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Masahiro Tanaka, a mainstay of the Yankees’ pitching rotation over the past seven seasons, will return to Japan to continue his career, he said Thursday.
Tanaka set Japanese baseball ablaze in 2013 with a 24-0 record with a 1.27 earned-run average for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. He plans to join the Golden Eagles in 2021.
This remarkable 2013 season made Tanaka a popular staple among major league teams, and the deep-pocketed Yankees landed him a seven-year, $ 155 million contract. As part of the deal, they also paid a poster fee of $ 20 million to Tanaka’s former team.
Initially hailed as the franchise’s newest ace, he won six straight seasons with the Yankees before going 3-3 in the shortened 2020 season. Without ever living up to his early billing, he made two All-Star teams and was the Yankees’ opening day starter four times. He ended his career in New York City with a 78-46 record and an ERA of 3.74
Tanaka was 5-4 with a 3.33 ERA in the playoffs. His playoff performances were almost all excellent until 2020, when he gave up six runs in four innings against Cleveland in a wild-card series appearance and five runs in four innings against Tampa Bay in a start in the divisional series, which the Yankees lost.
Right-handed, he was also a member of the Japanese team at the World Baseball Classic, winning a gold in 2009 and a bronze in 2013.
“I feel extremely lucky to have the opportunity to take the place as a member of the New York Yankees and play in front of all the passionate fans,” Tanaka said in a statement Thursday.
Tanaka’s loss leaves the Yankees spinning with a number of question marks after Gerrit Cole, the team’s ace.
The team traded for Pirates’ Jameson Taillon last weekend, but he’s recovering from elbow surgery. Luis Severino has missed most of the last two seasons with injuries and could miss part of it. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber whose signing became official on Wednesday has missed most of 2020 with a shoulder injury. Two unproven starters, Deivi Garcia and Jordan Montgomery, complete the planned rotation.
The acquisitions of Kluber, and Taillon in particular, seemed to indicate that the Yankees were not focused on re-signing 32-year-old Tanaka. Although other major league teams were interested, Tanaka chose to return to Japan.
The Yankees, known for spending enough capital to get the players they want every offseason, have been a bit more frugal by their standards this year. Taillon, for example, is under contract for just $ 2.25 million this year – a fraction of what Tanaka would earn – and is also in the squad’s control for 2022. And Adam Ottavino, a solid reliever, has been traded to the Boston Red Sox this month, which amounted to a pay cut.
This left little room for Tanaka, who was looking for an eight-figure salary. Yet even with his departure, the Yankees’ payroll remains among the highest of the majors.
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