3:07pm: John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle hears that Tanaka's initial preferred cities are Los Angeles, New York and Boston (Twitter link).
Meanwhile, Nightengale softens his stance in a pair of new tweets, noting that the Dodgers confirmed their interest but don't want to spend "wildly" or do anything crazy with their bid in order to land Tanaka.
1:04pm: While team president Stan Kasten said in a radio interview yesterday not to predict the Dodgers to land Masahiro Tanaka, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports (via Twitter) that the Dodgers have made it known that they will go "all out" to sign the Japanese ace and "certainly won't be outbid."
Of course, because of the new posting agreement between Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball, signing Tanaka is no longer simply a matter of outbidding your opponents. Any team that wishes to pay the $20MM posting fee can negotiate with Tanaka as if he were a free agent, and the team would only lose that $20MM if an agreement between the two sides were to be reached. In other words, virtually any team in the Majors can afford to negotiate with Tanaka, and he could have preferences beyond signing for top dollar.
We've heard a great number of teams connected to Tanaka over the past two days, as the right-hander is in Los Angeles at this time meeting with teams face-to-face. In the past 24 hours alone, the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Angels, Dodgers, Cubs, White Sox, Blue Jays and Indians have all been linked to Tanaka.
Adding Tanaka to the mix would give the Dodgers a potentially unrivaled rotation in terms of dominance, as he would join Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Hyun-jin Ryu and Dan Haren. The addition of Tanaka would seem to push Josh Beckett and Chad Billingsley out of the picture for the Dodgers, though both dealt with injuries in 2013. Billingsley isn't expected back until summer after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Price driving?
Sigh.
Why would they bother? They don’t need a pitcher.
I also bet they get out-bid by someone like the Diamondbacks or Seattle, but Tanaka chooses the Yankees because, I mean, come on, wouldn’t you?
Tanaka would really solidify their rotation. Plus they can use there other starting pitchers as trade bait, I hear their farm could use some more prospects.
No. He already said he wanted to play on the west coast
Really where did he say that?
Probably bleacher report…..
I do believe that information did come out saying his preference was to play on the west coast. doesn’t mean everything though.
That was the rumor, now the new rumor is it’s LA, NY or Boston.
So, it will end up being Chicago
You mean other than the fact that the Yankees are a mess right now?
I wouldn’t call them a mess, though they are certainly not the best team in their division. Maybe the 3rd best team in their division which is arguably the toughest division in baseball.
Cano didnt, neither did Choo 🙂
It is possible (though I sure hope not) that the Dodgers have concerns Kershaw may not sign an extension. If so, Tanaka makes sense.
Also, Greinke has an opt out in his contract after 2015 and Haren, Beckett and Billingsley could all be free agents after the season (in addition to Kershaw).
If I were him I’d go to the Dodgers.
Oh yes, I wanted to see a bidding war and see who calls the shots as the deepest pockets in MLB. The most interesting thing would be for both the Yankees and Dodgers just go crazy with the $ and some “mystery team” land him for half the cost. *grabs popcorn*
Your argument is self-canceling. The team that offers him the deal he wants will sign him. Everyone else’s offer will probably be unknown and won’t count in any case.
What argument? I’m simply talking about how entertaining this entire process will be and how surprising this off-season has been. So…not sure what you’re talking about.
Oh, right. Sorry. I was assuming you were trying to make a point or something.
Good. I hope they sign Tanaka and don’t have enough money to sign Kershaw.
Come to the Angels, Kershaw. Your championship ring awaits.
He wants to go home to Texas that’s what this is all about
If the angels threw 300 or 400 million at him, he never leaves Cali.
Thank God you aren’t a team exec.
You’d lose Trout. (To The Yankees).
Angels don’t have that type of money lol SORRY! Art Moreno isn’t that big of a baller.
Dodgers already threw 300 mil at him, and he turned it down. If he wants to leave Cali, he’ll leave Cali.
I think that was just a rumor. Unless he wants to leave LA for certain, then he would not turn down $300 mil
I thought the hokey pokey is what it’s all about.
Lol, I wish I could upvote this twice.
As a Dodger fan, Texas is clearly the biggest threat. Dodgers already offered him $300 mil. The “lifetime” language scared him off. But he’s already admitted he wants to test free agency. I think he might just want to go home.
Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, but you never know.
I can’t imagine the Dodgers, with their bottomless pile of money, would let Kershaw walk.
Dallas is home to Kershaw, (and his wife) not only that there is no state tax. Put those two things together and what do you have? An uphill battle. The Dodgers should have a sit down with Kershaw, I mean a real heart to heart, if that’s his plan we could trade Kershaw, if he going to leave anyway, pick up Price and sign Tanaka have still have the best rotation in Baseball. Win/Win. If Kershaw wants to stay in LA than do whatever is necessary to keep him.
They want their team payroll to exceed the GDP of at least half the planet’s countries by 2015.
The Dodgers new TV deal kicks in this year and is worth about $8.5 billion for 25 yrs, which averages out to about $340 mill a year.
Of course, some of it will go to revenue sharing, but bottom line is the Dodgers will have a lot of money coming in.
Remember, that’s just LOCAL TV money. Doesn’t include the national money or online revenue that all the MLB teams share.
But do they need to spend every single last penny in 2 years? Can they just look at the Yankees and realize that signing 10 extremely expensive long term contracts works for maybe a year or 2 before you become hurt by no payroll flexibility and a bunch of declining older players?
Tanaka is only 25 years old. Even if they give Tanaka a 5 or 6 year deal, that would be reasonable.
Signing young, talented players to long-term deals is just smart business.
In Tanaka’s case? Fine. But that doesn’t explain Agon, Crawford, Ethier, Kemp, Greinke, every free agent closer they’ve signed…and that’s before they do anything with Kershaw and Hanley.
All of the players’ contracts you mentioned all expire when they are 36 or younger. Most of them signed until their age 35 season (I believe AGon signed thru age 36).
While they’ll certainly be older, its not like they’re signed until 39 or 40.
Plus, that’s the nature of acquiring high-priced talent. The years get a little long on the contract.
For NL teams, anyway. The contracts that have run until age 40 and beyond are all for AL teams.
They didn’t sign Agon, or Crawford to those bad contracts. The Ethier contract was terrible I’ll give you that. Kemp was a good signing at the time and that was before new ownership came in. Greinke was an overpay, but he’s still a solid #2 and would be a #1 on a lot of teams.
I think what people fail to realize is that the dodgers could have signed Ellsbury, traded Crawford AND Ethier, eaten half of both of their salaries, and still not increased their payroll.
they don’t care about a budget, don’t care about a lux tax, and won’t care about eating dollars in the future if they have to. and in reality, while they have a few really “big money deals” aside from crawford which ones are BAD deals? untradeable deals?
none.
Greike is still young, Crawford, Agon, are just till the prospect star gaining more experience. The dodger are planning on building their farm system back up again so they had to acquire some sort of talent to hold it down till the prospects are ready. So far it has been working out good.
That TV money is just pocket change for them. I guess you dont know who these owners really are? “Guggenheim” are a multi billion $ company they grow $ on trees
One or two solitary championships would pretty much make it worth it since they haven’t won any in 25 years. They’ve been contenders pretty much 50% of the time since 2004, which is not that bad, but that hasn’t gotten them anywhere. By contrast, the Yankees won in 2009 – not that long ago. Maybe it’s time for the Dodgers to try their approach.
It remains to be seen if Time Warner can get pay-tv providers to accept the carriage fee’s. Early report is its a $5/month increasing to $8/month over 5 years. The $8MM over 25 years is definitely been agreed to, but if Time Warner can’t get those carriage fee’s on Directv/Dish/Cox they’ll circle back to the Dodgers.
The ended up agreement on that revenue sharing has been very, very hush-hush. Haven’t got any news on what was agreed.
TWC is obligated to pay and for the most part the costs are passed directly through to subscribers, who have no choice but either pay them or not get any local sports on cable. Sure, they’ll have to go nose-to-nose with the other providers on fees, but they will come to some agreement eventually, and it isn’t going to be the responsibility of the Dodgers if they don’t. On revenue sharing, you are right, that is an unsettled issue, as far as we know.
This agreement has to take place in the next 3 months. Should be interesting to see how it shakes out.
