Yankees Sign Masahiro Tanaka

[Tracer Bullet]

speaking of staffs, sign Tanaka, please.

 

speaking of "aka, please" i would also like a thesaurus for christmas so i can learn new words to use when being politte

 

greedy little guy, aren't you

[imb]

speaking of staffs, sign Tanaka, please.

 

speaking of staffs i have a boner

[NOLA]

http://i.imgur.com/6UKuo.gif

[Fro]

hope we can at least drive the bidding up to something crazy.

 

You'd have to think Tanaka would sell some jerseys and put some butts in seats when he's pitching at Wrigley.

[Guest]

I'd love to see the Cubs get this guy even though I think the price will be too high. He's almost exactly what they said they would target. If he's in NY or LA he's just another "guy", he could be a star in Chicago.

[davell]

I really think it's going to take us coming out of our comfort zone to sign him. Meaning we'll likely have to be willing to give him a shorter deal(4 years, then FA), which was the sticking point on Cespedes and why we didn't get him and also possibly giving him a NTC, while we're supposedly against them. I also think we'll have to OUTBID, not just match, other teams, due to them being closer to contention or already contending. If we HAVE the ability though, he's a must get, in my mind. If it's 4/100, plus the posting fee, in order to get him? Do it.

 

I'll guess Seattle gets him though, Japanese ownership, making splashes, looking for a bigtime SP, etc.....Just makes sense to me.

[Gmoney08]

ESPN's Buster Olney reports that other teams in Japan are considering giving the Rakuten Golden Eagles money to make up for their diminished posting fee of Masahiro Tanaka.

That's apparently how badly the rival clubs want to see Tanaka out of town. Rakuten to this point has said they're unsure whether to accept the $20 million posting fee for Tanaka or just hang on to him. Ultimately, the Japanese right-hander should be posted.

 

I wonder if we can send the Cardinals some cash to make their pitching staff disappear to Japan?

[CubsWin]

I really think it's going to take us coming out of our comfort zone to sign him. Meaning we'll likely have to be willing to give him a shorter deal(4 years, then FA), which was the sticking point on Cespedes and why we didn't get him and also possibly giving him a NTC, while we're supposedly against them. I also think we'll have to OUTBID, not just match, other teams, due to them being closer to contention or already contending. If we HAVE the ability though, he's a must get, in my mind. If it's 4/100, plus the posting fee, in order to get him? Do it.

 

I'll guess Seattle gets him though, Japanese ownership, making splashes, looking for a bigtime SP, etc.....Just makes sense to me.

Yeah, I see Seattle as the front runner as well. But if there ever was a guy that could get this Cubs FO to forget their principles, it's Tanaka.

[Fro]

I'll guess Seattle gets him though, Japanese ownership, making splashes, looking for a bigtime SP, etc.....Just makes sense to me.

 

Seattle doesn't really have Japanese ownership that's interested in the Mariners at all beyond keeping the team in the area.

 

Hiroshi Yamauchi passed away earlier this year (the majority owner and President of Nintendo for 50+ years), but he never attended a game, even when the team played in Japan.

 

I'm pretty sure Howard Lincoln who acts as the owner of the team on behalf of Nintendo of America knows some Japanese but that's not going to be a factor. The leadership of Nintendo over in Japan have too many other fires to put out at the moment to get involved personally in courting Tanaka.

[A New Era]

Come on man. I got a good vibe about this guy. Theo needs to land this tosser.

 

I've got a "vibe" too. And I'm using it now.

[Guest]

FWIW:

 

I'm fully convinced the Cubs will not be outbid on Tanaka. Much like Abreu, all offers are likely to be within 5-7M of each other, just simply going to come down to where he wants to pitch...

[UK1679666180]

FWIW:

 

I'm fully convinced the Cubs will not be outbid on Tanaka. Much like Abreu, all offers are likely to be within 5-7M of each other, just simply going to come down to where he wants to pitch...

 

In all seriousness, what incentive would he have to come here compared to other markets (assuming bidding is similar)?

 

I must've missed the Fukudome mania minus some racist shirts and bandanas.

[jersey cubs fan]

FWIW:

 

I'm fully convinced the Cubs will not be outbid on Tanaka. Much like Abreu, all offers are likely to be within 5-7M of each other, just simply going to come down to where he wants to pitch...

 

In all seriousness, what incentive would he have to come here compared to other markets (assuming bidding is similar)?

 

I must've missed the Fukudome mania minus some racist shirts and bandanas.

No pressure to win?

[CubsWin]

FWIW:

 

I'm fully convinced the Cubs will not be outbid on Tanaka. Much like Abreu, all offers are likely to be within 5-7M of each other, just simply going to come down to where he wants to pitch...

 

In all seriousness, what incentive would he have to come here compared to other markets (assuming bidding is similar)?

 

I must've missed the Fukudome mania minus some racist shirts and bandanas.

No pressure to win?

Being a part of the team that ended the longest championship drought in sports history?

[SouthSideRyan]

FWIW:

 

I'm fully convinced the Cubs will not be outbid on Tanaka. Much like Abreu, all offers are likely to be within 5-7M of each other, just simply going to come down to where he wants to pitch...

 

In all seriousness, what incentive would he have to come here compared to other markets (assuming bidding is similar)?

 

I must've missed the Fukudome mania minus some racist shirts and bandanas.

No pressure to win?

Being a part of the team that ended the longest championship drought in sports history?

 

I can't imagine most US players give much of a [expletive] about that, let alone a Japanese import, let alone to a team who is terrible.

[Guest]

i had a dream we signed Tanaka and at his PC, he was speaking the most indecipherable, painful attempt at english ever and no one would stop him and it just kept going on and on.

 

he was, at one point, just making sounds that he thought sounded like english.

[Guest]

i had a dream we signed Tanaka and at his PC, he was speaking the most indecipherable, painful attempt at english ever and no one would stop him and it just kept going on and on.

 

he was, at one point, just making sounds that he thought sounded like english.

Were you looking into a fire while you were dreaming?

 

R'hllor works in mysterious ways.

[CubsWin]

In all seriousness, what incentive would he have to come here compared to other markets (assuming bidding is similar)?

 

I must've missed the Fukudome mania minus some racist shirts and bandanas.

No pressure to win?

Being a part of the team that ended the longest championship drought in sports history?

 

I can't imagine most US players give much of a [expletive] about that, let alone a Japanese import, let alone to a team who is terrible.

I can. It's as much of a valid reason as "wearing the Yankee pinstripes". After the money, the selling points get very subjective. Who knows what teams Tanaka has rooted for/followed closely in the past. But the Cubs have a very loyal following all over the world. It's just as good a reason as any of the other crazy reasons out there. Eloy Jimenez reportedly got offered more money by another team, Yankees if I recall correctly, and he turned it down because his favorite player growing up was Sammy Sosa.

[ctcf]

So wait, are we now back at "he won't be posted"? This is exhausting.

[RynoRules]

This will be the new Brian Roberts thread. Drunk girls in bars are more decisive.

[ctcf]

This will be the new Brian Roberts thread. Drunk girls in bars are more decisive.

 

Nah, this will be resolved pretty soon.

 

The latest:

 

Craig Calcaterra @craigcalcaterra

Report: Rakuten will not allow Masahiro Tanaka come to the United States hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/12/19/rep… via @HardballTalk

 

Wonder what will happen to the Samardzija market in the wake of this.

[Little Slide Rooter]

In related news, Matt Garza just pumped his fist.

[ctcf]

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 18m

GM: “Bizarre news on Rakuten. Not sure I buy it.” Reference is to Rakuten’s reported decision not to post Tanaka. No official word yet.

 

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Fro]

Basically Sports Hochi in Japan is reporting he won't be posted, the other newspapers in Japan think he probably will be posted. The news is basically a day old.

 

http://yakyubaka.com/2013/12/18/12182013-rakuten-eagles-masahiro-tanaka-prepared-to-stay-if-he-has-to/

http://yakyubaka.com/2013/12/19/12192013-rakuten-eagles-coud-offer-masahiro-tanaka-800-million-yen-for-2014/

[Guest]

Oh God... Kyle is harassing Sharma now