Masahiro Tanaka signs with the New York Yankees

The 25-year-old Tanaka inked a seven-year, $155 million contract in January, and expectations are sure to be huge. The deal is the largest ever given to an international player, and, coupled with Tanaka’s impressive numbers in Japan (24-0, 1.27 ERA) and the pressures of pitching in New York, fans surely have high hopes for the right-hander. However, Cashman’s comments on ESPN Radio aimed to temper those expectations (via Marchand):

Cashman, via Marchand:

Has he alone taken them from weak spot to strength? Let’s take a look, keeping in mind that we’re taking into account the rotations as they are today, knowing full well additions are likely to be made for some. It’s also important to note that depth beyond the starting five is pertinent to the rankings.

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Although, it’s possible that the Yankees could have been able to spend the money a little more wisely, avoiding situations like this:

Jim Callis of MLB.com says he would rank Tanaka among the ten best prospects in baseball entering 2014, and Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild is obviously bullish on Tanaka as well, identifying his four-pitch mix, arm strength, and tenacity on the mound as big points in his favor. Scouts also raved to David Waldstein of the New York Times about Tanaka:

Tanaka agreed to the club’s seven-year, $155 million offer after months of speculation and the courtship of several major league teams. He said he was “relieved” that the negotiations were over, and is looking forward to taking the field as a Yankee.

Through an interpreter, Tanaka expressed a desire to help the Yankees “become World Champions,” and that he intended to let his play do most of the talking.

It should be noted that neither Irabu nor Igawa had numbers anything like Tanaka’s. Still, each was highly touted in his own way, and their crashing on takeoff should serve as a warning that success in Japan does not automatically predicate success here.

By now you’re probably as sick as I am of hearing pundits pontificate on Tanaka’s stuff, his pitches, his workload, and how he compares to Yu Darvish. That he has signed only means that we now know where and in what color uniform he’ll begin to answer those questions. If some of the evaluations are correct and Tanaka is more of a command-exploiting Kuroda than a Darvish, well, consider that Kuroda himself, 39 years old this year and coming off a 6.56 ERA in the final quarter of the season, re-signed for $16 million. The marginal cost of signing Tanaka, then, of a pitcher who stands a good chance of throwing 200 innings with a 3.30 ERA, then, is about $5 million a season, and that seems fair given that Tanaka is 14 years younger.

Of course, the Yankees weren’t the only team hoping to sign Tanaka. Over a third of major league teams had shown at least a cursory interest in signing him, but a handful stood above the rest and went toe-to-toe with the Yankees in bidding for the Japanese ace. Here is a look at each of those teams and what they might do now that they lost out on Tanaka.

As with any team’s rotation there is room for improvement, but the Dodgers likely won’t feel like they must make a new acquisition. However, that doesn’t mean they still won’t look for someone to more fully round out the rotation. Reportedly Los Angeles might now prefer a short-term veteran starter were they to sign someone else. The club might become an ideal landing spot for Bronson Arroyo, who has been looking for a three-year contract this offseason.

Prized Japanese free-agent pitcher Masahiro Tanaka has agreed to a deal with the New York Yankees, according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.

Tanaka received the fifth-largest contract signed by a pitcher in MLB history without ever throwing a pitch in the league. The Yankees will pay him $155 million over the next seven seasons, though Tanaka has an opt-out clause after the fourth year that could allow him to elect free agency sooner.

Stark also reports that Tanaka took a physical while he was in Los Angeles earlier this month. The physical was confirmed by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.

Every team courting the 25-year-old right-hander has received the results of his Jan. 9 physical, though the team that wins his services may opt to have its own team doctors examine him.

Update: Masahiro Tanaka has reportedly agreed to a contract with the Yankees.

The star Japanese pitcher is supposed to be the next big thing. He’s 25 years old and put up video game numbers with the Rakuten Golden Eagles. He’s also about to get paid very handsomely -- Tanaka has received offers for over $100 million from at least five teams already. Many teams have been pursuing him. Here is where they stand at the moment:

Then, finally, someone came in with an actual translation. What Tanaka actually said was “Can’t decide,” which is the total opposite of what everybody first thought. Tanaka wasn’t even talking about baseball in his tweet. No, what Tanaka was actually referring to was what fan-nominated picture he would use as his Twitter avatar.