Agreed. Why the media have not looked into this house of cards is beyond me. The deals are built on the premise that for the next 25 years people (including non-dodger fans) are going willingly stay with cable that forces them to pay 5-8 dollars a month for a channel. This was a model that may have worked in 1980, but in 2013? House of sand.
They have to negotiate with at least the following: TWC will have to start negotiations soon with at least five Los Angeles
pay-TV providers — AT&T’s U-verse, Charter Communications, Cox
Communications, DirecTV and Verizon FiOS. I’m pretty sure DISH is a 6th pay-provider.
I’m not completely sure of this fact, but apparently ESPN has lost over 1MM subscribers in the past 18 months.
The Dodgers deal as the biggest in baseball will be very intriguing to watch versus the trend of “unplugging”, where the limit is reached on sports programming piggybacking on monthly bills versus consumers demands (hard to find #s on that but there are a lot of people who don’t watch any sports at all). With most cable/sat bills reaching $100/month, there maybe a breaking point. On the other hand, maybe America’s thirst for sports railroads that through.
I live in LA, I won’t pay for the Dodgers personally, I’ll do Directv MLB package or mlb.tv.
I doubt that the group of owners the Dodgers have would let Kershaw slip away. The money is there, they will sign him unless he wants to experience being a free agent.
You really think the Dodgers would let the best pitcher in baseball walk because they signed Tanaka? rofl…
You must think money grows on trees. I’m assuming you have a leftover 300M for Kershaw, 150 for Hanley, and enough to field the rest of the team. Hey Scherzer…want 200 Million? We’re just giving them out to everyone who wants it.
You realize that Guggenheim controls over 100 billion in assets? The dodgers “massive” payroll is of no concern to them. It’s just a minute chunk of what they deal with on a day to day basis.
The Dodgers new tv deal, which kicks in this season, will bring in roughly $280 mil a year.
They leave the numbers deliberately a bit vague, but if its a 8BB deal over 25 years, its 320MM a year. The old McCourt deal was for the revenue sharing to be capped at 88MM. I haven’t seen anything definite what the new agreement on revenue sharing is, but all the owners didn’t take kindly to that arrangement.
Yeah I haven’t heard any news about that in a while.
I think it’s amusing how many think the Dodgers won’t resign Kershaw over money. The mind boggles on how many moves they can and would make to find the money they in all honesty, don’t need to go find, cause it’s already there.
Well, that pretty much shatters any hope I had of my team getting him at a price that provides surplus value…. We either won’t get him at all or grossly overpay to a point that signing doesn’t provide any value whatsoever.
I hope Tanaka hates LA because that’s the only way he’s not going there without being overpaid. Then again, how many people hate Los Angeles?
How can he hate LA, in terms of population aside from Seattle and NYC, the Los Angeles metropolitan area has a large Japanese population and would make life an easier transition for him than say moving to Phoenix, where the Japanese popultation is near zero. I remember this being one of the reasons Hiroki Kuroda chose to come to LA, and why he ended up with the Yankees instead of Boston.
So the Dodgers are willing to go $20+MM per on Tanaka then they are going to have to turn around and spend $30ishMM per to extend Kershaw? Wow..
Where did you read that? Oh, right. Nowhere.
Kershaw – approx $25 this year ($30 in
2015)
Greinke – $25
Tanaka – $20
Beckett – $16
Billingsly – $14
Haren -$10
Ryu – $8
$120mm starting rotation no big deal.
Ryu at only $8 MM, wow
Personally, I feel the Angels will not allow other teams to outbid them. I hope they learned from Greinke free agency and sign Tanaka.
Greinke was a totally different situation. I’m fine not spending $20M per for a guy that has never thrown a pitch outside of Japan.
Darvish was basically in same situation as Tanaka right? Even as an Angels fan, got to admit for not throwing a pitch outside Japan prior, Darvish ain’t that bad.
Yeah, and Darvish has a $60M total contract over six years. Tanaka is probably going to get near $140M given how many big-name clubs are all over his jock. I will gladly pass on that.
Again, similar but different situation.
I would have gladly passed on Hamilton’s 125 and signed Greinke. Tanaka will be worth the money, believe me. He will be be better than Darvish, and all the teams that don’t sign will sadly realize their biggest offeseason mistake.
It wasn’t a “Hamilton or Greinke” decision… the Dodgers vastly overpaid any other offer that Greinke got and he also wanted to stay in the NL to hit. The Angels then went for Hamilton. And how will Tanaka be better than Darvish? What scouting reports/evidence do you have to even remotely back that up? Everything I have read has Darvish as the better pitcher.
Why would anyone think that he’d be better than Darvish? The numbers don’t compare, the scouting reports don’t compare, the physical projection doesn’t compare…
disgusting
I don’t think I can take hearing more Dodgers fans say how they’re the World Series favorites.
Your beef is with Vegas.
Good. With Kershaw as an uncertainy the is an excellent move.
“certainly won’t be outbid.” – That’s dangerous language. Even for a wealthy club you’d hope they have some limits.
Anyways, no news here. We all figured the LAD and NYY would go 120+ mil with SEA, CHC and ARZ possibly willing to match or exceed.
Im hearing yankees could touch 150m if the west coast and smaller market clubs that have a distance advantage that are willing to put up 100-120m but thats if the yankees are gona head north of 189m im also hearing reports that arod is already due 3m by the yankees jan 15
Its a shame how the dodgers spend so much money on good legit players and they still can’t win it all.. They are the prime example of “money can’t buy you a championship” now don’t get me wrong the Yankees did spend a lot of money in 2009 but it wasn’t even close to amount the dodgers spent.
So spending tons of money doesn’t work, except when it does, but it doesn’t? Every team has a 1 in 30 or 3% chance to win the WS. In baseball, dominant teams own a mere .600 winning percentage.
Spending money gives you a greater chance of getting in the playoffs and possibly the World Series. But to expect each years FA big spender to win the title the following year is short sighted and unfair.
I’m not sure unfair is the right word. Unrealistic would be better.
A lot has changed since 2009. Less and less quality free agents are available and the ones who are are getting even more inflated prices. Teams like the Yankees and Dodgers spend big money on relatively few players and their depth suffers as a result. Teams like the Cardinals and Red Sox avoid the most expensive free agents, build teams with incredible depth and go on to play in the World Series.
I never said spending big was ideal, but only those who spend shouldn’t be counted on as Fall Classic automatics.
The Red Sox have avoided the big money FAs for all of 1 season and part of 2 off-seasons now. They also have the second highest revenue according to Bloomberg and really could afford to put more into their club then they do. Cherington is sharper than Epstein, but a number of things could keep the Sox out of the playoffs next year; a 2014 like 2012 for Lester, Victorino not repeating a career 5.6 WAR season, Uehara doesn’t stay healthy after a career high workload. Winning the WS is hard, things have to go right.
The Cardinals fit your example better as their payroll is modest and the overall philosophy is more scouting and development oriented.
The Red Sox have the 4th highest payroll in baseball and the Cardinals have the 11th highest, there’s roughly a $40 million difference. The Red Sox focus just as much on development and scouting and now have one of the top farm systems in baseball. A number of things could keep any team out of the playoffs, that’s really not the point. The Red Sox and Cardinals have tremendous depth and have the farm systems to remain competitive over the long haul.
Yes, but these things are cyclic. The Cardinals and Red Sox were just last year WS participants and good examples of the past decade for player development. The 90’s were the Braves and Yankees. Organizational approaches can certainly influence the likelihood of remaining competitive so kudos to them for that, but every team has hundreds of personnel scouting at every level of baseball as well as overseas.
Then why single out any team? You said the Cardinals deserved more credit for focusing on their farm system, but the Red Sox farm system is just as good. You may not want to admit as a Yankees fan, but the Red Sox deserve credit as well.
“Teams like the Cardinals… build teams with incredible depth and go on to play in the World
Series.”
And hit the best hitter in the rib, right? That was what got a Cardinals series.
While the Cardinals definitely perform a spectacular job and arguably had the best acquisitions again, the narrative of ‘money or right way’ is nonsense. Development, trading, and signing are essential strategies to the teams and while the Dodgers’ strategy includes remedial spending thanks to McCourt there is not dramatic distinction here. The Dodgers drafted David Price and Paul Goldschmidt during McCourt’s raiding of the farm budget, by the way.
