem to fit the mold of the club's rotation signings from last year, which included Baker, Scott Feldman (one year, $6MM), and Carlos Villanueva (two years, $10MM). Internal candidates for the club's final rotation spot, according to Rogers, include Justin Grimm, Kyle Hendricks, and Chris Rusin.
Reds Will Not Sign Grady Sizemore
2:03pm: Sizemore appears to be set to sign with a club other than Cincinnati, a source tells MLB.com's Mark Sheldon.
WEDNESDAY, 1:32pm: In a radio appearance on 1450 ESPN in Cincinnati, Jocketty stated that "things have changed" and the Reds will not sign Sizemore (Twitter link).
SUNDAY, 4:19pm: "Some details have to be worked out," Jocketty told John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. "We hope to get something done next week." Jocketty also told Fay both Major League and minor league deals have been discussed with Sizemore.
2:53pm:The Reds are in advanced talks with outfielder Grady Sizemore, sources tell Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). The sources, however, caution other teams are involved and the 31-year-old free agent could go in a different direction.
This is not the first time the Reds have been linked to the three-time All-Star, who hasn't played since 2011 because of microfracture surgery on his right knee and back and sports hernia operations. Earlier this month, Reds GM Walt Jocketty told MLB.com's Mark Sheldon he believes Sizemore is healthy enough to resume his career and acknowledged there has been talks with his representatives.
Sizemore slashed .281/.372/.496 with 107 home runs and 115 steals from 2005-08 winning a pair of Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger. He missed only nine games over the course of that four-year run, but has appeared in only 210 games since posting a line of .234/.314/.413.
Sizemore would provide insurance for the Reds, who plan on starting rookie Billy Hamilton in center after losing Shin-Soo Choo to free agency. The Astros have also been connected to the Joe Urbon client this winter while the Twins were interested but have since moved on.
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Mets Avoid Arbitration With Lucas Duda
The Mets have avoided arbitration with Lucas Duda, agreeing to a one-year deal worth $1.6375MM, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (on Twitter). Duda is a client of the Beverly Hills Sports Council.
Duda and the Mets submitted arbitration figures last week, with Duda filing at $1.9MM and the club filing at $1.35MM. His $1.6375MM is slightly north of the midpoint between the two figures.
The soon-to-be 28-year-old slipped to a .223/.352/.415 batting line in 2013, in large part due to a decline in his BABIP that was prompted by a decreased line-drive rate. Duda still showed excellent plate discipline, walking at a 14.3 percent clip, and posted a strong .192 ISO. His 15 homers tied his 2012 mark as well. Despite persistent rumors to the contrary this offseason, it seems that the Mets will head to Spring Training with both Duda and Ike Davis on the roster. The two figure to once again compete for time at first base, but the outfield looks like less of an option for Duda after New York's winter additions of Curtis Granderson and Chris Young. He does have an option remaining (Davis does not), creating the possibility that Duda could be ticketed for Triple-A.
Yankees Sign Masahiro Tanaka
After months of drama and speculation, the Masahiro Tanaka saga has come to an end. The Yankees today officially announced that they've signed the Japanese righty to a seven-year contract that is reportedly worth a massive $155MM. The contract provides Tanaka with an opt-out clause after the fourth season and also contains a full no-trade clause. Tanaka is represented by Excel Sports Management — the same agents that negotiated Clayton Kershaw's record-setting extension.
Tanaka's contract is the largest ever open-market deal for a right-handed free agent pitcher and trails only CC Sabathia's $161MM contract (also issued by the Yankees) for the largest free-agent contract ever signed by a pitcher. In terms of "new money," Tanaka's deal eclipses all previous pitcher contracts with the exception of Kershaw and Sabathia. While the total contract values of Justin Verlander ($180MM) and Felix Hernandez ($175MM) both exceed $155MM, each of those deals was an extension on top of two guaranteed years, meaning they contain $140MM and $135.5MM of "new money," respectively, as outlined last year by MLBTR's Tim Dierkes.
Of course, the Yankees are paying more than just $155MM for Tanaka, as they will also owe a $20MM posting fee to the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball — Tanaka's former team in Japan. The Yankees are placing a great deal of faith in Tanaka, making a Felix-Hernandez-sized $175MM investment in order to secure his services.
Tanaka's stats in Japan indicate that he's worth the risk. The 6'2", 205-pound right-hander famously went 24-0 this past season with an unthinkable 1.27 ERA, averaging 7.8 K/9, 1.4 BB/9, 0.3 HR/9 and just 7.1 H/9. In his 212 regular-season innings last year, Tanaka's electric fastball and lethal splitter — which is the regarded by some scouts as the best splitter in the world — led to just six home runs by opposing batters. Despite those gaudy numbers, Tanaka is seen by most scouts and evaluators as a No. 2 type of starter in the Major Leagues. While many will be quick to compare him to countryman Yu Darvish, Tanaka is not said to carry that level of upside.
