MLB free agency: Three possible destinations for Masahiro Tanaka
Many teams will be interested in Masahiro Tanaka this offseason. Here are three likely landing spots.
Is this the end of the road for Masahiro Tanaka and his tenure with the New York Yankees? The now 32-year-old starting pitcher did not receive a qualifying offer from New York, making the right-handed pitcher a free agent, and likely a highly sought after one at that.
For the last seven seasons, Tanaka has been a reliable arm in the Yankees starting rotation, logging 1,054.1 innings across 173 starts in a New York Yankees uniform. He may have experienced a few more bumps in the road recently, but there’s no denying the impact Tanaka has had in New York since joining the organization.
Tanaka enters free agency with a career 78-46 record, a 3.74 ERA and 1.13 WHIP. He’s a two-time All-Star, a former Cy Young candidate, and may now be entering the down-side of his career, but still has plenty of quality innings left in his arm.
Maybe, the Yankees didn’t extend an $18.9 million qualifying offer to Tanaka because they believe they can retain him on a lower salary, or maybe both sides are ready to move on and Tanaka will enter 2021 putting on a jersey that isn’t a Yankees uniform for the first time in his career, since coming to the United States.
With free agency just now underway, we may found out soon, but in the meantime, here are three likely landing spots for Masahiro Tanaka in his free agency journey.
Despite not extending a Qualifying Offer to Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees could bring him back.
Let’s start with the most likely option, Tanaka returning to the New York Yankees. With the market looking as if it will shake out how many expected, the Yankees could bring Tanaka back on a two or three-year deal at a lower price tag than the $18.9 million qualifying offer.
MLBTradeRumors.com recently released their list of Top 50 free agents and projections and predicted Masahiro Tanaka to the Yankees on a three-year/$39 million deal, saving the organization a few dollars in 2021 and locking in their starter.
James Paxton and J.A. Happ are gone, leaving the Yankees with Gerrit Cole and a bunch of questions in their starting rotation as the offseason begins. A reliable 2-3 WAR pitcher slotted into the middle of the rotation is a solid first step at building a 2021 rotation.
The Yankees will surely be in on Trevor Bauer, as will most teams across baseball. After Marcus Stroman and Kevin Gausman (neither of which have been connected to the Yankees yet), there’s a big dropoff in terms of talent level in the free agent market.
Locking down Tanaka with one final notable contract for his final few seasons of quality production and solidifying next year’s rotation with a familiar and reliable arm would be a very smart move for the Yankees.
The New York Mets are likely to be aggressive and Masahiro Tanaka makes sense.
Suddenly, it’s very difficult to talk about the big free agent names available and not have the New York Mets creep into your mind as a possible landing spot.
With Steve Cohen now in place and his willingness to spend immediately to move the Mets closer to World Series contention, outbidding the Yankees for Masahiro Tanaka isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
The Mets extended a qualifying offer to Marcus Stroman, but Stroman would be smart to test free agency, even in this current environment. Behind Bauer, Stroman is the next top pitching talent available and will command a sizeable deal with the team of his choice (top teams will still spend and the top flight of free agents will still get paid this winter).
Although, an argument can also be made that Stroman would be smart to accept the offer, work his way back to full strength after not pitching in 2020, and enter free agency in 2021 where the financial landscape may have a brighter outlook.
Regardless, the Mets need pitching help and they want to be aggressive, making Tanaka a prime target. He’s pitched very well across his career in New York and in the always dangerous AL East division. Perhaps his impressive run in New York can continue, just in a different stadium.
For a team looking to make some noise in next year’s playoffs, adding a proven playoff pitcher to pair with Jacob deGrom at the top of the rotation would go a long way.
Will Masahiro Tanaka stay in the American League East?
Perhaps the Los Angeles Angels do elect to be aggressive in free agency when it comes to pitching but miss out on a Trevor Bauer and have to settle for Tanaka. Maybe any of the other NL East organizations jump in on the Tanaka sweepstakes. But there’s one other team out there who is ready to spend money this offseason and be aggressive in curating their roster for a playoff run in 2021.
That team is the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays have their core group of hitters which includes Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, and Teoscar Hernandez, and they gave a big contract to Hyun-Jin Ryu to convince him to lead their rotation. That moved paid off well as Ryu went 5-2 with a 2.69 ERA and is a finalist for the AL Cy Young Award.
Toronto is entering their window of contention and can be real challengers in the AL East with the Red Sox and Orioles not in a place to contend right now and the Yankees going up against rotation questions and an aging lineup. You never count out New York, but if there’s a time to strike, it seems like 2021 will be that time.
The Rays will continue to be the Rays and Toronto went 4-8 against Tampa Bay this year, but an improved pitching staff will help.
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There aren’t very many high-quality options available and if Toronto is looking to add another frontline starter, the trade route may a more viable option, but with a proven arm in Tanaka there for the signing, keeping him in the AL East makes a lot of sense.