But I think a claim of bench depth is especially disingenuous because the Cardinals employed a relatively bad bench last season.
It’s not really realistic to say every team has a 1 in 30 chance to win the WS. Seriously, there’s no way the Astros, for example, have the same chance most of the perennial contenders have. The “equal chance” idea only works if you’re flipping a coin or rolling dice or some such thing.
They’ve only had one season of spending a ton of money. I think it’s a little early to say they can’t win it all. Tanaka gives them a potentially deadly rotation and if they are a little healthier than last year (admittedly a big if), they certainly have the talent to win it all.
God I hate the Dodgers.
Hold that hate until they sign him.
I bet you are a NYY hater too
It’s just redemption for all the years of torture McCourt and his shenanigans put us Dodger fans through.
Does anyone really think he’s going to go to a team that offers a lot less money than NYY or LAD? No way… read up on the guy. He’s not afraid of the big city lights and publicity.
There’s a difference between big lights and big money. He might want to go to a team with more legitimate championship hopes than the Yankees.
Wow, I can’t even wrap my brain around a rotation of:
Kershaw, Greinke, Ryu, Tanaka, and Haren.
Pretty ridiculous!
People only hate Dodgers because they have the money dont be jealous and i still wonder if this means we might not see Kershaw or Ramirez next year
I have no ill will towards the Dodgers at all. Why would I? They’ve accomplished nothing.
I guess MmmRocks & most of the haters on this board do not understand how Fox & McCourt destroyed the Dodger organization. It’s going to take some time & money to put it back together again. You would have to think that they are going to win some championships in the near future with Stan Kasten in charge. He is one of the brightest men in Baseball.
Tanaka’s whole situation is really a spectacular, never-before-seen event. There’s never been remotely this much hype and this much theoretical money about a guy who’s never thrown a single pitch in the majors.
EDIT: There’s never been this much hype _on the open market_
So Kershaw is likely to test the market next year, interesting…
And if he hits the market, expect Theo and Jed to be salivating.
Every GM and owner should be salivating if that is what ends up happening. Hell, I’m already starting to salivate.
ROFL, I’ll take Kershaw in a heartbeat.
Please!
So Kershaw is Yankee fans new Felix huh? I’d suggest it’s much more likely Kershaw and the Dodgers come to an agreement. Just like Seattle did with Felix.
Pretty sure Kershaw won’t sign with the Yankees. If he doesn’t sign with the Dodgers it will be Texas, it’s home for him and no state tax.
Not gonna lie, the Dodgers have become slightly insufferable. There’s nothing I hate in sports more than teams that see themselves as all-powerful because of the amount of money they have. And this is coming from a Cowboys and Knicks fan.
Meh…I like it more than the owner(s) pocketing the money.
A valid point but it’s still annoying to watch
You never want to see just one team or the same teams, but when alot of those teams have been burned, what does that tell you?
It tells me that money doesn’t buy championships which is another valid point because the Red Sox won a title after unloading to the Dodgers ironically enough.
Funny but every time I’ve brought up MLB’s ridiculous revenue disparities I get very little agreement with other fans that the system ought to change. If it doesn’t then big market teams are always going to be at a huge advantage.
It’s not going to change because it’s too out of control right now and it doesn’t need to change because it’s not that huge of a deal when you think about it. It’s like comparing yourself with the rich and popular kid in high school. Yeah he’s flashy and has lots of fanfare but just because he looks better doesn’t mean he is better. If the Dodgers sign Tanaka then that makes them look amazing. It doesn’t mean that they will absolutely win a championship though. It’s just annoying to watch the rich kid show off.
It would change whenever the 30 owners decided to change it. Might help move the issue if the fans expressed some concern.
If the Dodgers and the Yankees were the only teams that won, that argument would be somewhat more valid.
Being a Cowboys and a Knicks fan doesn’t really matter when discussing money. Both of those teams play in leagues with salary caps. If the Braves weren’t locked into a horrible TV deal, they’d have a much larger salary.
I hope the Cubs, White Sox or some other team lands Tanaka…ugh. Enough with rich teams landing the prized players.
A month ago there was a similar report with the Cubs “refusing to be out bid”. This kid is gonna get PAID by somebody.
The cubs? They are a rich team, they just made bad decisions soriano, zambrano, fukudome etc and the reason they have been quiet is they had to overhaul bottom and soon top, but they will spend again
well, they are ALL rich teams….just one richer than the other.
If the Yankees go “all in” and the Dodgers go “all out” who wins?
The rest of baseball that doesn’t pay $150 million for Tanaka.
Ha. I’d say you’re right. Tanaka just isn’t going to dominate in the majors, IMO. I think he’s a solid #3 maybe a #2, just not worth the money that is being talked about.
A solid #2 in the majors gets paid $20M+ a year… so if he gets even close to becoming that he actually will be more than worth his contract. Especially with the marketing buzz he is likely to generate.
A #2 is his ceiling, a bust is his floor. Not sure it’s worth paying him like he’s guaranteed to be a #2.
Well, looking at the free agent market in the coming years and what pitchers are getting nowadays it will probably seem like a bargain soon. If Scott Feldman can get $10M AAV, I don’t see big market teams unwilling to risk up to $20M for the upside that Tanaka brings.
I wouldn’t necessarily say a bust is his floor either, barring injury or something. If you read scouting reports or see video of his pitches, they are filthy.
12 pitchers have ever signed a contract for an AAV of $20MM or more. Tanaka has never thrown a pitch in MLB and certainly carries more risk than any of the twelve. So no, I don’t think Tanaka is worth anything close to $150MM.
That’s because so few great pitchers even get to free agency. If guys like Greinke, Latos, Moore, Wilson, etc were free agents starting today they would easily command near $20M AAV. I’m talking current FA market value for free agent pitching, not the history of any pitcher that has ever signed a free agent contract.
I wouldn’t go $150M, but with how sparse opportunities like this are (25 year old pitcher with great stuff and a good track record even in Japan) for FA signings the risk is worth it for big market teams.
Nice lol
whichever teams stays put and makes it further in the playoffs then both of them
The rest of the league, because they “shake it all about”
i expect the padres to make an offer, after the fan base and love we gave AKI OTSUKA i think Tanaka would like our pitchers park, perfect city, and chance to make a difference in building a championship team, not joining one.
There is a 0% chance Tanaka goes to the Padres.
So the Dodgers reportedly offered Kershaw a “deal in the 300 million range” in late October 2013 that would have made him the highest paid player in MLB history and he didn’t sign it. Now the Dodgers are shifting their focus to Tanaka. Either the Dodgers have even more money than most people think or Kershaw doesn’t want to stay in LA
Kershaw didn’t want the “lifetime” language in the Contract. Anyone that thinks Kershaw is leaving LA is insane.
If Kershaw decides he wants to leave the Dodgers he is leaving. Nothing the Dodgers can do about it. We just have to wait and see what happens.
As a Dodger fan, this is precisely what this type of news indicates to me, which is just awful. It would be awful to watch Kershaw leave.
Tanaka has been in LA for a long time .. the original time frame was to talk to a dozen teams by now … right.. it’s all a ruse to get all the Dodgers money he can! Wait for it … Dodgers will be announcing a press conference soon
!
I don’t see any shift in focus. The Dodgers are still committed to extending Kershaw. So far the only evidence that the Dodgers are really “going all out” for Tanaka is a single tweet.
Yankee/Dodger bidding war?
This I would like to see.
2011 – Red Sox fans celebrated their offseason
2012 – Angels fans celebrated their offseason
2013 – Blue Jays fans celebrated their offseason
2014 – Will Dodgers fans celebrate theirs?
Been awhile since the prize of the offseason actually turned out well. Heck, add the Braves 2013 offseason to the mix. They might have made the playoffs without the trade/signings.
mmmmm i dunno, Justin Upton and Chris Johnson were pretty important pieces.
By the way, can we officially change the name of the “Justin Upton trade” to the “Chris Johnson trade”. I know JUp was the main piece but Chris Johnson was just that impressive…and he was a throw in!
Lets see if Chris Johnson can keep it up though
Sometimes the little moves like Johnson are the ones that pay off the best.
Well without the trade/signings, Braves would have Prado still and who knows what CF would be like. Thats why i said might, not sure. But both Uptons stunk up the place at times, Justin got out of it though.
