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Masahiro Tanaka

Yankees Sign Masahiro Tanaka

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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-Masahiro

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.

Diamondbacks No Longer In Running For Tanaka

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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.

Masahiro Tanaka Links: Tuesday

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News on a landing spot for Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka has been expected between now and Thursday. But now Jayson Stark of ESPN.com tweets that the decision could take til Friday since Tanaka may stand on a physical taken during his trip to Los Angeles earlier in the month. As Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports explains (Twitter links), the results of Tanaka's January 9th physical were shared with interested clubs, but teams may want their own medical staff to get a firsthand look. Either way, Tanaka must be signed to a deal with no contingencies on or before Friday at 4pm central time. We'll keep tabs on today's news right here:

  • In case you missed it from this morning, ESPN.com's Buster Olney wrote an Insider piece that profiles Tanaka agent Casey Close of Excel Sports Management. The relatively non-promotional and rumor-free negotiation process reflects the businesslike personalities of both Close and Tanaka, Olney suggests.
  • Teams bidding on Tanaka are "in for at least 6 or 7 years," reports Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com (on Twitter). The average annual value will be "at or above" $20MM, Levine adds. Put those numbers together, of course, and Levine's report suggests that Tanaka will command at least $120MM (in addition, presumably, to the $20MM posting fee).
  • The Red Sox "do not appear to be among the finalists" in the Tanaka sweepstakes, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
  • Astros owner Jim Crane says that the team is interested in Tanaka, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (via Twitter). We heard yesterday that Houston may have been one of the clubs to have met with Tanaka and his representatives. It is still not known, of course, whether the 'Stros interest has manifested itself as a competitive, formal offer. And McTaggart tweets that, in his opinion, the club is a "longshot."
  • Once Tanaka officially comes off the board, baseball is set to experience a rush of important free agent signings that has not been experienced in recent seasons, as MLBTR's Transaction Tracker documents. On or after January 24, 2009, there were six multi-year free agent deals and three contracts that included at least $10MM in guaranteed money. Last year, five and three deals hit those respective marks on or after 1/24. The intervening years – 2012 (2/2), 2011 (0/0), and 2010 (1/1) — had much fewer substantial, late signings. Assuming that no major deals go down before Friday, however, at least eight still-available free agents seem quite likely to get multi-year deals that guarantee over $10MM: Tanaka, Kendrys Morales, Stephen Drew, Nelson Cruz, Bronson Arroyo, Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Ervin Santana. A good number of others — including A.J. Burnett, Paul Maholm, Chris Capuano, Grant Balfour, and Fernando Rodney — still have an excellent chance at scoring multiple years, eight-figure guarantees, or both.

Masahiro Tanaka Links: Monday

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The Masahiro Tanaka clock is ticking, and the right-hander has until Friday to agree to a deal with his first Major League team. Recent reports have indicated that the Cubs are emerging as one of the favorites, but their status as a losing team could stand in the way of landing Tanaka. Yesterday it was reported that Tanaka could agree on Tuesday or Wednesday this week in order to give his new club time to perform the necessary physical and paperwork to make things official. We'll keep track of today's Tanaka-centric links here…

  • Whichever club is chosen by Tanaka should know by at least the end of the day Wednesday, tweets David Kaplan of CSN Chicago and WGN Radio. That way, explains Kaplan, the club has time for "additional medicals."
  • The Blue Jays "are not among the teams in consideration" for Tanaka, says Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star. But Toronto is definitely involved in adding a free agent starter from what Griffin calls the "next tier" of starting arms, and is willing to sacrifice a second-round pick to do so. (The Jays' two first-round choices are protected.)

Earlier Updates

  • Industry source believe that the Cubs will outbid the field in terms of years and dollars in order to land Tanaka, tweets Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com. Levine adds that at this point, no team knows how much its competitors have bid.
  • Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports writes that the Cubs may need Tanaka more than the Yankees or Dodgers, but he doesn't feel that Tanaka is interested in coming to America to pitch for a losing club. He feels Chicago would have to overpay in order to land Tanaka, which he says is not the Ricketts family's style. The Dodgers present the best set of circumstances in terms of available money, proximity to Japan, weather, a competitive team and a pitcher-friendly environment, Morosi writes.
  • Over the weekend, a rival executive told MLB Daily Dish's Chris Cotillo that he believes the Astros met with Tanaka, though he is unsure whether or not they made a formal offer (Twitter link).

