Los Angeles Dodgers could become major players in Masahiro Tanaka sweepstakes

Japanese starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka is starting to pick up a lot of attention from teams looking to add a solid starter to their rotation.

Of course the teams interested so far are ones who have been able to reach the playoffs in the last couple of seasons. No idea why Tanaka would want to sign with an organization who hasn’t been to the playoffs in awhile, but you never know.

For awhile the New York Yankees looked like they would possibly be the front runners for this 24 year old right handed pitcher from Itami, Hyogo, Japan, but the Dodgers are slowly pulling ahead of them.

If the Los Angeles Dodgers were able to bring in Tanaka, he would surely be the number two pitcher behind Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw and the Dodgers are currently looking into a long term contract extension along with Hanley Ramirez.

So if the team has that much money to throw around, why not bring in a pitcher who just went 24-0 with one save (?) and see what this kid can do against Major League hitters. Look at Yu Darvish, he’s one of the most dominating Japanese pitcher this league has seen in awhile.

Tanaka’s fast ball tops at around 97 miles per hour and has been working on his off-speed pitchers to bring in more ground balls.

He was also apart of the Gold medal winning Japanese team in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Where was the championship held that season?

Dodgers Stadium.