Tanaka suffered just one loss overall in his historic 2013 season — a 160-pitch (yes, 160) complete-game loss in Game 6 of the Japan Series (NPB's championship series). Incredibly, Tanaka asked for the ball the very next day and closed out the Golden Eagles' championship victory by throwing 15 pitches in the series clincher.
Overall, his career numbers are almost as impressive as his 2013 campaign. Tanaka debuted as an 18-year-old in 2007 but still hurled 186 1/3 innings. Since that time, he's pitched to a 2.30 ERA with 8.5 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 1315 career regular-season innings — all coming with the Golden Eagles.
The signing of Tanaka should put to bed any hope of the Yankees remaining under the $189MM luxury tax threshold. Despite losing Robinson Cano to the Mariners this offseason, the Yankees have made mammoth free-agent commitments to Tanaka, Carlos Beltran (three years, $45MM), Brian McCann (five years, $85MM) and Jacoby Ellsbury (seven years, $153MM). Additionally, as shown in MLBTR's Transaction Tracker, they've brought back Hiroki Kuroda (one year, $16MM) and Derek Jeter (one year, $12MM) and signed Matt Thornton (two years, $7MM), Brendan Ryan (two years, $5MM), Kelly Johnson (one year, $3MM) and Brian Roberts (one year, $2MM). That's a total of $483MM in guaranteed money, and the free-agent expenditure jumps to more than half a billion dollars when factoring in Tanaka's $20MM posting fee — although that will be paid in four installments, some of which will come in 2015.
Tanaka was seen as a must-sign pitcher by the Yankees, after seeing Sabathia struggle through the worst season of his career in 2014, seeing Andy Pettitte retire and possessing little in the way of impact arms in their farm system. Tanaka will join Sabathia, Kuroda (who floundered down the stretch in 2013 as well) and Ivan Nova in the Yankees' rotation, with candidates for the fifth spot including Michael Pineda, David Phelps and Vidal Nuno.
Of course, the Yankees could elect to pursue any of the remaining big-name free agent starters as well; Ubaldo Jimenez, Matt Garza, Ervin Santana and Bronson Arroyo are all still free agents, as are less-expensive options such as Paul Maholm and Chris Capuano. The market for free agent starters has been completely halted by the Tanaka saga. Teams have been waiting to see whether or not they will land Tanaka — their top option — while agents for Jimenez, Garza, Santana, etc. have been waiting to make sure they know exactly how many suitors are out there for their clients. For instance, had the D-Backs won the Tanaka sweepstakes, they'd have been out of the bidding for other free agent pitchers. Instead, they now figure to be heavily interested in Garza, as they were at last month's Winter Meetings.
Information on the bidding for Tanaka was kept largely under wraps by the teams and his agents at Excel Sports Management, but the Cubs, White Sox, Dodgers and Diamondbacks were all known to have been players for his services. Tanaka was said to prefer a large market, and while there were rumors that his wife preferred to be on the West Coast, he will instead don Yankee pinstripes for at least four years upon finalizing the record-setting offer. Tanaka will likely fly to the U.S. to take a physical with the Yankees' team doctors between now and the Friday, 5pm ET deadline for completion of his contract.
For Tanaka, this contract affords him the luxury to opt out of his deal and once again test the open market heading into just his age-29 season. Though he may not have an ace-caliber ceiling, should Tanaka pitch to expectations, he would have no trouble eclipsing the remaining three years and $67MM on his contract as a free agent in the 2017-18 offseason.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the agreement and terms of the contract (on Twitter). Joel Sherman of the New York Post provided the year-to-year salaries (Twitter link), and Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported the no-trade clause (also on Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Rays Acquire Logan Forsythe In Seven-Player Trade
Logan Forsythe's name has been on the trading block in the past week or so, and it didn't take the Rays long to make a deal happen. The Rays and Padres have both announced a seven-player deal that sends lefty reliever Alex Torres and right-hander Jesse Hahn to the Padres in exchange for Forsythe, right-hander Brad Boxberger, minor league right-handers Matt Andriese and Matt Lollis, and minor league second baseman Maxx Tissenbaum.
We heard yesterday that San Diego was receiving interest in the 27-year-old. With several other utility options, led by Alexi Amarista, the Padres presumably felt Forsythe was expendable. The versatile defender had a nice 2012 campaign (107 OPS+), but struggled last year with a .214/.281/.332 triple-slash in 243 plate appearances last year. Swinging from the right side, Forsythe has had much better success against southpaws over his career than against same-handed hurlers (.793 vs .594 OPS).
The Rays will control Forsythe for four seasons, though only the coming year will be at the league minimum. Having spent time at second, short, third, and the corner outfield, Forsythe certainly fits Tampa's liking for flexible players. He will battle for a roster spot and playing time with players like Sean Rodriguez, Vince Belnome, and Jayson Nix. With prospects Hak-Ju Lee and (more recently) Tim Beckham suffering significant knee injuries, the Rays have seen their middle infield depth tested.
