I think winning is a distant consideration to 1) being somewhere he and his family are comfortable, and 2) money. Coming to the US in the first place is just a money-grab, and family considerations is probably the only thing that might make him not go with the highest offer.
well, by his own words coming to MLB was about testing himself against the best, so i imagine individual ( and team) success is among those other things that he wants. i don't know what order, but i'd group them together and not make any one too distant from the other. Tanaka knows the stories of Daisuke, Irabu, etc. he knows a lot of people who follow MLB casts a skeptical eye toward Japanese pitchers. he wants to be comfortable and get his money too, but he also wants to perform well and win...well, we have the pitcher's park and the team that went the farthest.
Interesting. We have seen that movie before. If he goes elsewhere and becomes a legit ace, I will be highly irritated. Personally, the best we can hope for is that he winds up a Cub and gets lit the fuck up in Chicago.
I find it funny that some random source reports something, and somehow no major source reports the same (be it Rosendouche or whoever). Not saying that isn't the case, but I would think with it being the only big story in baseball right now, someone at ESPN etc, would get the same info.
it certainly is cliche, but if you were Tanaka and you could get everything you want in one swoop...you'd like to get it all. Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports writes that the Cubs may need Tanaka more than the Yankees or Dodgers, but he doesn't feel that Tanaka is interested in coming to America to pitch for a losing club. He feels Chicago would have to overpay in order to land Tanaka, which he says is not the Ricketts family's style. The Dodgers present the best set of circumstances in terms of available money, proximity to Japan, weather, a competitive team and a pitcher-friendly environment, Morosi writes.
yeh, i'm not going to any no-name guy who's looking to be the 1st to either break news or make a name/gain followers for themselves in this Tanaka saga. TB has a different no-namer with a scoop everyday. lol
i just wish it was Friday already...sign the guy and get him to Dodger Stadium for the Kings/Ducks series this weekend...TANAKA ON ICE! lol ready for this to be over, so we can/can't start speculating on a David Price trade
fwiw ... Decision From Masahiro Tanaka Could Come Tuesday or Wednesday By Gavin Ewbank | SI.com Fansided Blog -- 2 hours ago We’ve reached the final week of the Masahiro Tanaka sweepstakes, with the days winding down before his 5pm EST deadline to sign with a Major League team this Friday, January 24th, but it’s possible that we could see a decision from the Japanese right-hander come sooner than that deadline. Tanaka’s decision should come Tuesday or Wednesday to allow time for further medical exams to take place prior to the Friday deadline, an AL scout tells David Kaplan of CSNChicago.com. As Kaplan pointed out, even if a deal is in place between Tanaka and an MLB club, everything must be completely done by the 5pm deadline. If things don’t wrap up beforehand, Tanaka will be forced to go back to Japan, and will wait another year to come to the big leagues. Tanaka will reportedly command a contract in the range of $120 million over six-years, and according to Nikkan Sports in Japan the Arizona Diamondbacks, one of five teams to have made him an offer — the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Yankees being the other four teams — have given him an offer similar to the one listed above. The Dodgers and Yankees have made similar offers, according to Nikkan. The Cubs are reportedly trying to make a big run after him and are willing to throw all the cash necessary at him, but the same AL scout told Kaplan that the Cubs’ current state will make it very hard for them to land him, and they are currently seen as “long shots.” As for the Yankees, we know they need him very badly, and Ken Davidoff of the NY Post says the have made a “very aggressive”offer, and that they “would rather win on Tanaka and lose on their luxury-tax goal.” The wait is almost over, Tanaka is coming to America, and we’ll soon know if the Yankees will get the man they’ve hoping for more than anything this offseason. __
and fwiw... Fuck the Yankees!! I want to see GG overspend to give us a ridiculous starting rotation!!!
more nothing... Mibelt Rodriguez @Mibo31 2mFavorite to sign Masahiro Tanaka according to Wayne Graczyk from @japantimes: 1) #Yankees 2) #Dodgers. He said it on @MLBNetworkRadio2:51 PM - 20 Jan 2014 · Details __
The truth is, nobody knows what this guy wants. There have been multiple different reports on what this guy is looking for and where he is leaning, but the truth is nobody fucking knows. Below is a short list of all the things he is supposedly looking for... He wants to be on the West Coast: He'll go to the Dodgers or Mariners He wants a strong Japanese community: Dodgers or Mariners (Though NYC and Chicago may have strong communities just size-ably smaller than that of LA and Seattle) He wants what is wife wants: West Coast, Dodgers or Mariners He wants to go to a winning environment: Dodgers or Yankees He wants to be the ace: Cubs or D'Backs He wants a challenge: Cubs, D'Backs, Mariners, White Sox or Yankees He'll go to the team with the highest offer: Apparently the Cubs That just shows how nobody really knows what he wants. I'd pretty much ignore everything else the media says about Tanaka until he finally says where he is going to sign. Shit, let us not forget the weeks of "he's going to be posted" and "he's not going to be posted" bull.
The more I think about this, the more Tanaka coming to the Dodgers loses appeal for me. This $20 million a year gamble might make sense for a team desperate for a front of the rotation starter. Dodgers, meanwhile, have three strong starters locked up through 2018, with a promising group of prospects making their way through the system. Would Tanaka help the team this year and beyond? There's no guarantee, but most likely he would. Is the incremental improvement with Tanaka over the alternative worth 20 something big ones per year? Not so sure. And those deep pockets of the ownership group do have a bottom. I'd just hate to find that bottom with a Tanaka signing.
Has any sports writer done what reporters use to do and try to find out what American cities Tananka has ever visited? We know he has been to LA. It is reasonable he has been to NY and has a feel for those cities. Has he ever been to Chicago? When he came to the states to meet with teams he was suppose to fly into Chicago but didn't because of weather. Would he or anyone sign with a team if they had never visited the city? Perhaps he has on a tourist trip. Does he plan to live in the states year round? If so is he willing to live through Chicago winters? Aren't these the kind of questions reporters use to investigate to try to frame a story with credibility around other than I heard the Cubs were offering the most money. The telling story may be in the next few days when he flys in for a physical exam and we see what city he takes it in.
