New York Yankees or Japan for free agent Masahiro Tanaka

Free agent starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka wants to pitch for the New York Yankees or no one in Major League Baseball next season.

It appears that free agent starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka has narrowed his decision on where to play in 2021 down to one of two destinations, either the New York Yankees or back in Japan.

According to a report from Randy Miller at NJ.com, Tanaka doesn’t have an interest in pitching for any other Major League Baseball team, other than the New York Yankees, even if the contract offer includes a higher dollar amount than what he’s expected to earn this offseason.

The 32-year-old righty earned $155 million over the last seven seasons with the Yankees and has reportedly already agreed to end his pitching career back in Japan with the Rakuten Golden Eagles, where Tanaka spent his first seven seasons as a professional in the NPB.

If the New York Yankees don’t offer Tanaka a deal for 2021, he’s ready to head back to Japan and close his career there, instead of pitching for a team here in the States that isn’t in a position to contend.

The market for Tanaka has been pretty quiet this offseason, as the trade market has been hot and teams wait to find out where arms like Trevor Bauer and Tomoyuki Sugano sign before pursuing plan B in arms like Tanaka Jake Odorizzi.

As the Yankees remain stuck in limbo in their pursuit of infielder DJ LeMahieu, this latest report on Masahiro Tanaka could be some good news for the Yankees. Perhaps, Tanaka accepts a little less money than the projected three-year/$39 million deal MLBTradeRumors projects.

It’s no secret that the New York Yankees need rotation help ahead of the 2021 season and the recent departure of Blake Snell from the division should entice other contenders in the American League East, like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays, to be a bit more aggressive this offseason.

An All-Star as recently as 2019, Tanaka pitched well in a shortened 2020 season. Across 10 starts, Tanaka went 3-3 with a 3.56 ERA and averaged 8.3 K/9 IP. He was on pace to surpass his 1.9 Wins Above Replacement Value he posted in his 2019 All-Star season.

At 32, Tanaka can still be a valuable asset for a New York Yankees team in need of starting pitching help while they await the return of Luis Severino and see how some of their young, promising arms perform as full-time members of the starting rotation.