Rakuten president announces SP Masahiro Tanaka will be posted to MLB
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Merry Christmas, Major League Baseball:
Rakuten's decision to post Masahiro Tanaka was announced by team president Yozo Tachibana.
— Dylan Hernandez (@dylanohernandez) December 25, 2013
Now the fun -- a bidding war -- begins.
The Star-Ledger's Andy McCullough has more:
"The drawn-out saga Masahiro Tanaka, the talented Japanese right-hander, took a critical step forward late Tuesday evening, when his team in Japan announced they intended to post him and allow Major League Baseball teams the opportunity to acquire him in what figures to be a high-profile bidding war starring the game’s two financial giants, the Yankees and the Dodgers.
"Both teams will be among the many suitors for Tanaka’s services. His impending arrival comes after weeks of waffling by the Rakuten Golden Eagles, who Tanaka led to a championship in Nippon Professional Baseball earlier this year. Yozo Tachibana, the team’s owner, initially balked at the revamped posting systems, which limits the maximum bid at $20 million. But Tachibana now appears willing to let Tanaka pursue his big-league dreams."
In the end, Tanaka's on his way, and he'll loom large throughout the rest of baseball's offseason.