OT - Yankees, Masahiro Tanaka agree to $155M, 7-year deal
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees and prized Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka agreed Wednesday to a $155 million, seven-year contract.
In addition to the deal with the pitcher, the Yankees must pay a $20 million fee to the Japanese team of the 25-year-old right-hander, the Rakuten Golden Eagles...
Big league teams had until Friday to reach an agreement with Tanaka, who was 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA last year as the Golden Eagles won the Japan Series title.
His agreement, first reported by Fox, allows him to terminate the deal after the 2017 season. Tanaka receives the highest contract for an international free agent and the fifth-largest deal for a pitcher, trailing only those of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw ($215 million), Detroit’s Justin Verlander ($180 million), Seattle’s Felix Hernandez ($175 million) and the Yankees’ CC Sabathia ($161 million under his original agreement with New York)...
http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2014/01/22/yankees-masahiro-tanaka-agree-to-155m-7-year-deal/
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:48 AM ^
January 22nd, 2014 at 3:20 PM ^
Cano left and Arod is suspended, meaning 2nd and 3rd are big holes. They're going to put Brian Roberts there at 2nd.
The infield needs to be improved. They certainly do have decent pitching, yes, but it's not the best. The Tigers rotation is still better.
Best case scenario is that the Yankees barely make the playoffs. Nothing is a lock.
January 22nd, 2014 at 3:27 PM ^
January 22nd, 2014 at 3:43 PM ^
Don't forget about McCann. They got zero production from catcher last year.
January 22nd, 2014 at 3:38 PM ^
I think Johnson splits time at 1st and 3rd, depending on what they get from Tex. I think shortstop is the biggest question mark right now depending on Jeter's health. His range was bad and getting worse, but he doesn't boot the ball every other play like Nunez. I'm not sure what they will do with all their outfielders. I wonder if Soriano could make a move back to the infield since he is probably the worst defensive outfielder they have and really wasn't bad at 2nd, even though that was however many years ago.
January 22nd, 2014 at 1:29 PM ^
If you ain't first you're last...
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^
$25 mil/yr (including the $20 M Japanese payout) for an MLB unproven pitcher....that's a hell of a risk. Stats are good but better batters and pressure of NYC might be rough. Hope the best for the guy, always like to see new phenoms a la Puig develop.
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:24 AM ^
I agree it's a risk, but have you seen some of the money teams are spending on guys who have already proven they can't pitch in the big leagues? At least this guy has potential to be great. I think there is a real lack of quality pitching these days. Maybe PED testing is hurting more than power hitters?
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:30 AM ^
plus not sure how they manage to subvert the "soft" salary cap of the Luxury tax. They just must have money to burn.
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:34 AM ^
January 22nd, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^
January 22nd, 2014 at 2:05 PM ^
I admittedly don't follow as closely as I used to, but it seems that there isn't as much quality depth. Some teams are still loaded, but most have a significant drop off from their #1 to #2 or #2 to #3 starters instead of further down the rotation. Also, look at the money being spent on pitchers that are marginal at best in this year's free agent market. The Yankees are spending 16 million on Kuroda, who had an 11-13 record last year, because there isn't anyone better available.
January 22nd, 2014 at 2:08 PM ^
No, actually I wish that I would have at least tried pitching in little league but at the time I though hitting was way cooler and didn't give a shit about throwing the ball. Stupid 8-year old version of myself.
January 22nd, 2014 at 1:14 PM ^
Thanks to A-rod for picking up the first year of the K for the Yankees.
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^
Great! We needed a boost to our rotation. Having Kuroda and Ichiro on the team should help smooth the transition for him. The Yankees are becoming the Mariners of the East with all these Japanese players. It's nice to see the front office go after someone under 30!! Best of luck to Tanaka.
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^
He's the greatest thing since Dice-K, money well spent.
January 22nd, 2014 at 12:30 PM ^
did you forget about Yu Darvish?
January 22nd, 2014 at 12:49 PM ^
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:28 AM ^
Why have they been letting FA's like Cano walk so they can get under the tax line, and then take on a big contract which makes it impossible to get under said tax line? This would make a lot more sense if they had been spending money the last two years.
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^
They offered Cano a contract; 7 years 175 million. He said he was disrespected by the Yankees because of the contract length and signed with Seattle.
January 22nd, 2014 at 12:21 PM ^
I'm not sure I'd consider it letting him walk. Cano got a ridiculous contract from Seattle. Even if you have all the money in the world, there has to be a limit. 10 yr contract for a 31 yr old is that limit. The Yanks offered him more per year but wouldn't go above 7 years (if memory serves me correctly). Seems very prudent to me.