A lot has changed since the new CBA and TV bubble.
Or…
2011 – Giants fans celebrated their offseason
2012 – Cards fans celebrated their offseason
2013 – Giants fans celebrated their offseason
2014 – Red Sox fans celebrating their offseason
I think you missed the point : )
No, I got your point. The season isn’t won with winter moves.
Alright, just checking. It’s ironic that the team that unloaded a bunch of contracts on the Dodgers won the World Series and now Dodgers fans are celebrating about the prospects of adding more big contracts.
And my point was to get a subtle dig at the Dodgers and their taking on contracts/big spending ways looking up at the Giants 2 rings…
Ahhh, now it makes sense. I fully support making fun of the expectations of Dodgers fans.
The point being that the teams who develop their core from within and go outside their organization only to put their team over the top are the ones who have been winning recently. Not the teams who think they can just sign their core on the free agent market.
No, his point was teams with the best offseaons or biggest moves of the offseason had nothing to show for it. As far as building from with in, most of those teams still had decent number of players from out side like most teams.
I was talking about the last 4 teams to win the world series…obviously the teams who have been the “offseason winner” have struggled the last few years.
I’ll believe the Dodgers are willing to take on a payroll of 250 Million when I see it because unless they unload salary that’s what its going to take to land Tanaka.
They are owned by a group that is worth more than 150 billion dollars.
And is that group willing to spend out of their own pockets? All baseball owners are worth a lot doesn’t mean they aren’t going to run a smart business. Again sure they could spend that because they are rich, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Can’t forget the almost 9 billion dollar deal the dodgers sign with their new TV deal.
I’m not, but even without Tanaka, they are about to break the payroll record, and even with that contract they are not making as much as the Yankees. And don’t forget they have settled with baseball to contribute some of that deal to revenue sharing, something they initially thought they’d be able to avoid.
What was the last big name fa/ aquisition that wasnt a bust/burden to the team? And i mean big names, top tier.
Greinke, Cliff Lee
I see where you’re coming from, but the Dodger scouts have been spot on lately. Obviously they went out and signed Greinke. But even the Puig and Ryu signings were widely panned, and those worked out quite well. If the Dodgers scouts think this guy is worth going all out for, I can trust them.
I wasnt actually talking just Dodgers but more in general. I think the biggest name FA/Trades for the most part have not lived up to expecations.
I love how much the people hate the dodgers now lol. RICH WEALTHY HISTORIC TEAM from a beautiful city with amazing weather soon to be WS champ. They have THE BEST PITCHER in the league so I don’t blame all you guys hating on them…
It’s amazing they didn’t manage to win last year with such an incredible team!
People are starting to hate them because they are behaving like the Yankees
They were a historic team when they were in Brooklyn, not so much in LA.
ehhh, I’m not sure I agree with that. I mean, they’ve won 5 world series in LA. That’s a lot of history if you ask me.
I can respect that argument. Even though I was not born I just feel that the Brooklyn and Yankees Rivalry drove both franchises to stardom, as well as the league.
Don’t be surprise if in the near future once the Yankees clean up their mess these 2 teams face each other in the W.S.
That is about as east coast vs west coast as you can get!
Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale might have an objection to that statement…
Jackie Robinson would smile back at them 🙂
Yikes, five championships in LA isn’t enough?
It’s been 26 yrs, time for a new ring.
No reason to hate on a team that hasn’t won a championship in the last quarter decade. Seriously, Dodger fans always claim every year theyre guaranteed to win a championship (I live in LA and many of my friends are Dodger fans) and when they are eliminated they stay quiet and pretend what happened didn’t exist. Talk is cheap, best thing the Dodgers have done the last 25 years was the stretch in summer in 2013 where the they went like 40-7 (don’t know actual record). I have no problem with the Dodgers and their fans because they I do believe they love their team, but to those fans who continue to talk like you’ve been a dynasty you get what you deserve, watching your team eliminated every year.
42-8. It was historic. And Puig was crazy exciting, he even got the moms and wives talking, so you know he was making noise. Hanley Ramirez putting up a 190 OPS+ when healthy didn’t hurt either.
I’m not saying what they did wasn’t awesome, but the fact of matter is the Dodgers spent all that money to win championships, not have a good regular season. I bet you almost every Dodgers fan would trade that 42-8 stretch for 1 World Series title.
C’mon Dodgers, get it done!
Was there any doubt they would be all in on him? lol
They’re not all in, they are going all out!!!!
The Dodgers are the #1 to land him and for a few reason.
1. He wants to play on the west coast.
1.b Of all the teams on the west coast, including AZ, the Dodgers are the richest, youngest, and have the best chance (are favored 6-1) to win in 2014 and beyond.
2. Dodgers stadium is a pitchers park
3. He wont have the pressure of being a savior. He will be, at best, the #3 guy in the rotation behind two #1 starters.
4. His agent represents two Dodgers pitchers, Grineke and Kershaw, so he can vouch for Ned and the organization and so can his clients.
**side note** His agent reps Tex and Jeter but why would he play in NY w a bunch of 35+ yr olds?
5. His offense will be the best in the NL West and as a #3/4 starter vs other 3/4 starters his numbers will look good.
6. Community: Los Angeles is home to the largest population of Japanese, Korean, Armenian, and Mexicans outside their countries. So the media will be here for him as will his supporters. And in LA, the media wont serve him up on a platter.
Do you think the fact that Kershaw & Tanaka share the same agent is a good thing? Couldn’t a huge contract to Tanaka rub Kershaw the wrong way? Couldn’t he wonder why the Dodgers have yet to extend him? Plus, I know the Dodgers have a ton of cash but couldn’t they really get hurt with all those “huge” contracts at some point?
All but #5 I would agree with. The Dodgers offense could be good, but I’d place the offense lower than several other NL teams.
He said nl west
Why is everybody mad at the Dodgers for spending their money on talent? The Yankees did it in the 2000’s, the Angels have done it in the 2010’s. Atleast the Dodgers are smart by having the contracts expire around the avg. age of 36. No need for 38-40 year old ballplayers making 25M+
Good luck signing HanRam and Kershaw until their only 36. The current FA atmosphere is conducive to over spending and long term deals.
Deepest pockets in the league. Why would they have problems with signing them?
the Angels did it in 10-11 to have 80 win seasons. Agreed, the Dodger’s at least pick them up mid 20’s ish.
I really want to see a Rays vs Dodgers WS, with the Rays winning of course
haha I’m a Dodger fan, and even I could appreciate that
Or how about A’s vs Dodgers? That works too.
The fact that Casey close represents kershaw, grienke, and tanaka……… Congrats LA
We have no idea if this is a good thing as Kershaw re-upping is no certain thing.
I don’t buy it. Every team has a cut off point. If some GM offers Tanaka an 8 year $200 million deal, the Dodgers will just bid more? I don’t think so.
All the GM’s around baseball need to ignore this kind of rumor. Just stick to your game plans and make the offers you can live with and think are fair and justified.
And if the Dodgers really do take that stance, someone will make them pay for it. Big time.
He is worth more for them to market than any other city, except maybe seattle
Only 2-3 teams can offer him that much money and dodgers are 1 on them. Yankees are a mess right now so I even doubt they would choose going there…
You do realize GM’s don’t check MLBTR as their source of baseball information, right?
You realize that if a front office guy from the Dodgers actually made these statements every GM in baseball knows about it right? It doesn’t have anything to do with MLBTR.
Yankee fans, it’s not all bad, there’s a consolation prize of Beckett and Billingsley pitching for you … we’ll give you a GREAT deal on them 🙂 You just have to watch them pitch.
Was there any actual expectations of years/dollars yet?
I’ll double whatever they offer.
NedCo needs to buy AJ Ellis Rosetta stone.
This should be a fun bidding war between the Yanks and Dodgers. so my question is, if both teams really want him, $150 million isn’t out of the question then. Guess we’ll find out who seriously wants him at least. Enough nonsense. Only 3 other teams that might get in this are the Cubs Angels and White Sox. They have the money to compete with the Yanks and Dodgers offers, but WSox don’t really spend that on players like him. Angels got burned by Pujols and Hamilton contracts, so i don’t see them being as aggressive. Should be fun. I predict Dodgers, 7 to 8 year deal, at least $17 million a year.
Why don’t you wait until Tanaka officially signs before you talk, for all you know the Mariners sign him for a ridiculous amount.
