The New York Yankees’ spending spree continues.
The Yankees have come to terms with Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, according to FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. The eye-popping details are that the seven-year deal is worth $155 million, with an opt-out clause after the fourth year. Those figures are on top of the $20 million posting fee the Yankees pay to Tanaka’s Japanese team.
Additional outlets confirmed Rosenthal’s report shortly after the news broke.
The 25-year-old right-hander was reportedly down to five teams as late as Tuesday night. Reports indicated that the Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks were all in the mix. The Diamondbacks reportedly pulled out of the sweepstakes Wednesday morning just hours before the Yankees news broke.
Tanaka was virtually unhittable last season in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Pitching for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, Tanaka went 24-0 with a tidy 1.27 ERA in 212 innings pitched. Over seven seasons in Japan, Tanaka went 99-35 with a 2.30 ERA and a 1.108 WHIP with 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings.