I’d like to think Tanaka knew what he was doing and just wanted to rile up English-speakers eagerly awaiting his signing with a MLB team. He has three more days to come to an agreement and that’s probably a good thing. Any longer than that and who knows what mistranslations people will come up with.

Tanaka is far and away the hottest commodity left on the market and is rumored to have received offers exceeding $100 million from five different teams, the Cubs among them. The teams do not know the nature of the other teams’ offers, but Levine sites sources saying that the Cubs are strong players.

Jeff Samardzija’s future could also depend on what happens with Tanaka. If the Cubs are able to lure Tanaka to the North Side, Samardzija could feel more confident in the team’s future and be more amenable to signing a long-term extension. He is scheduled to reach free agency after the 2015 season.

Tanaka isn’t fully a free agent, but for all intents and purposes he can be treated like one. After months of negotiations, MLB and Nippon Pro Baseball agreed to a new posting system that would allow a player to negotiate with any MLB team they want. If a deal is struck, the signing team must pay the player’s Japanese team a set release fee not exceeding $20 million. That resulted in weeks of “will they or won’t they” as to whether Tanaka’s Japanese club, the Rakuten Golden Eagles, would actually post him. Under the old system, the team had the potential to earn nearly $100 million based on rumors of what the high posting bid would be.

The Tanaka excitement is reaching a boiling point. Soon he will sign and will receive media attention like he has never seen before. Tens of millions will watch his first major league game. Hordes of media personnel will be following him all season long, Japanese and American alike. Tanaka-mania will sweep baseball.

The Diamondbacks are said to have made an offer of 12 billion yen, or roughly $115 million dollars to the right-hander. Tanaka, who was posted by the Rakuten Eagles on Dec. 26, has until 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 24 to agree to a contract with an MLB team. The winning team must pay a $20 million release fee to his former NPB team.

Tanaka was 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA and led Rakuten to a win in the Japan Series in 2013, getting the save in the deciding Game 7 one night after throwing 160 pitches in a start in Game 6. Tanaka, 25, was 99-35 with a 2.30 ERA in seven years in the NPB with 1,238 strikeouts in 1,315 innings.

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Tanaka has reportedly expressed an interest to sign with a club in New York, Los Angeles, or Boston, but the Cubs remain involved in the bidding war for his services.

The team isn’t considered a serious contender for 2014, but Tanaka could be a draw for fans next season, and more importantly, he could be the cornerstone for their rotation over the next few seasons as their prospects reach the majors.

It’s also not as if the Dodgers lack space for Tanaka. Right now, their fifth starter is a mix of Josh Beckett and Chad Billingsley. Billingsley had Tommy John surgery after throwing all of two innings in 2013, and he should be ready fairly early this season, but whether that’s a positive or not is up for debate. Billingsley was a better pitcher earlier in his career, but from 2009 through 2012, his ERA+ was exactly 100, and he averaged 181 innings per season. That’s a good pitcher, there is no arguing that, but he’s up-and-down and absolutely replaceable if the Dodgers can get someone like Tanaka to do the replacing.

Tanaka fits the Dodgers two-part plan in which they spend everything that needs to be spent while they rebuild the farm system. All he costs is money, much like Kershaw and Greinke, and that’s something the Dodgers have plenty of, and, more importantly, don’t mind parting with. He makes more sense in this plan than David Price would, and while the Dodgers might not ultimately ink Tanaka, they have an opportunity to try. It’s a good time to be a Dodgers’ fan if they are truly intent on both responsibility on the farm and pumping dollars into the major-league product, and even if Tanaka doesn’t end up in Dodger blue, at least you know Kershaw isn’t going anywhere.

The Dodgers still have interest in Masahiro Tanaka and Bronson Arroyo, even after reaching a record-setting deal with Clayton Kershaw on Wednesday, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports.

