According to the Daily Tohoku online news service - the Rakuten team is located in the Tohoku region - Rakuten Golden Eagles CEO Hiroshi Mikitani has decided to allowed pitcher Masahiro Tanaka to post to the Major Leagues.
There were no additional details to the report, but it confirms what Sanspo.com reported earlier on Monday. The Yankees are among the teams expected to bid the $20MM maximum posting fee to get a 30 day window to negotiate a Major League contract with Tanaka.
The last Japanese star to post out to a large paycheck was Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish. The right-hander received a six-year, $60MM contract, which was in addition to the $51.7MM posting fee laid out by Texas.
With "just" $20MM headed to Japan if a team works out a deal with Tanaka, the man fans and the media call Mā-kun will likely get a deal that tops Darvish's contract. Perhaps five years, $65MM?
No matter the price, the Yankees will be going all-in on this one.
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not so fast...
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