Tanaka released, can play in States

Masahiro Tanaka, the pitching ace who went 24-0 in 2013 as he led the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles to a Japan Series title, will be allowed to sign with a major league team for the 2014 season, becoming the latest Japanese star to be allowed to leave for the United States before becoming a free agent.

The decision to let him go was announced by the team Christmas Day in Japan, ending weeks of speculation about Tanaka’s immediate future and whether Rakuten would back away from its initial stance that he should continue pitching in Japan until after the 2015 season, when he would become free to go anywhere he wanted.

Instead, Rakuten relented and agreed to accept a $20 million posting fee from the major league team that prevails in what is expected to a high-priced, free-agent bidding war among a number of clubs.

In the coming days, Tanaka is expected to choose a U.S. agent to represent him in negotiations with major league teams. The New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox are among the big-market, big-payroll teams thought to be interested in signing him, with the Yankees having the biggest need of those three teams to bolster their starting rotation. Of those three teams, they are the only one that failed to make the postseason in 2013.

But any major league team that wants to bid for Tanaka has only to agree to pay Rakuten $20 million if they ultimately win out, so there is little to discourage even mid and small-market teams from jumping in and hoping for the best.

Nevertheless, the winning bidder is likely to be a team like the Yankees that can afford a huge multiyear contract, one that could approach $100 million. As a result, the 25-year-old Tanaka, who had a 1.27 ERA to go with his 24-0 record in 2013, is expected to receive a good deal more money than what Japanese pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Yu Darvish received when they joined the Red Sox and the Texas Rangers.

Matsuzaka got a six-year, $52 million contract from the Red Sox in December 2006. Darvish received a six-year, $60 million contract from the Rangers that began in 2012.

Any team willing to pay the release fee can negotiate with Tanaka during a 30-day window. The team that signs Tanaka will pay the Eagles the fee in installments. There is no penalty for making a bid and then failing to sign the player.

Sports, Pages 21 on 12/26/2013

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