Dodgers management has remained mum on Tanaka thus far, though reports have indicated that any Tanaka move would be an “ownership decision.” Stan Kasten did suggest that the pending Kershaw deal wouldn’t necessarily have an impact on any other contract, per the LA Times’ Bill Shaikin. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports agreed saying:

And all this for a player who has never faced major league competition. Still, it’s hard not to see why teams are enamored with Tanaka. In 2013, he started 27 games for Rakuten and pitched in relief in one more. He posted a 1.27 ERA and 0.94 WHIP with 183 strikeouts in 212 innings. He has maintained an ERA under 2.00 each of the last three years and at or below 2.50 for the last five. Tanaka averaged nearly eight innings per start in 2013, has a mid 90s fastball and has been said to have one of the best splitters in the world. And at 25 years old, he still has plenty of room to grow.

With Tanaka’s scouting reports, stats in Japan, age, and Darvish’s success in America, plenty of teams have at least looked into him. With ten days remaining, and shortly after teams met with Tanaka in Los Angeles, here is where they stand:

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow didn’t directly address the team’s interest in the Japanese right-hander, but did offer some commentary to Ortiz regarding the situation:

Whether or not that means the Astros are truly in the mix for Tanaka remains to be seen, but as Ortiz notes, the team did bid $60 million for the services of another highly sought-after international free-agent, Jose Dariel Abreu, earlier this offseason. Houston’s payroll is expected to increase by nearly $10 million over their Opening Day mark from last season, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, and it doesn’t appear the team is shy about adding a few more dollars onto that number.

Tanaka has been the most highly-desired pitcher on the market this offseason after a highly successful career with the Rakuten Golden Eagles in Nippon Pro Baseball. From a fiscal point of view, he is fortunate that his move to America comes at a time when the posting rules have changed to better benefit the player and several top-spending teams all need a top pitcher.

Meanwhile, rumor has it that Tanaka’s wife would prefer to live on the west coast, seemingly making the Dodgers favorites. However, great gobs of money have been known to change people’s minds and open them up to living elsewhere.

It has been expected Tanaka will sign a contract worth over $100 million. He has been seeking a deal worth around $17 million a year and with the teams involved, there is a chance he could eclipse even that. Any team that does sign him must also pay a $20 million release fee to the Rakuten Golden Eagles, whom Tanaka played for in Japan.

Tanaka must come to an agreement with an MLB team by the afternoon of Jan. 24 or he will be required to return to Japan for another year.

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Or maybe they won’t:

Tanaka has until Jan. 24 to sign with a major league club. The Dodgers’ current ownership hasn’t been afraid to spend over the last two years, but with over $200 million already committed for 2014 and a Kershaw extension that could set a record in the offing, it makes sense that they might at least pause before throwing their entire stack of chips at Kershaw. Add in that Tanaka’s real value, despite his dominance in Japan, is unknown and you have a reason to spend, but not beyond some reasonable limit.

The Cubs aren’t a team that is expected to contend in 2014, but with loads of top-end talent coming up through their farm system, they could be serious contenders within the next couple of seasons. The Cubs have plenty of financial leeway and given that Tanaka is only 25-years-old, he would still be expected to be in his prime during a Cubs championship window.

Reports indicate that Tanaka is looking for a deal worth at least $17 million per season over at least six years, which means whichever team wins the bidding will be making something like a $140 million commitment to the right-handed hurler after factoring in the $20 million posting fee. There are never any guarantees, but the scouting reports on Tanaka are glowing and his 2.30 ERA in 1315 innings and 4.5 to 1 K/BB ratio in Japan make him a very attractive commodity as the rest of starting pitching market is underwhelming, with two of the best also tied to losing a draft pick.

The D-backs aren’t willing to discuss the finer points of the strategy they plan to use in wooing Tanaka away from his major-market suitors, but there is a plan in place.

The 25-year-old right hander has been mystifying Nippon League hitters since 2007. In addition to his often-cited 2.30 career ERA and 99-35 record, Tanaka has posted similar a similar strikeout rate to former NPB ace Yu Darvish. The two players don’t compare to one another particularly well -- Tanaka’s strikeout numbers in the majors aren’t expected to be historical, as Darvish’s have been -- but in punching out 8.5 batters per nine innings, Tanaka has nearly matched Darvish K-rate of 8.9 over a similar NPB timeline.