Masahiro Tanaka Rumors: Sunday

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Masahiro Tanaka will reportedly command a contract in the neighborhood of $120MM over six years (plus the expected $20MM posting fee) and is said to have received such an offer from the Diamondbacks. Here's the latest with five days remaining before Tanaka's posting period expires Friday at 4pm CT:

  • The Cubs' convention this weekend was rather quiet, but that might have been different if Tanaka's deadline had been a week earlier, Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago writes. One source told Rogers that the Cubs would be willing to sign Tanaka for up to six to eight years at $25MM per year, while another told him the Cubs would be willing to go with that time frame, but at a lower price.
  • Tanaka's decision should come Tuesday or Wednesday to allow time for further medical exams to take place prior to the Friday deadline, an AL scout tells David Kaplan of CSNChicago.com (via Twitter).
  • Kaplan tweets the same scout tells him the Cubs' current state is the biggest drawback in their landing Tanaka. Yesterday, we learned the Cubs made a formal offer to Tanaka, but are considered a long shot to win the bidding. 
  • The White Sox, who also have reportedly have made a formal offer to Tanaka, are in the same boat as the Cubs, tweets Kaplan.
  • The Mariners may have been priced out of contention for Tanaka or the 25-year-old's interest in Seattle wasn’t as high as some thought, reports the Seattle Times' Geoff Baker. 

Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.

Cafardo On Cruz, Garza, Tanaka, Figgins

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In today's column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes that outside of his own representation, you won’t find a lot of legal experts who believe Alex Rodriguez will win in federal court.  “I would be surprised if the decision is reversed,” Stanford law professor William B. Gould IV said. “Since 1960, arbitration awards can only be reversed when the arbitrator decides on his own ideas of justice rather than the CBA or because of fraud, corruption or partiality. The merits are for the arbitrator, not the courts. Probably the arbitrator should have called Selig to the stand to avoid partiality, but that won’t be a basis for reversal on its own. As for the union, their obligation is to investigate A-Rod’s claim in good faith — they did so and took his case. And allowing his own counsel.”  More from today's column..

  • Teams are staying away from Nelson Cruz because salary demands still haven’t come down quite enough, according to one National League GM.  He made sense for the Orioles as a power-hitting right-handed bat, but their recent acquisition of Delmon Young may have squashed their interest.
  • Teams have been reluctant to pony up a four- or five-year deal for Matt Garza and he may have to settle for fewer years, even with the price of pitching very high. “There may be concerns about him physically,” said one AL exec. “I think most teams are thinking four or five years is just too risky, even if he’s a no-compensation guy.”
  • Cafardo hears that the bidding for Masahiro Tanaka could get as high as $120MM over six years and that he could shake hands on a deal before the January 24th deadline.
  • The Red Sox were not among the teams who watched Chone Figgins workout in Arizona as he attempts a comeback.  Figgins hopes to resurrect his career, even if it’s as a utility man.  It appears he’ll get the chance to be in camp with someone.
  • After recovering from life-threatening injuries and having his spleen removed, Carl Pavano is throwing off of flat ground in Arizona, according to his agent, Dave Pepe. “Some teams have popped in to see where he’s at. Our intention is for him to throw bullpens for teams in mid-February,” Pepe said.
  • Former Rockies and Red Sox pitcher Aaron Cook is also looking to bounce back after a tired arm ended his season in July.  He did not pitch in the majors last season, making eight starts with Triple A Colorado Springs.
  • Agent Alan Nero says he'd be surprised if any of the arbitration-eligible players went to a hearing this year.
  • Former Indians and Mariners skipper Eric Wedge will likely take a network television job soon but he'd like to get another chance in the dugout at some point.
  • Reliever Cedrick Bowers, who spent last season in the Atlantic League, is starting to catch the eye of scouts in Venezuela.

