Fansided

Masahiro Tanaka officially posted by Japanese club

By Patrick Schmidt

Dec 11, 2013; Orlando, FL, USA; Rakuten Golden Eagles president Yozo Tachibana (right) walks through the lobby during the MLB Winter Meetings at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. Tachibana has not decided whether or not to allow Masahiro Tanaka (not pictured) to sign with a MLB team now that Nippon Professional Baseball and the MLB have agreed on a $20 Million maximum posting bid. Mandatory Credit: David Manning-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 11, 2013; Orlando, FL, USA; Rakuten Golden Eagles president Yozo Tachibana (right) walks through the lobby during the MLB Winter Meetings at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. Tachibana has not decided whether or not to allow Masahiro Tanaka (not pictured) to sign with a MLB team now that Nippon Professional Baseball and the MLB have agreed on a $20 Million maximum posting bid. Mandatory Credit: David Manning-USA TODAY Sports /
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Masahiro Tanaka
Dec 11, 2013; Orlando, FL, USA; Rakuten Golden Eagles president Yozo Tachibana (right) walks through the lobby during the MLB Winter Meetings at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. Tachibana has not decided whether or not to allow Masahiro Tanaka (not pictured) to sign with a MLB team now that Nippon Professional Baseball and the MLB have agreed on a $20 Million maximum posting bid. Mandatory Credit: David Manning-USA TODAY Sports /

Japanese right-handed starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka has officially has been posted by his Nippon Professional Baseball club, the Rakuten Golden Eagles, late Tuesday night that it will make him available to MLB teams through the posting system, according to the New York Daily News.

Tanaka went 24-0 with a 1.27 while leading his club to the Japan Series Title and is expected to command the maximum $20 million from clubs interested in signing the 25-year-old pitcher with a 99-35 career record and 2.30 ERA in seven seasons.

Teams that figure to be interested in the potential ace include the usual big-market suspects, The New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Boston Red Sox.

His Japanese club had toyed with the idea of giving Tanaka a considerable bump in salary rather than put him up for posting.

"“We told him he is very important to us and we’d like him to stay,” team president Yozo Tachibana said last week following Tanaka’s news conference, during which the pitcher informed the Golden Eagles that he wanted them to allow him to “test his abilities” in the majors."

Tanaka should be worth every last cent accorging to this scouting report from Baseball America’s Ben Badler:

:Several teams see Tanaka, 25, as a pitcher who can immediately step in as a frontline starter, with a fastball up to 96 mph, a devastating splitter and a slider that was inconsistent this season but flashed above-average at times.”

The next big thing has arrived and Tanaka could be coming to a town near you.

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