As I noted yesterday, a left-handed reliever would make sense in a deal for Forsythe, and it appears that could be just what the Padres will receive. Torres, 26, emerged last year for Tampa after converting to relief. He tossed 58 innings of 1.71 ERA ball, posting 9.6 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9 and a miniscule 0.897 WHIP. Torres did, however, benefit from a low BABIP (.221), high strand rate (80.2% LOB), and low home run tally (.16 HR/9), making him a candidate for regression. Torres will not be eligible for free agency until 2020. Though the Rays got an extra option year to use on Torres, it appears they used it last year, leaving him without options.
Hahn, 24, entered the 2013 season ranked as the Rays' No. 14 prospect (per Baseball America) and enjoyed a strong year, though he split the season between Class-A Advanced and Rookie Ball — two levels at which he's older than the league average. Still, he posted a 2.09 ERA with 8.7 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in 69 innings of work across the two levels. BA notes that at one point heading into the 2010 draft, Hahn looked to be a first-round talent, but an arm injury caused him to fall to the sixth round and ultimately resulted in Tommy John surgery. Though all 20 of his appearances in 2013 were starts, he never pitched more than five innings, and he only hit that total one time. He did not rank among the Rays' Top 10 prospects heading into 2014, per BA.
Boxberger, 25, has a career 2.72 ERA with 10.3 K/9, 5.6 BB/9 and a 41.2 percent ground-ball rate in 49 2/3 innings with the Padres from 2012-13. The former supplemental-round draft pick was one of four players received by the Padres in the trade that sent Mat Latos to the Reds. Boxberger is a power arm that as a prospect was said to have closer upside but needs to limit his walks more effectively to reach that potential. He's averaged just 3.7 BB/9 in his Triple-A career, so there's reason to believe he can improve. He's controllable for six years but projects as a likely Super Two player due to the fact that he has 129 days of service time already under his belt.
The 24-year-old Andriese reached Triple-A for the first time in 2013 and enjoyed a strong season overall, compiling a 3.27 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 134 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. MLB.com ranked him 19th among Padres prospects following the season, noting that he could profile as a middle-of-the-rotation starter. BA ranked him 20th heading into 2013 and agreed with the mid-rotation upside, praising his power curveball and noting that if he didn't make it as a starter, his arm should translate to the bullpen.
Lollis, 23, transitioned to the bullpen full-time in 2013 and posted a 4.62 ERA with 7.7 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 across three levels, including Triple-A. However, most of his success came at Class-A Advanced (2.32 ERA), as he posted ERAs north of 6.00 in Double-A and Triple-A. Lollis once ranked among the Padres' Top 5 prospects (per BA) but has seen his stock fall dramatically over the past three years.
Tissenbaum, 22, was an 11th-round pick by the Padres in 2012. In his first full season of pro ball, the lefty swinger that shares an alma mater with Joe Nathan (Stony Brook University) batted .277/.365/.359 with a pair of homers and four stolen bases in 490 plate appearances for Class-A Fort Wayne.
Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish first reported that Forsythe was headed to the Rays and Torres was likely on his way to Tampa. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times confirmed Torres' involvement (via Twitter), and ESPN's Keith Law reported that Hahn, Andriese, Lollis and Boxberger were changing hands (All Twitter links). Topkin then reported that a fifth player could be headed to Tampa as well (via Twitter), which was confirmed when the Padres announced the deal.
Steve Adams contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Yankees Designate David Huff For Assignment
The Yankees announced that they've designated left-hander David Huff for assignment in order to clear a 40-man roster spot for Masahiro Tanaka.
The 29-year-old Huff posted a 4.67 ERA with a 26-to-8 K/BB ratio in 34 2/3 innings for the Yankees in 2013 after being selected off waivers from the Indians. The former supplemental-round pick was taken 39th overall in 2006 but has a career 5.32 ERA in 323 innings between Cleveland and New York. Huff's struggles have primarily come against fellow left-handers, as lefties have clubbed him to the tune of a .311/.381/.519 triple-slash line in his career.
Diamondbacks No Longer In Running For Tanaka
Reports yesterday indicated that the bidding for Masahiro Tanaka will reach six to seven years and $20MM per season, with the Red Sox and Astros mentioned to seemingly be long shots. Here are today's Tanaka-related links, as the deadline for a decision now looms less than 60 hours away…
- MLB.com's Steve Gilbert reports that the Diamondbacks are no longer in the running for Tanaka, though he's not sure where exactly Tanaka will end up. This is somewhat of a surprise, as the Snakes were rumored to have made an offer of $120MM over six years, which should certainly be competitive, if accurate. However, Tanaka is said to prefer a major market, so it's fair to speculate that Phoenix may not have appealed to him as much as some of the larger markets that are still in play.
- Yesterday, the New York Post's Joel Sherman ran down the striking similarity between the Yankees' 2008 pursuit of CC Sabathia and their current pursuit of Tanaka, cautioning that this time, the perception that the Yankees can get what they want by flexing unmatchable financial muscle no longer exists. Sherman also speculates that it's likely that Tanaka's agency, Excel Sports, is seeking an opt-out clause similar to the ones they negotiated for Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke.