Yankees Sign Masahiro Tanaka

[Banedon]

So I don't use Twitter at all (shocker), and as an outsider it seems like every single "insider" or analyst tweet that is posted here is ripped to shreds by some people as being from someone who is wrong or unreliable or makes things up, etc., etc.. Who SHOULD I pay attention to when it comes to stuff like this?

 

With football and hockey, but with baseball, it's a lot harder to say. Seems like there's just overall a lot more rumor-mongering and "inside info" that turns out to be wrong. Buster Olney maybe?

[jersey cubs fan]

So I don't use Twitter at all (shocker), and as an outsider it seems like every single "insider" or analyst tweet that is posted here is ripped to shreds by some people as being from someone who is wrong or unreliable or makes things up, etc., etc.. Who SHOULD I pay attention to when it comes to stuff like this?

 

With football and hockey, but with baseball, it's a lot harder to say. Seems like there's just overall a lot more rumor-mongering and "inside info" that turns out to be wrong. Buster Olney maybe?

 

Just go ahead and follow a handful of Chicago area media types, who will pass along anything of value anyway. Then use it to follow whatever peaks your interest outside of sports.

[USSoccer]

they've offered to purchase a penthouse in any borough of his chooseing that would, I believe, be offically Yanks property leased to him for a dollar or there abouts to save on taxes

There can't be any way MLB would let them get away with that. The IRS certainly won't.

That should be perfectly legal. Tanaka personally saves on taxes associated with the penthouse, but the Yankees would be on the hook for whatever taxes would be tied to it. So it's not like the IRS is missing out on anything, just getting it from the Yankees and not Tanaka. I would think housing arrangements similar to this aren't all that uncommon in sports.

Then it has to count against the cap. There's a reason we don't see NFL and NBA players living in team-owned housing, driving team-owned cars, etc. I don't believe MLB's luxury tax rules are written badly enough to allow it.

 

FWIW, this is very common in soccer in general, and with MLS in particular. Usually the low end earners end up living in apartments or condos subsidized and/or provided by the team. Its considered similar to how they look at a per diem.

[A New Era]

.. Edited January 21, 2014 by A New Era

[ConstableRabbit]

So I don't use Twitter at all (shocker), and as an outsider it seems like every single "insider" or analyst tweet that is posted here is ripped to shreds by some people as being from someone who is wrong or unreliable or makes things up, etc., etc.. Who SHOULD I pay attention to when it comes to stuff like this?

If I were you, I'd just treat the rumors like you do the minor leagues. Just wait until something happens that affects the MLB club.

[apete6]

I'm going on record that there's no way he picks the Cubs. It would all make too much sense. He'll go to the Yankees or Dodgers, dominate for 5-7 years and I'll hate every minute of it.

[Guest]

If you want legit, well-sourced info, Rosenthal and I guess Mooney are your best bets. After that, other beat/national guys and maybe Arguello. After that, if you enjoy rumor stuff in general, abty and loxas. If you hate yourself, Wittenmyer, Kaplan, and Nightingale.

[Banedon]

If you want legit, well-sourced info, Rosenthal and I guess Mooney are your best bets. After that, other beat/national guys and maybe Arguello. After that, if you enjoy rumor stuff in general, abty and loxas. If you hate yourself, Wittenmyer, Kaplan, and Nightingale.

 

Ah, yeah...Rosenthal is one I should've mentioned for sure.

[jersey cubs fan]

FWIW, this is very common in soccer in general, and with MLS in particular. Usually the low end earners end up living in apartments or condos subsidized and/or provided by the team. Its considered similar to how they look at a per diem.

 

But you are talking about putting up the average Joes in typical bare bones condos, while Tanaka will probably be put into a unit that would rent for $25k/month or even much more.

[Hawk4Hall]

I'm going on record that there's no way he picks the Cubs. It would all make too much sense. He'll go to the Yankees or Dodgers, dominate for 5-7 years and I'll hate every minute of it.

Or he will come here and be terrible. :(

[Cubswin11]

they've offered to purchase a penthouse in any borough of his chooseing that would, I believe, be offically Yanks property leased to him for a dollar or there abouts to save on taxes

There can't be any way MLB would let them get away with that. The IRS certainly won't.

That should be perfectly legal. Tanaka personally saves on taxes associated with the penthouse, but the Yankees would be on the hook for whatever taxes would be tied to it. So it's not like the IRS is missing out on anything, just getting it from the Yankees and not Tanaka. I would think housing arrangements similar to this aren't all that uncommon in sports.

Then it has to count against the cap. There's a reason we don't see NFL and NBA players living in team-owned housing, driving team-owned cars, etc. I don't believe MLB's luxury tax rules are written badly enough to allow it.

I meant it being perfectly legal from a tax/IRS standpoint. How MLB or other sports accounts for it I have no clue, but there's probably a way for teams to include stuff like this without having cap implications.

 

Players get stuff like this thrown in their contracts across all sports all the time, stuff like club memberships, suites on the road, airfare for personal use or fam/friends use, cars, etc. Do the value of those things typically count as payment to player and go against a contract value/cap, idk? Like if it's in a guys contract that he gets a $300k Ferrari does that count as additional $300k for his contract or is there a way that teams can give it to him without it being considered against a cap?

[USSoccer]

FWIW, this is very common in soccer in general, and with MLS in particular. Usually the low end earners end up living in apartments or condos subsidized and/or provided by the team. Its considered similar to how they look at a per diem.

 

But you are talking about putting up the average Joes in typical bare bones condos, while Tanaka will probably be put into a unit that would rent for $25k/month or even much more.

 

True. But so far as whatshisnames point was, it's not an unheard of arrangement, and MLS is a hard-capped league run by former NFL guys, so it must not be a big deal in terms of rules.

[apete6]

I'm going on record that there's no way he picks the Cubs. It would all make too much sense. He'll go to the Yankees or Dodgers, dominate for 5-7 years and I'll hate every minute of it.

Or he will come here and be terrible. :(

 

I could live with that a hell of a lot easier.

[Guest]

I'm going on record that there's no way he picks the Cubs. It would all make too much sense. He'll go to the Yankees or Dodgers, dominate for 5-7 years and I'll hate every minute of it.

Or he will come here and be terrible. :(

 

I could live with that a hell of a lot easier.

Which is funny, because him going elsewhere and being good is a better alternative for the Cubs than him coming here and being hurt or crappy.

[jersey cubs fan]

FWIW, this is very common in soccer in general, and with MLS in particular. Usually the low end earners end up living in apartments or condos subsidized and/or provided by the team. Its considered similar to how they look at a per diem.

 

But you are talking about putting up the average Joes in typical bare bones condos, while Tanaka will probably be put into a unit that would rent for $25k/month or even much more.

 

True. But so far as whatshisnames point was, it's not an unheard of arrangement, and MLS is a hard-capped league run by former NFL guys, so it must not be a big deal in terms of rules.

 

The bottom line is the $1000/month apartment for Johnny Backup can be accounted for rather easily in a cap. Leasing a condo that would rent for $35k/month for only $1 probably needs to be treated as an additional $35k/month of payment. But with that you are talking about $420k over a year.

[NOLA]

I'm going on record that there's no way he picks the Cubs. It would all make too much sense. He'll go to the Yankees or Dodgers, dominate for 5-7 years and I'll hate every minute of it.

Or he will come here and be terrible. :(

 

I could live with that a hell of a lot easier.

Which is funny, because him going elsewhere and being good is a better alternative for the Cubs than him coming here and being hurt or crappy.

Yeah, was thinking the same.

[apete6]

I'm going on record that there's no way he picks the Cubs. It would all make too much sense. He'll go to the Yankees or Dodgers, dominate for 5-7 years and I'll hate every minute of it.

Or he will come here and be terrible. :(

 

I could live with that a hell of a lot easier.

