The Yankees have added no shortage of high-end players this offseason, but even after the spending spree that brought Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran to The Bronx, they continue to wait to find out whether they will get a chance to go after what would be the most prized pitcher on the market.
As of Monday, Major League Baseball still hadn’t been informed if Masahiro Tanaka would be posted by his Japanese team.
Several reports out of Japan over the weekend suggested a decision by Tanaka’s team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles, could be reached by Tuesday or Wednesday, but MLB officials — as well as officials from interested MLB teams — remain in a holding pattern.
Because of the new posting system between MLB and Japan, Rakuten will get a posting fee of $20 million if it posts Tanaka this year or next year.
A decision must be made by Feb. 1, but it is not expected to drag on that long.
The 25-year-old right-hander went 24-0 last season with a 1.27 ERA, and since the Yankees are not enamored with this year’s starting pitching free-agent class, they have targeted Tanaka to bolster a rotation that so far has CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova and Hiroki Kuroda — and then significant question marks.
Tanaka has made it clear he wants to be permitted to pitch in the majors in 2014, but Rakuten wants him to stay for one more year.
Mark Teixeira said his right wrist is almost fully recovered from the season-ending surgery he had last year.
“I’m close to 100 percent,” the first baseman told MLB.com. “I feel like I’m healed. I wish I was a little bit looser. My wrist is going to be tight for a while because of the way the surgery was performed. … I’ll start swinging a bat in January and that will also help loosen it up.”
RHP Brett Marshall was claimed by the Cubs Monday. The Yankees designated the 23-year-old for assignment to make room for Carlos Beltran on the 40-man roster. He pitched in three games for the Yankees in 2013 and went 7-10 with a 5.13 ERA in 25 starts for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.