Masahiro Tanaka went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA with the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Pacific League.
The Yankees got their guy in Masahiro Tanaka when he signed a 7-year deal worth $155 million. Tanaka chose New York over the Cubs, Dodgers, White Sox, and Diamondbacks. Despite the amount of money that the Yankees spent, a talented arm in the rotation was a necessity going into the 2014 season.
Now that Tanaka has moved from Japan’s Pacific League to Major League Baseball, it is the transition of being able to find success that is so crucial to the ace out of Japan. Yu Darvish and Daisuke Matsuzaka headline pitchers that were able to be major contributers to their teams after pitching in Japan for years. Heres how his stats match up to those two the season before playing in the big leagues:
Tanaka will join a starting rotation that includes CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova. Sabathia will still remain the ace of the staff despite his struggles last season. With Tanaka being the final prize in a busy winter for the Yankees, there are high expectations in the Bronx come October.
-Justin H. Smith
Big APPLE SPORTS 