Which is funny, because him going elsewhere and being good is a better alternative for the Cubs than him coming here and being hurt or crappy.

Yeah, was thinking the same.

 

But at least they tried. It would give this season some intrigue and would help with my thoughts on ownership. Dumb, I know. Only becomes a real issue if it hamstrings them from making other moves in the future, which it could if the revenue streams don't get finalized.

[Guest]

Ah, that was supposed to mean "continued". Next tweet was:

 

@TyYoungfelt: Is ridiculous- thought tweet would get a rise- doesn't understand tweeting to 32K is different than his 78...my apologies...

 

The dude is pretty immature.

 

 

So, if I'm understanding it correctly, basically the first Tweet was his friend attempting to [expletive] with people because he thinks the Tanaka stuff is crazy. Next couple are him explaining that his drunk buddy Tweeted that. Allegedly.

[ConstableRabbit]

Ah, that was supposed to mean "continued". Next tweet was:

 

@TyYoungfelt: Is ridiculous- thought tweet would get a rise- doesn't understand tweeting to 32K is different than his 78...my apologies...

 

The dude is pretty immature.

 

 

So, if I'm understanding it correctly, basically the first Tweet was his friend attempting to [expletive] with people because he thinks the Tanaka stuff is crazy. Next couple are him explaining that his drunk buddy Tweeted that. Allegedly.

Yeah, trying to [expletive] with people by saying that today is Thursday in Japan. My only conclusion from this is that he was drunk. On a weeknight.

[Guest]

i imagine abty as a weirdo who knows 1 or 2 baseball people and constantly begs them for "inside information", then makes up the other 90% of it for attention.

[Guest]

Ah, that was supposed to mean "continued". Next tweet was:

 

@TyYoungfelt: Is ridiculous- thought tweet would get a rise- doesn't understand tweeting to 32K is different than his 78...my apologies...

 

The dude is pretty immature.

 

 

So, if I'm understanding it correctly, basically the first Tweet was his friend attempting to [expletive] with people because he thinks the Tanaka stuff is crazy. Next couple are him explaining that his drunk buddy Tweeted that. Allegedly.

Yeah, trying to [expletive] with people by saying that today is Thursday in Japan. My only conclusion from this is that he was drunk. On a weeknight.

 

The fact that the Tweet is completely nonsensical makes his story at least somewhat believable.

 

Trying to [expletive] with people by Tweeting a time by which the Tanaka decision would come...the part where it made no sense and the dates/times were all off being presumably owed to drunkenness.

[Guest]

And I see nothing wrong with being drunk on a weeknight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I was drunk last night)

[jersey cubs fan]

Ah, that was supposed to mean "continued". Next tweet was:

 

@TyYoungfelt: Is ridiculous- thought tweet would get a rise- doesn't understand tweeting to 32K is different than his 78...my apologies...

 

The dude is pretty immature.

 

 

So, if I'm understanding it correctly, basically the first Tweet was his friend attempting to [expletive] with people because he thinks the Tanaka stuff is crazy. Next couple are him explaining that his drunk buddy Tweeted that. Allegedly.

 

So this is the whole "my friend took my phone and tweeted that as a joke" taken to the most boring extreme.

[Guest]

Ah, that was supposed to mean "continued". Next tweet was:

 

@TyYoungfelt: Is ridiculous- thought tweet would get a rise- doesn't understand tweeting to 32K is different than his 78...my apologies...

 

The dude is pretty immature.

 

 

So, if I'm understanding it correctly, basically the first Tweet was his friend attempting to [expletive] with people because he thinks the Tanaka stuff is crazy. Next couple are him explaining that his drunk buddy Tweeted that. Allegedly.

 

So this is the whole "my friend took my phone and tweeted that as a joke" taken to the most boring extreme.

 

Yup.

[jersey cubs fan]

Everybody knows that is for anti-semitism/racist/homophobic comments and/or genitalia pictures.