The Dodgers would have very little trouble signing them, but you said they were being smart by having contracts expire around 36 instead of 38-40. But that’s exactly the type of contract it’s going to take to land Kershaw and HanRam.
Grienke had no issue signing until 36. In fact, I would be surprised if both players didn’t have opt-out clauses written in anyway.
Not at all. Kershaw has not been extended bc he didnt want to talk about it during the season. They should be extending him soon and the Dodgers know what they get from him and its different from what they MIGHT get out of Tanaka. Kershaw is 26 and Kasten already said they plan to make him the highest paid player. And though I dont know him personally, Kershaw doesn’t strike me as the diva that will walk out on a team over money.
Realistically I feel that Tanaka will get 6/7 years in the 120m range + the 20m to the Eagles. So he will be basically a 23m/yr pitcher (total). Kershaw was talked about being in the 30m/yr range.
Never underestimate the power of Boston winning the WS, the Yankees have money to spend and they really need pitching. He’s not a Dodger yet!
ha, dodgers fans are soooo excited to get Tanaka, maybe because this will get the fans to the stadium before the fifth inning. Lets hope they atleast sign him through 2018 so he can atleast be there for the anniversary celebration of the last time the dodgers actually won the series.
The Dodgers fans show up late to games thing is weak. The Dodgers led the majors in attendance last year and I absolutely guarantee it will happen again this coming year. You can accuse the team of overspending or trying buy a championship but to rag on the fans for their support of the team is ignorant.
hey man our freeways haven’t been upgraded since the 50’s, and public transport is ridic, what do you expect as far as getting there on time 🙂
hahaha, that may be the only factual post on this entire thread!
Speaking as a Dodger fan, I don’t even know if Tanaka is signing with the Dodgers.
Dodgers fans may be a little late getting to the game, but Dodgers led MLB in attendance last year, which is what the owners really care about.
Not when leading in attendance you were still only 10th in gate revenue. That’s embarrassing for the second largest city.
That’s only cause we don’t have to overcharge cause of limited capacity. I’de rather have affordable seating than over priced seating cause your stadium can only seat 38,000 or whatever. Its numbers game I would think you would want to be cheap not expensive. Dodgers have over 20,000 seats under $20, I don’t think that is bad
If there were enough demand in LA tickets would rise and they’d be more profitable than other teams because of that capacity. The stadium capacity is why you ranked number 1 in attendance, not because it’s the most sought after ticket.
Ownership isn’t stupid to price out their fans. Plus when demand rises prices go up on the secondary market , not by ownership that has stated their desire to keep prices affordable so a family of 4 can realistically go to a game. Dodgers averaged nearly 48,000 a game and sold out nearly half of their home games . Respectfully I’m not sure your argument has any legitimate merits
Merits would be in any economic theory. Obviously you don’t price out your fans but you do run a business which maximizes profits. Have Dodgers ticket prices never increased? Maybe that’s something they only do in the rest of the country.
Here in Chicago they tend to increase prices annually with inflation. The last couple years prices haven’t been raised, and I think in some instances they were decreased because DEMAND was lower due to the poor team. If the team were better prices increase more because DEMAND is high.
Another thing we do here is the team not the secondary market prices tickets based on the game. A weekend game goes for more than a weekday game. A night game during the week goes for more than a day game. A better opponent goes for more than a worse opponent. All of this is based on the what? You guessed it, demand for any given game.
Maybe the dodgers don’t follow general principals of supply and demand but I’m pretty sure they do too. Cubs will never lead the MLB in attendance because they don’t have capacity. Doesn’t mean their demand isn’t trumping the Dodgers.
Respectfully Your argument has no merits. Demand effects secondary market prices, not MLB pricing. Plenty of Dodgers games that sold out last year commanded 2X – 4X face value not even counting playoffs
But demand also affects the primary market. If demand increases prices increase to maximize profits. Stadiums with lower capacity are not an advantage for increasing revenue but sure it makes the efficient price lower because of more supply. Put the Dodgers seating capacity in Wrigley with a team as competitive as the Dodgers and they sell more tickets at a higher price than the Dodgers.
Spoken like someone who hasn’t been to a ballpark with 55,000 other fans.
The logic here is unreal. So you’re saying that they’d be more profitable if the stadium were smaller? Sounds like a disservice to the fans.
Wow, that is what you got from this? I’m not the one suggesting Dodgers revenue would be more if their capacity were smaller. Think you should be telling this to Mark.
Dodgers Stadium is the largest baseball stadium in North America seating over 56k. Our avg attendance is what 80% of the league wishes they had bc it would be a sell out.
Our prices are fair compared to a lot of parks but waaay over priced when compared to the bargain that is SD.
Our stadium is also in a ravine and not built into downtown like all other stadiums. You cant just walk in/out. So traffic is awful. Games start at 7:10 and when you get off of work at 6pm thats an issue. When we get the 5pm friday night ESPN game its even worse. When we are in the playoffs and we have to start at 2p/4pon a weekday to accommodate the east forget about it.
I have to drive an hour and a half to get to Dodger Stadium and usually arrive during BP. So there.
Haren pitched well the 2nd half of last year for the Nationals.
IF he continues that form, he’ll be a great No. 5.
And the huge contracts can hurt them if a player gets hurt or just becomes a bust but it wont be a Yankees/Angels situation where they have 6 starters on the payroll making 20m+ after the age of 35.
Most Dodgers contracts end at age 34 w the exception of Gonzo who goes until he is 36. And even then they didnt make those contact they just took them on. I wouldnt worry about money when they have a tv deal kicking in this year along w the billions the ownership group already has.
Angels only have 2 bad contracts though.
Yankees more than anything. Angels only have the two.
Can’t really say that about the white sox, rick Hahn is now running the show, and he was already aggressive getting Jose abreu, all the money he has shed already, a lot more dropping off after this year (Dunn!!!!) jerry reinsdorf is getting up there in age and he loves the sox (even more than the bulls) and wants another ring sooner than later, also if they were not serious why would they be the first to LA instead of celebrating at thefrank Thomas hall of fame press conference
Scherzer is a free agent in 2015 and Price in 2016. Both are also available via trade right now.
Does it really make sense to sign Tanaka over the last two AL Cy Young winners?
um, yeah, u know what u’ll have to give up for those two in a trade? then sign them to a bigger contract than Tankana will require?
1. Prospects probably will be more valuable that the $20MM posting fee… but how much more valuable? Not sure it will be much in the case of Scherzer.
2. They may be bigger contracts, but consider that the AAV will be lower for both Scherzer and Price until they hit free agency. That is one discounted year for Scherzer and two for Price.
Depends on the prospect. I don’t think there’s anywhere that would rate Tanaka as the top prospect. If Bruxton hit the free agent market he’d command a Contract as big if not bigger than Tanaka.
Just to clarify:
I am comparing Scherzer and Price to Tanaka (not the value of the prospects directly to Tanaka).
I am refer to the value of the prospects that a team would have to give up for Scherzer or Price v. the $20MM posting fee to get Tanaka as part of the analysis.
In the case of Scherzer, I think the prospects would not be worth much more than than the $20MM posting fee.
To get one of those guys with only one prospect it would probably require one of the top few prospects in baseball, heck Shields got the top hitting prospect plus a couple other highly ranked prospects in baseball last year and he’s not half the pitcher of the other two. The 20 MM posting fee is part of the salary analysis. A top prospect would get at least 20 MM more than Tanaka in this market if you don’t count the 20 MM fee. So yes they are worth much more than 20 MM.
did i say they would sign him? no. i said theyd make an offer, and that we have plenty going for us here that he might be interested. hes clearly interested in every team that see’s him as their future. do you think he plans to pitch for 5 teams over the next 10 years?? No.
SD would be different than going to the Dodgers, Dbacks, or Yankees. hes young, not American, hes here for baseball, not for you or some billionaire owner. right?
You’re right, you didn’t say he would go to the Padres, all you said was you expect them to make an offer and then proceed to list all the reasons he would go to the Padres.
I’m sure he’s interested in all 30 MLB teams because they can all pay him in American, guaranteed money. The problem for the Padres is they are a losing franchise with a limit in their spending and will not offer him as much as other teams. Might he love nice weather? Yes, but the Angels and Dodgers can offer more money. Might he like a pitcher’s park? Yes, but the Angels, Dodgers, Giants, and every other pitcher’s park in baseball’s franchise minus the Marlins can likely offer him more money.
