Report: Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka will be posted

We heard that the Rakuten Golden Eagles might hand down a decision on whether not to post starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka right around Christmas. Sure enough, it is the evening on Christmas Eve and multiple Japanese reports say that the Golden Eagles will indeed post Tanaka.

Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times was the first to pass on the reports:

Hernandez is the beat writer for the Los Angeles Dodgers. While he says it is unclear whether or not the Dodgers will be in the mix, one has to assume that, given the way things have gone under their new ownership, they will be happy to splash around and see if they can land the big starting pitching target of this year’s free agency. Other teams rumored to be interested include the New York Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks (among others).

It will cost any interested team the $20 million posting fee to negotiate with Tanaka. Once Tanaka does cash in, the rest of the starting pitching market should then take shape.