Tanaka to be posted!

[cleo]

Yeah, Tanaka's agent also represents Kershaw and Greinke.

He also represents Jeter and Teixeira as well.

[Moonlight J]

Nightengale reporting teams think he will need at least $17M a year

[Hornsby]

I think that the money is irrelevant, each team knows what it'll take to get him to sign, and all of them will bid in the same ballpark, give or take a couple of million. I can't see any team blowing their budget for the next five to six years by outbidding everyone else by five million a year.

I think that it's going to come down to the environment that he'll feel most comfortable in, an I think that will be on the west coast...I wouldn't be surprised to see the Giants become a surprise player in the game...

[mgwiz22]

Nightengale reporting teams think he will need at least $17M a year

I think supply and demand will drive up the price even more than is being predicted.

[Don Quixote]

Yeah, Tanaka's agent also represents Kershaw and Greinke.

A few years down the road, that could give one agent a heck of a lot of power over the Dodgers. I'm noting this, but not saying it makes the Dodgers a non-player in the bidding.

[Bodhizefa]

I think the Mariners are just as likely a candidate to win his services, if not moreso, than the likes of all but the Yankees and Cubs. They're close to Japan, have plenty of money left in the budget (no matter what the media tells you), and they want to make their money count. They may end up being stupid and going for Nelson Cruz, but if they sneak their way into Tanaka's services instead, I'd be uber pleased. But not surprised.

[Moonlight J]

Jim Bowden says he's Dan Haren in his prime

[Bob Kohm]

How this ends... the Yankees or Dodgers pay what the usual suspects here scream is "ridiculous!" and "way over market!", they proclaim the contract to be an "albatross" and then they mumble something cute about the "Skankees" or "Doggers" while proclaiming (again) that everyone except the Reds, Pirates & As are "ruining" baseball. Lather, rinse, repeat.

[onejayhawk]

How this ends... the Yankees or Dodgers pay what the usual suspects here scream is "ridiculous!" and "way over market!", they proclaim the contract to be an "albatross" and then they mumble something cute about the "Skankees" or "Doggers" while proclaiming (again) that everyone except the Reds, Pirates & As are "ruining" baseball. Lather, rinse, repeat.

When you get it right, stick with it.

What this has to do with NYY and LAD is unclear.

J

[Don Quixote]

Jim Bowden says he's Dan Haren in his prime

What Jim Bowden knows about pitching could be written on the head of a pin, with room left for War and Peace. Ask any rational baseball follower in Cincinnati.

[Don Quixote]

How this ends... the Yankees or Dodgers pay what the usual suspects here scream is "ridiculous!" and "way over market!", they proclaim the contract to be an "albatross" and then they mumble something cute about the "Skankees" or "Doggers" while proclaiming (again) that everyone except the Reds, Pirates & As are "ruining" baseball. Lather, rinse, repeat.

How this ends, in reality--

Lots of bidding. Yankees and Dodgers make the most noise. Seattle or the Cubs win the bidding war. Yankees, their media lapdogs, and their fans sniff, "Well, he's not REALLY that good or we'd have signed him". Dodgers, their media lapdogs, and their fans say to the team that wins the bidding, "Like, that's just your opinion, man". Yankees sign the supposed next best pitcher and proclaim, in their best Kei Igawa tradition, "This is the guy we REALLY wanted", while Boston fans chortle and gloat over their having three World Series titles this century to the Yankees' one.

Tanaka turns out to be darned good, if not worth what he's paid, but since his team never wins it all (after all, we're talking about the M's or Cubs), the Yankee coterie and those who aren't permanently toasted among the Dodger group say, "He wasn't worth it, WE were right", of which the first half is probably right but the second clearly wrong. Small market teams (whether the organization is competent or not), not having put in serious bids to begin with, shrug their shoulders and get their a**es back to work, trying to find good amateur players to develop.

Jeffrey Loria cashes his checks. Fred Wilpon finds another bank from which to borrow to pay off his earlier loans. Pirates fans wait for the other shoe to drop, figuring that no good deed goes unpunished.

Boston fans keep gloating, ignoring all the years of futility ("Remember, Caesar, that thou are mortal"). Yankee fans mutter something about "27", as if titles won in the 1920s through 1960s mean anything now. Dodger fans roll another.

[joncarlos]

This is sort of interesting. If Tanaka blew out his elbow in Japan, would teams still pay the full 20mil posting fee? I wonder if this plays into Ratuken's decision to let him go after all.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/pitch-counts-are-a-real-concern-when-it-comes-to-sensation-masahiro-tanaka-055941978.html

Still, that is what guides the market today, and so here is the reality about Tanaka on the minds of teams interested and not: Over the last five years, he has averaged more pitches per start, 113.3, than any pitcher in the major leagues. The closest is Justin Verlander at 112.9 and Felix Hernandez ranks second at 106.5. And it's not just the per-game haul. Some of the individual outings Tanaka has logged horrify the pitch-count phobes.

There were the 742 pitches Tanaka threw over six starts in a two-week span as a 17-year-old at the national high school baseball tournament. And the back-to-back 137- and 142-pitch starts at 20 years old. The coup de grace came during the Japan Series this season, in which Tanaka went 160 pitches during a Game 6 loss, then came back the next day and threw another 15 in relief to close out Rakuten's championship victory.

[roadtrip68]

This is sort of interesting. If Tanaka blew out his elbow in Japan, would teams still pay the full 20mil posting fee? I wonder if this plays into Ratuken's decision to let him go after all.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/pitch-c...055941978.html

Crap, if I was a GM I would start reconsidering after reading this alone.

[Grinch]

It will be interesting in our little corner of the baseball world, to see how much we're willing to dole out to have him on our roto teams. Of course if his arm plays 'pop goes the weasel' it generally only hurts us for a year or so.......

[hacko]

It will be interesting in our little corner of the baseball world, to see how much we're willing to dole out to have him on our roto teams. Of course if his arm plays 'pop goes the weasel' it generally only hurts us for a year or so.......

in my Al only league he is sitting on my roster already!!!!!