Might he want to help build a contender and not join a winning one? I suppose it’s possible, though he’s never said anything like it, but there are a handful of losing teams who can offer more money and maintain the other qualities of the Padres.
San Diego literally does not have a single benefiting factor for Tanaka choosing them over someone else, hence my 0% comment. And I’m not a Padres’ hater, I like them, they almost won a WS game that one time, but to think you can even try to talk yourself into why Tanaka MIGHT go to San Diego is silly. My personal opinion.
Can someone just sign him already so the rest of the pitching market can take shape
It will all be over within the next two weeks.
Remains to be seen. Close also represents Jeter (on a team which has Kuroda and Ichiro right now). I’m not saying the Yankees will sign Tanaka – simply saying, you can’t bank on it based on that alone.
Jeter also doesn’t have any 20plus per year multiyear deals in his near future like kershaw
Won’t disagree with that fact – still don’t think you can count on any one team at this point. The next 15 days will be very interesting.
Yes, I agree
Do you think everyone liked what the yankees did to baseball?
If the Yankees fail to land Masahiro Tanaka expect them to be heavily involved on arms like Ubaldo Jimenez, Matt Garza, Bronson Arroyo, Johan Santana & Ervin Santana.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they were able to than sign two of those guys for the Rotation.
I’ll believe that they’re going over $189 million when I see it. Everything they’ve done the last two years, including the Wells and Soriano trades and letting Cano walk indicates that they plan on being under this year.
… or Price.
What do they have to offer for Price, putting aside the fact that the Rays are in their division?
Their best offer would be something like Sanchez, Williams, Brackman and I doubt that gets in done. The Yankees farm system is in pretty rough shape.
The Rays are still trying to win, which makes the whole trade thing tricky. There’s about 0% chance they’d trade him to the Yankees.
Less than zero
The Yankees have nothing to offer them.
When it comes to salary dump moves, this wouldnt surprise me. Braves traded Kevin Milwood to the Phillies for Johhny Estrada. Not saying Price is Milwood or vice versa, just sayin it wouldnt surprise me.
1. Yankees get Scherzer and the right to overpay him in a “window of negotiation” before the deal gets done.
2. Rays get Ray (Tigers), another top 5 Tigers prospect and 2 Top Yankees prospects… or something like that.
3. Tigers get 2 years of Price for 1 year of Scherzer.
No.
Could just be a smokescreen to try driving up the price especially when one of the more serious contenders is a division rival
Bingo! Or to scare off some of the “fringe” teams who think they won’t compete money wise.
With a bunch of aging players, a SS who has quickly diminishing range but no diminishing ego, Arod, an “ace” that might be turning into a pumpkin, and an ownership that interferes with management…I would call that messy.
“With a bunch of aging players”
That’s not always a bad thing. The oldest team in the league last year won the WS, 2 of the top 5 made the playoffs, 3 out of the top 7 won their divsiion. And on the other side of things, the 4 youngest teams all had losing seasons and only 1 out of the 7 youngest made the playoffs.
“a SS who has quickly diminishing range but no diminishing ego,”…how does Jeter have an ego (except when it comes to contract negotiating)? Odd you bring up the diminishing range, as if we don’t know about that? As if he hasn’t had it the past 5 years or heck his whole career?
“A-Rod”, What about him? We don’t know if he’s playing or not. If he plays he can still be a decent 3B. He can still be about a 2.5 WAR player. which isn’t great but it’s far from bad.
“”ace” that might be turning into a pumpkin…..That we have to wait and see. I can’t picture him being as bad as he was last year. Shouldn’t judge him after 1 bad year. I don’t expect Cy Young award #’s but I don’t expect back end starter numbers either. We shall see.
“and an ownership that interferes with management”…you mean something that’s been going on nearly every year yet despite that they’ve missed the playoffs Once the past 5 years and only Twice out of the past 19??’
I’m not saying they are a great team or anything, but there are more teams who are messes, including some of those teams interested in Tanaka.
sure, and there are some that are less messy and better situated to contend. So, I don’t see why Tanaka would leave money on the table to go to the yankees just because they are the yankees (which was the original comment of the thread)
“sure, and there are some that are less messy and better situated to contend.”
Obviously, but that wasn’t my point.
“So, I don’t see why Tanaka would leave money on the table to go to the yankees just because they are the yankees”
I never said such a thing. I too think he’ll go to the highest bidder. Whether it’s LA, NY, Seattle, whoever.
He’s a Phillies fan
Damn, I missed the sarcasm.
Matt Kemp played 155 games in 2008, 159 games in 2009, 162 games in 2010 and 161 games in 2011. His contract was signed after the 2011 season.
His contract was totally reasonable for a guy that seemed like one of the most durable OFers in baseball, who should’ve won the 2011 NL MVP.
That’s fine but going forward it’s one of the worst in the game. Until he proves that he can stay on the field it’s not a good contract. Do you think anyone gets signed to a mega-deal right after missing almost 1 year and a half with an injury? But it wouldn’t be the first time a huge deal failed.
Kemp is young, there is still plenty of time for him to turn it around. Before the ankle injury sidelined him at the end of the season, he had been swinging the bat exceptionally well. .367/.436/.694/1.130 over his last 55 PA.
The first year pays 84M with 34% going to revenue share. That leaves about 55M for next year. Dodgers fans just think 300M is showing up every year starting from day one without considering backloading, inflation costs, MLB revenue structure. Silly LA fans…
No, you’re wrong. 84M is the maximum amount of money that can be subjected to revenue sharing by Major League Baseball, per the settlement they reached with Frank McCourt during his bankruptcy hearings, with that figure rising 4% annually.
“The settlement sets $84 million a year — plus a 4% annual increase — as the maximum basis for revenue-sharing assessment…The Dodgers would average $320 million a year in an $8-billion deal.”
With 350MM a year in TV revenue, plus attendance and merchandise sales. They can hand out over 350MM a year. So yes they could sign both. Teams make more money than people think off of the team. Teams like the Braves run off a 90MM payroll without TV revenue.
The Dodgers are favored 6-1 to win what, the NL West? I believe Dodgers fans made claims of better odds last year and look what happened.
Vegas now has the Dodgers to win the 2014 World Series at 5-1 favorites
The Red Sox were 30-1 going into the year. I’m sure 5-1 was the Blue Jays and/or Angels odds last year
Finished in the Championship Series, you mean?
Failed to make the World Series that they were supposedly favorites to win.
Winning the World Series is such a crapshoot. I think you need to judge a season by looking at final record. I’d say that for any team. The Braves had a very, very successful season last year, even though their fans probably felt they didn’t by the end.
Every single Guggenheim company has to (or attempts to) turn a profit. The owners are not diverting good money from profitable sister companies in order to appease a need to win. That 100B has nothing to do with the Dodgers. If it did, Guggenheim would be bankrupt a long time ago and would not own the Dodgers.
What a surprise, a contradicting report involving Tanaka. Wake me up when he signs somewhere please…
Unlike Tanaka, Scott Feldman has shown that he’s capable of pitching at the major league level. You can’t compare Tanaka’s price to the price of proven major league pitchers.
A bust is most certainly his floor, just as it is with anyone who’s never played in the majors. I think he’ll do well but there are a lot of innings on his arm and it’s a big adjustment to go from pitching once a week to pitching ever five days, using a different sized and textured baseball, going through significantly more travel, facing better competition, being in a foreign country, etc. There are a lot of risk factors in signing him.
I’m actually hoping the Dodgers sign Tanaka if the Rangers don’t–but I hope the price ends up being 10yrs/$275 mil. That will make it that much more likely that the Rangers could then wait and get Kershaw when he becomes a free agent.
As ridiculous as I think Tanaka’s contract will be We can’t really expect him to get almost 100 MM more than any other pitcher in history and matching the biggest contract in MLB history?
Obviously, if the Dodgers had to choose between the two they would choose Kershaw. If they sign Tanaka, it can mean one of two things:
1) They have the money to sign both
2) Kershaw told the Dodgers he would not re-sign with the club
Both are plausible options.
