Tanaka to the Yankees!

[$500 Million]

I don't think it's going anywhere either, but at some point the owners have to get their heads out of their asses & realize players salaries are INSANE!!

I agree.

 

[PackMaster]

Not only was this a huge overpay, the Yankees also gave Tanaka an opt out after 4 years. Desperate teams do desperate things. Paying $22-23 mil per year over 7 years for a high end #2 with the option to opt out after 4 years is insane.

He's only a high end #2 if everything goes right too, that's his sky. Some think he could just be an average #3 you never know. In baseball with no salary cap I guess it doesn't matter for a team like the yankees though. They'll continue to make mistakes and spend without consequence. Baseball is very unfair to smaller market teams, I'm surprised there isn't a cap yet. Thats the only reason the yankees have won so much

 

[R.J. MacReady]

2014 will be remembered as the beginning of the end of major league baseball. The Yankees now have more than a half billion dollars in guaranteed contracts. As someone previously noted, half of the MLB teams aren't worth that much money. Many of MLB teams are financed by the luxury tax and the Yankees are basically financing a group of teams that would never ever be able to compete, basically stay in business without that luxury tax.

Attendance over the past few years has fallen off with teams like Miami, Tampa and Milwaukee barely getting enough fans on a Wednesday game to pay for the field lights at night. Teams like San Diego have offered free tickets and no one wants them.

Within 20 years, MLB will have 10 maybe 12 teams. The remainder will have folded. The owners would rather take the tax loss than sell the team for a loss.

The Yankees got America excited about baseball and literally created major league baseball stadiums. The Yankees made free agency work because they were willing to make players rich and then millionaires. The Yankees have shown the rest of the baseball world that they have an unlimited money resources in their fans who are more than willing to spend $12 on a hot dog and $20 on a 12 oz Bud Lite. The Yankees will be the death of Major League Baseball.

If that is the case ....why not be the last team to win the world series before it goes under.

 

[Logicallylethal]

Is he really 25? He looks like he's pushing 35 lol

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Is he really 25? He looks like he's pushing 35 lol

That's another question that needs to be answered. How legit is his birth certificate?

 

[MilkSpiller22]

That's another question that needs to be answered. How legit is his birth certificate?

He is japanese, not cuban or latino. We can assume that it is accurate...

 

[Nyfan1980]

That's another question that needs to be answered. How legit is his birth certificate?

This is Japan, not the Dominican Republic.

 

[BigDDude]

That's another question that needs to be answered. How legit is his birth certificate?

Guilty until proven innocent?

 

[The Derski]

Is he really 25? He looks like he's pushing 35 lol

The Japanese have a long life expectancy so 35 to them is more like 25 anyway.

 

[$500 Million]

LOL, the Baseball Birther movement is born.

 

[The Derski]

Guilty until proven innocent?

Puig's birth certificate

 

[podsox]

scary contract imo. arm injury away from being screwed

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

scary contract imo. arm injury away from being screwed

Nah. We can say the same thing about Kershaw's deal. Who would you rather have on your team?

 

[$500 Million]

Nah. We can say the same thing about Kershaw's deal. Who would you rather have on your team?

Anyone in their right mind would want Kershaw.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Anyone in their right mind would want Kershaw.

Of course. The Yankees gave Tanaka the same amount of years as the Dodgers gave Kershaw though.

 

[$500 Million]

Of course. The Yankees gave Tanaka the same amount of years as the Dodgers gave Kershaw though.

The Yankees never had a choice but to go all the way on this guy.

 

[BigDDude]

LOL, the Baseball Birther movement is born.

It seems as if we baseball fans can not tolerate someone "coming from nowhere" anymore. If and when they do, it seems like there is an immediate suspicion of some sort of guilt, be it age, PED's or something else.

Innocent until proven guilty folks, as just because the last 999 guys did something, it does not 100% mean that Mr. 1,000 is also guilty. Judge on merits and what you know, not what you suspect, and maybe even hope to be true.......

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

The Yankees never had a choice but to go all the way on this guy.

Sure they did. I'd have gone after Matt Garza instead. I'd have given up what the Rays wanted for David Price & given him the money. There are always other options out their. Tanaka has never made a pitch in MLB. We'll see if he's anywhere near as good as Darvish is soon enough.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

Sure they did. I'd have gone after Matt Garza instead. I'd have given up what the Rays wanted for David Price & given him the money. There are always other options out their. Tanaka has never made a pitch in MLB. We'll see if he's anywhere near as good as Darvish is soon enough.

What did the rays want for price?? Its easy to say you would go for the other choices... but when the only risk is money, a team like the yankees will make it... especially when the rewards is a potential young stud...

 

[$500 Million]

Sure they did. I'd have gone after Matt Garza instead. I'd have given up what the Rays wanted for David Price & given him the money. There are always other options out their. Tanaka has never made a pitch in MLB. We'll see if he's anywhere near as good as Darvish is soon enough.

A) The Yankees aren't interested in Garza, E. Santana, or Jimenez and they never have been, they've scouted Tanaka for almost a full year (in person) and they rate Tanaka as a better starter than any of them and so do most scouts.

B) They don't have the prospects to land Chase Headley, much less David Price.


The lack of organizational depth forced their hand, they have Michael Pineda and David Phelps and a bunch of prayers in the system as far as pitching goes.