Masahiro Tanaka has narrowed his choice of agent down to Casey Close, Arn Tellem and Mark Pieper per a Yahoo! Japan report.
Masahiro Tanaka narrows choice of agent, per report
The potential Japanese import narrowed his choice down to three agents
This Tanaka news follows on the heels of a report that an official decision on his posting could come in the next three to five days.
Close currently heads up the baseball division of Excel Sports Management and has since he departed CAA in 2011. For those speculating on possible destinations for Tanaka based on the agent he chooses, Close represents baseballing luminaries Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira of the New York Yankees and Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
You may be familiar with Tellem from his previous experience in bringing Japanese players to MLB. Recently, he teamed up with Don Nomura to negotiate Yu Darvish's six-year, $60 million deal with the Texas Rangers. Reaching further back, he discovered the voluntary retirement loophole in Hideo Nomo's contract that allowed him to leave Japan and sign with the Dodgers. Tellem's biggest contracts include Jason Giambi's seven-year, $120 million deal with the Yankees, and Chase Utley's seven-year, $85 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Pieper is CEO of SFX sports agency, a part of Relativity Sports. Relativity holds numerous clients, including names such as Daisuke Matsuzaka and Koji Uehara who have come over from Japan.
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