Yeah, if Kershaw wants to stay, LA will pay him more than anyone else presumably. It’s hard to see him ever becoming available. As a Ranger fan, it would be awesome to get a shot at signing a local guy like Kershaw if he ever became available. Tanaka could be insurance for LA though and gravy if he stays.
Well, I could see him getting 200M now. Makes now sense to do that for an unproven commodity, but if LA wants him that bad, they will drive everyone else away.
That’s pretty high. Even as a Dodgers fan there comes a limit where you question the signing I terms of value. It’s like buying a Corvette and paying Ferrari pricing
My god we need a salary cap
Salary cap is a tricky thing in baseball. When you have the current lowest at around 40 mil, i think, to the highest at around 200, a cap isnt the only issue. Getting lower teams to spend is. Unless you think Marlins, Astros, and others will spend more. I have a problem with teams like the Marlins, Astros, Rays, A’s, Royals and other low salary teams than i do the Yankees.
I agree what we need is a rule where you have to spend between 75-150mil with no exceptions and high and low salary cap.
I disagree — I don’t like forcing teams to spend to a certain level, because then you end up signing players you don’t necessarily want/need. I don’t have a solution, either, so there you go.
Just have a tax on being under a certain payroll, or take away the revenue sharing dollars. Not like they would be spending their own money.
Look at Hockey, you have teams that can not afford to spend with the cap. Making the marlins spend $75 million might not make them better. Its a strategy to win spend 50 or 75 for that matter. Baseball makes tons of money and teams like TB & OAK have found ways to win without spending the most.
Look at the Jays last year… massive increase to payroll and I believe a net gain of 1 win.
They iced the cake with John Gibbons as manager. Might as well have hire Bobby V. Players don’t play for managers who punch out one of their own.
I like that idea a Lot! But I think $75m as a minimum base, Luxury Tax starting at $150m, and a $200m Cap.
But a $150m cap works for me too. Yanks, LAD, Philly’s, Angels, BoSox are about the only teams that have hit that $150m+ threshold. Maybe Detroit.
If Teams can’t win with a payroll in the $100-$150 range, and be competitive, then they shouldn’t be allowed to throw these $200-$300m (maybe $300-$400m next year) contracts to outbid these other teams that don’t even have a chance at paying such rediculous contract figures.
While spending can help, baseball is one sport that has proven you do not need to spend to be successful. A salary cap will do no good.
You basically have one now. Boston won’t go over 189. Dodgers will scale back as the tax rate climbs toward 50%, and the Yankees are striving for 189.
Its probably more important to have a salary floor to get some of these small market teams to spend their revenue sharing dollars and national TV money.
If LA, NY, or Boston sign him then changing the posting rules was a colossal waste of time.
Atleast in the old system the bidding was silent so a small market team had a chance to exclusively sign the player. I agree…this just makes it so the player can sign with the big bad usuals.
Not exactly, it increases their luxury tax hit which was the intention of the new system.
I disagree. He has more places to choose from. Before, he would have one choice. Because he wants to play for LA, NY, or Boston doesn’t mean he wanted to restrict himself to big-budget teams. He might like the opportunity of those teams winning more than others.
This also reallocates money back to the athlete from the team that posted him.
Oh Nightengale, guess we should not be surprised that a journalist exaggerated to generate news.
If those tweets about Tanaka are true. He clearly wants to pitch for a big market team. This narrows it down to the : Yanks,Dodgers,Angels,Red Sox
His endorsement opportunities in Japan are enormous, and depends in part on the quality of team he plays for as well as the team itself. Many Japanese fans have got used to seeing the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers and they are also tourist destinations with direct flights to Japan. Interesting he left out Seattle, but that could be that it is his most likely destination and he wants to drive the price up. Seattles weakness is its team, or should I say the teams commitment to winning over the last decade. Perhaps that’s changed with Cano, but Japanese fans don’t like to watch their players team lose anymore than Americans.
I’m an Indians fan, and would love to have him on the Tribe. But I just can’t see this guy coming all the way from Japan to play in Cleveland.
Glad to see he likes NY. Not you Mets, not you. I kid 🙂 <3 you Mets!
The idea of Scherzer/Price is not all that great when you want to rebuild the farm bc you will lose a ton of prospects for them then you have to sign them to 200m in 2 yrs. Might as well sign 25yr old for $120m and save the farm
1. Scherzer and Price both have won Cy Young’s. Will Tanaka ever get to that level?
2. I am not sure the price differential will be that great, maybe $4MM per year when you factor in the 1-2 years of arbitration salaries of Scherzer/Price?
3. Would you rather have $20MM cash (posting fee) or a top prospect? Probably the top prospect, but is the difference really that great? I do not think it is that great in the case of Scherzer. Price will obviously cost more.
I think Beckett Will have a better season than Haren, who could be an elite long man.
At least the rumors that he prefers the West Coast stop, don’t know where anyone heard he wants to only play in the West Coast came from.
He never said he wanted to pitch on the west coast. Dodgers/Mariners/Angels fans said that
Buster Olney reported it
He reported that tanaka MIGHT prefer the west coast
IIRC, it was hearsay. From a friend of his or some such.
Source?
I thought I read it here. Honestly, I can’t remember.
You can’t remember because it’s a false rumor. I don’t blame you though, I blame others who twist speculation and try to sell it as factual.
Source?
For what?
For your claim, obviously. I can’t remember where I read it, but I did. For you to claim that it was false requires some kind of backup, not just a statement of your feeling that it was. FWIW, I don’t put any stock in any of these hearsay rumors, so it isn’t worth debating about anyway IMO.
Correction: I should not have said it was false. He could very well prefer the west coast. My point was that he has never stated his preferences and until Tanaka says himself that he has a specific place where he wants to pitch, people should stop selling rumors as facts.
In fairness, the rumors are being sold as rumors. We can’t help it if some people want to buy them as facts.
Rumors make up 95% of the speculation. It’s why there are discussions in the first place.
Every team listed above except the Dodgers and Red Sox are worse than the Yankees. A team that is not listed, but also interested, the Mariners, are also worse.
If Dodgers match or go more than the Yankees, I think he’ll certainly be in LA. I don’t see the Red Sox topping the Yankees offer, but I can certainly see the Dodgers.
Exactly what I been saying … He WILL sign with dodgers
Every team spends whatever money they’ve got to win a championship — but according to the rules, only one actually does. So what was your point again?
This is just a marketing ploy to get the big market teams involved to increase the bidding war as much as I would love the Angels to sign him.
Not a lot of credibility from Nightengale on this. Won’t be outbid one minute then won’t do anything wildly or crazy. Unfortunately it’s going to take wild and crazy to land Tanaka IMO.
After years and years of the Dodgers not acting like a big market club. I don’t get sick of hearing the Dodgers in on every player. The Dodgers consistently draw 3 million fans to the gate with out a World Series appearance since 1988. So there are no band wagon fans because they haven’t won anything since 88. So now the culture has changed and the Dodgers are throwing money at the problem and allowing their farm system to grow. It’s a great time to be a Dodger fan. Nobody talked about the Dodgers now everybody hates them. Jealousy. I think big market teams like the Dodgers and Yankees should be in on most players. If your team doesn’t want to spend the money blame the owners. Oakland, Tampa Bay and Baltimore all have competetive teams but the owners don’t want to take the next step. Surprising with the Orioles because they use to spend money on Free Agents.
Amen, with a friendly amendment: The Dodgers got talked about plenty when the team was owned by Frankenjamie. Given the choice between hate or derision, my preference is clear.
Absolutely SHOCKING list of preferred cities.
If you ask most fans of west coast teams I’m sure it is. For as much a preference as he has in the west coast, I sure find it strange two of the three teams are on the east coast.
I’m not surprised at all, all that “he wants to play on the west coast” didn’t ever make any sense. Its 5,500 miles from LA to Japan, 6,500 miles from NY to Japan; its not really all that different.
P.S. between NY, Boston and LA there are 5 teams not 3.
I don’t think the West Coast thing would be as much about the travel as it is about the way of life there. I could be wrong but just my own speculation. It’s a media fishbowl in NY and Boston. It’s really not like that in LA, or Seattle, or San Francisco, or even Arizona.
OK 2/3 cities.
I doubt he comes to Arizona except to play in spring training or swim in the pool. Sorry KT.
The Sox can’t let the Yanks get him.
I hear Daisuke Matsuzaka is available if m-tan is signed elsewhere.