NL Central Notes: Cardinals, Cubs

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New Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta disclosed at a fundraising event on Saturday that he was targeted by several clubs this offseason who were interested in him as a shortstop, according to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. However, St. Louis offered the opportunity to play for an annual contender, Peralta said at the team's Winter Warm-Up event. Here's more from the NL Central: 

  • Top Cardinals prospect Oscar Taveras says he expects to be fully healthy when he reports early for Spring Training next month, MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch reports. The outfielder, who underwent an ankle procedure to repair torn ligaments and remove loose cartilage, will be in the mix for an Opening Day roster spot.
  • Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times hears from multiple sources that the Cubs are a "long shot" to land Masahiro Tanaka (Twitter link). The Cubs were one of many clubs to have made a formal offer to the Japanese star, according to a Nikkan Sports report.
  • Speaking at the Cubs Convention today, Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein said the team erred in promoting Brett Jackson to the majors in 2012, commenting that the outfielder may have required more minor league seasoning (via MLB.com's Carrie Muskat). Jackson struggled to a .175/.303/.342 line in 142 plate appearances, and returned to the minors in 2013 to hit just .210/.296/.330. Epstein explained that then-manager Dale Sveum wanted to work on developing Jackson's swing.
  • Count Cubs manager Rick Renteria among those excited about the team's stable of prospects. Muskat reports that Renteria called Epstein to express his excitement about the Cubs' young players while interviewing for two other manager openings this offseason, leading to his hiring for the Cubs' job.

Nikkan: Clubs Submit Formal Tanaka Offers

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Clubs angling to sign Masahiro Tanaka made formal offers by Jan. 16, Nikkan Sports reports (Japanese link). The list of teams includes the Yankees, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, White Sox and Cubs, with nearly all clubs putting together offers worth more than $100MM over six years.

The Diamondbacks have made no secret of their pursuit of Tanaka this winter, and according to Nikkan, they've offered him a deal for six years and $120MM. Such a contract would be the largest in Diamondbacks history by a wide margin. "Like other teams, we're very interested," CEO Derrick Hall was quoted as saying at a recent meeting of MLB owners. "We want to win this competition." Owner Ken Kendrick also reportedly met with Tanaka directly during his recent tour of clubs in the U.S.

The Dodgers and Yankees are believed to have made equivalent offers, according to Nikkan, while comments by Angels owner Arte Moreno suggest that the team would have trouble fitting Tanaka into its budget. Overall, we appear to be nearing the stage in negotiations where the only step remaining is Tanaka's actual decision.

Masahiro Tanaka Rumors: Saturday

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Here's the latest on the bidding for Masahiro Tanaka.

  • The Cubs are the "lead team" for Tanaka, a source tells Levine (via Twitter).
  • The Cubs have made a "real offer" to Tanaka, tweets 670TheScore.com's Bruce Levine, who also notes that one key factor for Tanaka and his wife will be the presence of a Japanese community in his new city. On Thursday, we heard that the Cubs were "pushing hard" for Tanaka, and Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reported on the "sales pitch" the Cubs made to Tanaka last week.

Masahiro Tanaka Rumors: Friday

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Let's round up the day's rumblings on Masahiro Tanaka, who will have chosen his new club by this time next week:

  • Both Chicago organizations are real contenders for Tanaka, Dan Martin and Ken Davidoff of the New York Post wrote yesterday. An industry source says that the Cubs and White Sox have serious interest in the Japanese ace. Seven teams met with Tanaka during his trip to the U.S., the pair notes, though the Sox are the only ones to have publicly acknowledged a face-to-face. 
  • Those meetings have not yet resulted in feedback, according to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com (via Twitter). Teams had around an hour to pitch Tanaka, but have not heard back. "Nobody knows where they stand," says Sanchez.
  • The Cubs have withheld cash thus far in order to keep a sufficient war chest to make a real run at Tanaka, says Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. But with a "debt-strung, skittish-to-spend ownership," in Wittenmyer's words, the club may not be a real player in the sweepstakes. 
  • The Dodgers are actively involved in talks with Tanaka, reports Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. This report confirms what many had suspected (and the front office had indicated): the club will not be precluded from another massive investment after extending Clayton Kershaw. As Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com further reports, GM Ned Colletti has had discussions with Tanaka's reps at Excel Sports Management all week long. "We're still, first and foremost, concerned with the quality of the team we can put together, and adding it up comes second," said president Stan Kasten. "This is a long-term strategy of ours. After five or six or seven years, it will make a lot more sense than it does to people looking at today's snapshot."
  • For his part, MLB.com's Ken Gurnick is not so sure that Los Angeles will go all out for Tanaka, though it is interested if he values the chance to play on the West Coast and is "willing to make his decision on factors other than total financial package." But with interest that has been only "lukewarm at best," says Gurnick, the Dodgers would probably not look to win a bidding war absent intervention from the ownership group. A Hanley Ramirez extension is, in Gurnick's estimation, a higher priority for the L.A. brass.
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