The NY Yankees are waiting with anticipation as Masahiro Tanaka makes his decision about where to pitch next season and they are in contention to sign the young star along with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Angels and Chicago Cubs and the 30-day deadline for him to sign is coming up and he could end up with over $100 million in his contract.
According to ESPN.com and the Sporting News, the Yankees along with the Dodgers, Angels and Cubs are the current frontrunners and it would be a surprise if another team jumped into that mix this late in the negotiations. Multiple reports had the Dodgers as the team likely to sign Tanaka after they said they wouldn't be outbid, but after the Clayton Kershaw signing and news that the Yankees are in the same boat, LA could decide to sit this one out after giving Kershaw the biggest pitcher contract ever.
The 25-year-old star went 24-0 last season with just a 1.27 ERA on the year and now he will move to the United State and the MLB and comes after names like Yu Darvish, Hisashi Iwakuma and Hiroki Kuroda have been very successful in the league. The first two mentioned there made it as Cy Young finalists last season and many see Tanaka as another name that could be just as good, although some scouts have concern about his arm, as Japanese pitchers are worked harder than American pitchers when they are younger.
Tanaka is expected to get a contract around six years for over $100 million and this comes after he tossed 160 pitchers in the Japan Series on his way to pitching his team to a championship. Wednesday is the likely day for a decision and the actual deadline is Friday at 5 pm and along with the teams mentioned, others like the Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks are said to be interested and have made offers. The Yankees would love to snag Tanaka to keep their rotation steady into next season and it also keeps open the Japanese fan stream to the Yankees, as they have had Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki and Kuroda on the team over the past few years and that has boosted their popularity in the nation.