Now that Masahiro Tanaka has officially been posted he is the most prized possession of the 2013-14 offseason. Why wouldn’t he be? He only went 24-0 in what is now his final season in the Japanese league, and is projected to be at least as good as fellow countryman Yu Darvish. Baseball America’s Ben Badler stated in an article about Tanaka’s possible landing points that there were 10 teams in the running with four that are the favorites to land him, the Seattle Mariners being the favorites. Let’s take a look at how Tanaka would impact the rotations of the four teams that Balder believes are the favorites to land the Japanese phenom.
Chicago Cubs
The thing that hurts the Cubs in my opinion is the fact that even with Tanaka they would not be contending for a title for at least a few more years with the Reds, Cardinals and Pirates blocking them in their division. The addition of Tanaka, though, could drastically change the landscape of the pitching rotation. The rotation goes from mediocre with Edwin Jackson as the staff ace follow by Jeff Samardzija and Travis Wood to a top rated rotation with the addition of Tanaka slotting Jackson in his more natural position as the second man in the rotation.
Tanaka will not be the saving grace of the Cubbies, though. If the Cubs are going to compete in the near future Tanaka would only be a starting point. Players on the offense who didn’t quite perform up to standards, Starlin Castro just to name one, will have to live up to high expectations. They will also need a veteran player or two on offense who will help this young team learn how to play as a team. This makes the Cubs the long shot out of the four to land Tanaka in my opinion.
Los Angeles Dodgers
It’s hard to believe the Dodgers would be in on a big name international free agent right? Of course not. Now that the new ownership has proved that they are willing to spend if it will get them to the promised land they are pretty much in on anyone who will help the team and have the money to do so.
The scary part about this is just how good Tanaka would make their starting rotation. He would join former Cy Young award winners Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke as well as last year’s big international free agent signing Hyun-Jin Ryu and veteran Dan Haren to complete quite possibly the most rotation in the league in 2014.
If Tanaka is as good as he is predicted to be, and catches on to the American game as quickly as Darvish, it should be illegal for him to join a rotation that is already that good. It is hard to find any reason why Tanaka wouldn’t pick the Dodgers. He would be in the limelight that is Hollywood on a team that is already predicted to fight for the pennant in 2014, and he wouldn’t have to immediately be the ace of the staff allowing him to get accustomed to MLB in his own time. For me this would be a no brainer, but there may be other things that sway his decision.
New York Yankees
Like the Dodgers the Yankees have to be in on any big name player out there. They made an offer to the offensive prized possession, Robinson Cano, as well as signing two other big name free agents in Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian McCann. They were also rumored to have made an offer to outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, but what the team really needs is help in the starting rotation.
Ace of the staff CC Sabathia seems to be on the downside of his career, and Hiroki Kuroda is living off of year-to-year contracts late in his career. The only hope the Yankees really have is that Michael Pineda will come back from injury and be as good as he was for the Seattle Mariners before they traded for him. This is why Tanaka is a no brainer for the Yankees and they may even throw more money at him than the Dodgers will. With Tanaka at the top of their rotation the Yankees go from the relevant they have become with all of their other offseason moves to a serious threat to knock the Boston Red Sox off of the top of the mountain in the AL East. For Tanaka, though, it may be too much to jump into the biggest market in the world and have such high expectations. Because of this, I believe that the Yankees will give him the most money but it will not be his best landing spot.
Seattle Mariners
The best landing spot for the Japanese phenom is in the emerald city that is Seattle. The M’s are ready to take the next step and seem willing to pay whatever it takes to get there. They have already paid over $240 million to land the top offensive free agent as well as landing two of the best offensive first basemen available.
On top of their willingness to spend money they have the one thing the rest of the teams on the list do not have, a former teammate of Tanaka already on the roster, Hisashi Iwakuma. That just may be what breaks the camel’s back for the Mariners.
What really makes this a fantastic pairing is the fact that Tanaka would make the Mariners rotation one of the best rotations in all of baseball.
Not as good as it would be with the Dodgers, but a top three of Tanaka, Iwakuma and Felix Hernandez would be a nightmare for teams and nearly untouchable in a playoff series. Having those three at the top of the rotation would also free up the team to test out youngsters like Taijuan Walker and Erasmo Ramirez in the final spots of the rotation.
With the money that the M’s will be willing to spend, the ability to ease into MLB style behind Iwakuma and Hernandez, and doing it all alongside a friend adds up to the final destination for Tanaka.