by Tommy Gimler
We’re less than a week away from the start of a new year, and in Major League Baseball, that can mean only one thing. Yup, it’s time to bid on some Japs.
The guy everybody and their mom is drooling over this year is 25-year-old pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, who finished 2013 with a 24-0 record, 1.27 ERA, and 183 strikeouts in 28 games for the Rakuten Eagles. In eight of those games, Tanaka went the distance. Over his past three seasons, Tanaka is a big fake tits impressive 53-9, and he hasn’t finished a season with an ERA over three since 2008.
But the best part about Tanaka is that under new “negotiating with Jap players” rules, the Yankees will only have to drop $20 million for the rights to negotiate with the pitcher, although it opens up the probability that the players actual contract will be much higher. How does that compare to other recent Japanese League pitchers who left the crew at ESPN with ragging hard-ons?
In 2012, the Texas Rangers forked over $52 million just for the rights to negotiate with Yu Darvish and eventually gave him a six-year, $56 million deal. In 2007, the Boston Red Sox dropped $51 million for the negotiating rights to Daisake Matsuzaka before giving him $52 million over six years. Darvish has looked pretty solid in his first two seasons with Texas, posting a 2.83 ERA, winning 29 games, and striking out 498 hitters in 401 innings pitched. Meanwhile, outside of his 2008 season, Matsuzaka was a $103 million turd.
In his three seasons prior to joining the Rangers, Darvish posted a 45-19 record with 665 strikeouts in 616 innings, and an ERA of 1.64. Matsuzaka, however, finished with an ERA nearly a full run higher, a worse (albeit not too shabby) 41-24 record, and fewer strikeouts in fewer innings.
While Tanaka’s Japanese League numbers look a lot like Darvish’s, it’s uncertain whether or not they’ll translate to his level of success in a league of players hopped up on everything from creams to women’s fertility drugs. From the video and numbers we’ve seen, we think he’ll be even better. Hey, he’ll sure as shit be better than Hideki Irabu, who’s dead, by the way. Didn’t know that…