There is probably context missing… Meaning he has met with teams in 5 cities and prefers LA, New York and Boston out of those 5 so far. Probably a comment of little value at this point. The reports to date suggest he just arrived in the US and is meeting with teams, then he will get offers and we will see what city he prefers.
No, he has not even met Boston yet, its just his “preference” based on what he knows, I know he has visited the US before. He met with Matsui when he played with the Yankees. There are many things you can know about a city before even visiting. Size of Japanese population, direct flights, winning team or not, cost of living, feedback from Japanese players who have played there, etc.
This just in – Tanaka preferred choice is …. MONEY!
Well, that or he wants to play in an international city for good teams that have experience with star Japanese players, and have direct flights to Japan.
Jeez, LA, NYC and Boston? Sounds like he’s looking for the biggest payroll. I can’t say I don’t blame him when you add the chances are higher winning a world series as well! I don’t see the Sox getting him considering the Yanks will most likely give him $25-$50 million more than the next highest bidder considering they might be the most desperate. Then again, if he’s that good, Ben stealing him would be a double whammy for the Yanks.
Another report from MLB.com saying they, in fact, will not go all out and outbid all other teams. I think it makes sense because of the rotation they already have and I assume they want to keep trying to retain Kershaw and the money saved by not getting Tanaka would help. Although, LA doesn’t seem concerned with saving money.
If they did get him, man, that rotation would be sick. I’d rather him go there than to NY or LAA or Seattle personally. Texas is apparently monitoring the situation as well, that would certainly bolster their rotation and bullpen as well with Ogando going back in. I see him signing with NY, then LA.
“Dodgers confirmed their interest but don’t want to spend “wildly” or do anything crazy with their bid in order to land Tanaka.”
Week later, he is signed for 7 years/200 million + vesting option of 25 million for 8th year 😛
If that leak on preferences came from Tanakas camp, it may be to force the price up on Seattle and Chicago
Agreed. Lot’s of conflicting news out there today. Just read an article stating “Dodgers aren’t nearly as eager to enter a bidding war for Tanaka”. We’ll see.
Yankees/Dodgers have been in the lead on Tanaka since he first started being discussed. It doesn’t look like things have changed.
Not that this will come as a shock to anyone, but it would be an upset if the Yankees didn’t sign Tanaka
They are obviously right there. I believe it simply comes down to a question of, does Tanaka secretly have a major preference for West Coast over East Coast, or vice versa?
Considering the flight to Japan is 5 less hours than ny and the fact that the dodgers are a world series class team and the Yankees are a geriatric group with a large chance of them being in the cellar all year, my guess would be the Dodgers
Considering the flight to Japan is 5 less hours than ny and the fact that the dodgers are a world series class team and the Yankees are a geriatric group with a large chance of them being in the cellar all year, my guess would be the Dodgers
Considering the flight to Japan is 5 less hours than ny and the fact that the dodgers are a world series class team and the Yankees are a geriatric group with a large chance of them being in the cellar all year, my guess would be the Dodgers
LA, New York or Boston. No love for Chicago?! Sounds like he wants to pitch in the brightest lights or maybe he’d like the teams with the deepest pockets to start a bidding war for his services. This is not good news for all the other teams linked to Tanaka – Arizona, Houston, Minnesota, Cleveland just to name a few.
No he doesn’t want to sign with brutal last place teams and never make the playoffs and zero chance of a championship. They would have to offer 20 years and 800 million and still it would be a 25 percent chance he would want to play for a loser.
Bob Nightengale is baseball’s version of Chris Broussard.
He is interested in contending for winning team, that will affect his endorsements which could be huge for him. I’m sure everything we hear is posturing to get the bids competing against each other. I’m sure he could care less weather its LA/NY/BOS so long as they back up a brinks truck full of money. In the end its all about the money
It still boggles my mind that people believe the Dodgers will just let Kershaw go that easy. Everyone talks as if it is a forgone conclusion that he will end up as a free agent next year. He most certainly will not. The Dodgers won’t just allow their ace to walk away in his prime. Especially when Beckett and Bills come off the books next season and could help off-set his contract jussssssssst a tad. Then again, since when are the Dodgers concerned about costs these days.
I agree 100%. Kershaw isn’t going anywhere , not even gonna sniff free agency. Dodgers would be off their rocker to let him hit the open market. He will get the richest deal in MLB history. It’s just the amount of years that need to be agreed on. I’m thinking 10-12 year deal between $280-$320 million . Remember he is a 2X Cy Young winner and only 25 with nearly 1,100 Ks already. Already a great foundation to the start of a Hall of Fame career
It is up to the team and the player to work out a contract. Giving a big contract to a pitcher is a big gamble. There is a big risk of injury. According to rumors there hasn’t been any contract talks lately.
If there’s any truth to the rumors about what he has already been offered, the sticking point seems not to be the money, but the terms of an opt-out clause.
It just simply doesn’t make sense. He is the cornerstone player on their franchise, has a free and easy delivery that won’t allow him to get injured easily, the Dodgers have been very good about not over-extending him over the years, and yet still allow him to go out there and pitch 7+ many times. He is still only 26 starting this season. He has a repertoire that will allow him to pitch even when his velocity diminishes a little over the years. He could still be effective throwing a 90-92 MPH fastball with that deadly slider and curve. Mix in an above-average change here and there and he’ll be fine in 10 years.
The signs are there and you Dodger fans are in denial: like every other ace, Kershaw is going to say no to a deal with the Dodgers and test the market to be the highest paid pitcher ever. And he’ll get it too–and it won’t necessarily be in LA. The Dodgers don’t have an infinite budget and if so much is tied up in Greinke, Tanaka and others, then the Dodgers can/will be outbid. It’s silly to think otherwise.
No offense, but how do the Dodgers have money tied up in someone that haven’t signed. Also, I understand the Dodgers do not have an infinite budget, but money is coming and going over the next couple seasons. Furthermore, it is very likely they will trade either Ethier or Crawford at some point in the next year or so, obviously eating a good portion of those contracts, and save money there. Greinke is one pitcher. He has received a lot of money, but it doesn’t mean the Dodgers can’t extend Kershaw.
What signs are you talking about? All I see is conjecture and assumptions.
If Tanaka only wants to play in a major market, then so be it and I’ll wait to see if Boston, LAD or NYY land him. He’s going to blow somebody’s budget to make future moves and I’m happy for one of these 3 teams being on the hook and taking their chance that he’s more Dice-K than Darvish.
As a Red Sox fan heres how I see it. If he really wants to win he should go to the Red Sox or Dodgers if all he wants is money then he should just go to the Yankees. Seems easy don’t you think? I’m still not going to be sold on the fact the Yankees can still content even with Tanaka remember he will be pitching every 5th day not everyday and no one knows how well he will do in the Majors. Also the Yankees are a mess they still don’t have a closer, most of their guys are old and I don’t think with a pitching rotation of CC, Tanaka, Nova, Kuroda and Pineda is going to be as dangerous as a Kershaw, Greinke, Tanaka and Ryu pitching rotation or a Lester, Tanaka, Lackey, and Bucholz pitching rotation. I would like him in a M’s Uni because he can be in a rotation with Iwakuma his former teammate and also King Felix.
If Tanaka could be a star player on a World Championship team, he would be a national hero in Japan. That would be a better fit with the Red Sox or Dodgers. I don’t see that happening with the Yankees. The Yankees are getting old and don’t have much in the farm system. I have no idea if he is going for the money.
Tanaka has supposedly returned to Japan.
I think the Dodgers have a 50/50 shot at Tanaka………he want’s to play in L.A or N.Y and that was reported months ago. A lot of people on here are discussing Kershaw and here it is: My co-worker played semi-pro baseball and his buddy played college ball and was a roomate with Kershaw on the road, this dude told me like 2 or 3 years ago at some point Kershaw wanted to go back to Texas. His words “he wants to get paid in L.A for several years but then get back to Texas…….hmmmmm? guess he was right. I think 10 years scared Kershaw, they need to throw a 4-5 year deal at him and pay him then he can bolt for Texas when he is 30 or 31. I think he stays in L.A for a chance to win some chips(this roster would be to hard to leave right now) the team now is constructed to win for the next 3-4 years for championships.
Why are the Mets tagged here? This got me excited for no reason.