And was there anyone worth a big contract last year that the Yankess passed on? I can't recall any big time free agents. Raphael Soriano - who wasn't worth $14MM per year as an 8th inning guy? Zack Greinke? Hamilton? Neither would fit well in NY
January 22nd, 2014 at 12:48 PM ^
January 22nd, 2014 at 1:53 PM ^
And look what's happened to the last "proven" player they gave a 10 yr contract.
Edit: And I'm also guessing the Yankess are hoping he does opt out or at least viewing the potential as not the worst thing in the world, because that means he outpitched the $22MM per year he's getting and most likely the add'l $20MM posting fee. Plus he didn't cost any prospects, not like the Yanks have many of those.
January 22nd, 2014 at 2:54 PM ^
Without looking up the full list, I do know the the Yanks have been pinching pennies lately. They have let several decent pieces walk lately, such as Swisher, instead of resigning them. It would make more sense if they were sticking to a plan, like say, getting under the tax or getting younger. They just seem like a ship with no rudder.
January 22nd, 2014 at 3:18 PM ^
The only people they let walk without making competitive offers were Soriano, Swisher and Russell Martin. Swisher was 0 for his life in the postseason (19-for-123 in 34 playoff games with 34 SOs over four postseasons) so there was no way they were paying him $15MM per year. Soriano would've been vastly overpaid as an 8th inning man (as he was before he opted out). You an argue that they cheaped out on Martin but he's not a huge prize, batted .226 last year with 15 HRs.
January 22nd, 2014 at 3:26 PM ^
I liked Swisher but the Yankees were smart to let him walk, his game is not worth 56 million over 4 years.
Swisher is your regular switch hitting power bat who hits for a low average and strikes out a lot.
At 31 it's a big gamble to give that kind of money to a player who is useless once his power starts to go.
Even with all of that, the Yankees probably would have paid him if he wasn't one of the worst postseason hitters to play the game over the last 10 years.
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:29 AM ^
Someone should tell the Yanks this guy is no Steve Nebraska.
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:35 AM ^
Hideki Irabu.
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:53 AM ^
The video clip embed gift that keeps on giving!
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:59 AM ^
Mr White's humble beginnings
January 22nd, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^
Even before he lost his license to practice dentistry (in the days when he called himself Tim Whatley), Walter White was planning for Heisenberg.
January 22nd, 2014 at 12:24 PM ^
He knew immediately to call his old friend, "Dr. Ben", the other man he knew who'd lost his professional license. Good thing that "Dr. Ben" changed his name to Saul Goodman, became a criminal defense lawyer and and moved from New York to New Mexico.
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:29 AM ^
I'd hate the entire AL East. I hope the Yankees fall flat on their face with this one.
January 22nd, 2014 at 11:59 AM ^
It's almost as if the entertainment he will provide won't match up with his high salary... almost.
January 22nd, 2014 at 12:02 PM ^
January 22nd, 2014 at 12:56 PM ^
What should he have gotten?
January 22nd, 2014 at 12:24 PM ^
Probably overpaid but now they have a legit rotation with 2-3 top of the rotation type pitchers and can probably get that money back just from the Japanese market with Tanaka, Kuroda and Ichiro (assuming he isn't released).
January 22nd, 2014 at 12:37 PM ^
January 22nd, 2014 at 1:09 PM ^
With no arm in the system even close to making it up, they had to do it.
Right now the Yankees rotation is a 33 year old CC Sabathia, coming off one of the worst seasons of his career.
They have Nova, who can pitch well but struggles with consistency and probably isn't one of your top-3 starters.
Kuroda is 38 and is coming off an up and down season.
Phelps has never thrown over 100 innings in his major league career.
Michael Pineda is an All-Star caliber pitcher who tore his labrum and hasn't thrown in the majors since 2011.
January 22nd, 2014 at 1:35 PM ^
pitched in the US and has already thrown a TON of pitches in his career. As a long suffering Cubs fan, I was hopefuly they might get him, but not at that money, and especially not with an opt out clause. Hopefully he stinks it up with the Yanks.
January 22nd, 2014 at 2:13 PM ^
...I can honestly say that the Yankees don't scare me in the least. In fact, I almost hope they do make the playoffs.
January 22nd, 2014 at 4:13 PM ^
Sounds like you're pretty sure the Tigers will be there.
January 22nd, 2014 at 3:39 PM ^
It's ok everyone they still have Brian Roberts/Scott Sizemore trolling 2nd in a game of, "who gets injured first" and they're filling the hole A-Rod left with Kelly Johnson...