Just thought this was interesting.
During the Hotel Man and Spy School no laughing batsu games, [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masahiro_Tanaka:3ba7aulp]Masahiro Tanaka[/url:3ba7aulp], a pitcher for the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tohoku_Rakuten_Golden_Eagles:3ba7aulp]Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles[/url:3ba7aulp], made an appearance. In Hotel Man he did a three-man comedy bit with another, former Japanese baseball player and a comedian where they ended each line with "Batteries!" (referencing the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_%28baseball%29:3ba7aulp]baseball term of a pitcher/catcher combination[/url:3ba7aulp]). In the Spy batsu Masahiro Tanaka was in the big comedy sketch with [url=http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Maeda_Beverly:3ba7aulp]Maeda Bibari[/url:3ba7aulp] as the sister of a noddle shop owner being extorted by some thugs ([url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_no_Gaki_no_Tsukai_ya_Arahende!!#Supporting_cast:3ba7aulp]License[/url:3ba7aulp], [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuo_Umezu:3ba7aulp]Kazuo Umezu[/url:3ba7aulp], and Piccadilly Umeda).
Anyways, he’s been very successful in Japan and now he’s looking to [url=http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10154435/mlb-japanese-pitcher-masahiro-tanaka-worth-fuss:3ba7aulp]come to America[/url:3ba7aulp].
Fingers crossed [i:3ba7aulp]INSERT_LOCAL_TEAM_NAME_HERE[/i:3ba7aulp] are the ones to win his services, and not the Yankees.
I’ve been following this as a big baseball and Red Sox fan.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10154 ... worth-fuss
As a pitcher, Tanaka went 24-0 last season, leading his team to the Japan Series championship. He’s publicly stated in the last couple days that he wants to play Major League Baseball in the U.S.
However, his team has to "post" him since Tanaka is still under contract to them. If the Eagles post him, the Eagles get paid $20 million (the maximum allowed) by whatever MLB team signs Tanaka (who could get paid close to $100 million). However, the Eagles apparently aren’t happy with this situation. Just a couple years ago, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters got paid $51.7 million for posting pitcher Yu Darvish (voted the 2nd best pitcher in the American League this year).
The posting rules were changed in the past month. The change benefits Japanese players and MLB teams at the expense of Japanese teams.
It’s possibly in the financial interest of the Eagles to keep Tanaka on their own team next year because he will generate so much revenue for their team that it will more than cover the $20 million they give up.
Tanaka was posted a few days ago. So, the bidding among MLB teams has started.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-l ... --mlb.html
Current talk is that Tanaka will get at least $17 million per year for at least five years. If a bidding war develops, it could go much higher.
I’ll guess really high: 7 years, $130 million.
Masahiro Tanaka signed with the New York Yankees. My guess wasn’t too bad. He got a 7 year contract worth $155 million.
http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_ ... llion-deal
Kenta Maeda was in this year’s batsu game and it looks like [url=https://twitter.com/npbtracker/status/410207144919588866:1evgstjz]he wants to play in MLB[/url:1evgstjz] too.
Tanaka may have seriously injured his throwing elbow.
If he requires "Tommy John surgery" (named after a baseball player), he’s likely out for about a calender year and probably won’t be very effective until the 2016 baseball season.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/columnist ... -1.8750338
[quote:k74gdk35]They are two of the most dreaded words among major-league pitching circles these days.
Elbow inflammation.
And now that Masahiro Tanaka has been diagnosed with the alarming condition, which prompted the Yankees to immediately place him on the disabled list Wednesday, that leaves only two worse words.
Tommy John, as in the ligament-replacement surgery.
It’s not to that point yet with Tanaka, who flew back to New York for an MRI, and the Yankees were left to ponder an uncertain future as they waited for team physician Christopher Ahmad to read the test results.[/quote:k74gdk35]
I have him on my fantasy baseball team. Someone else drafted him, but traded him to me early in the season for next to nothing. He’d been bitter about it ever since. Then last night I get a text from him: "How do you say "Tommy John" in Japanese?"
What a bummer. He’s had a great season.