Major League Baseball sent all teams a letter this week instructing them to avoid talking to clubs and players in Japan until a new posting agreement is finalized.
According to a person who saw the letter, an agreement could be “several weeks” away as MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball continue to negotiate changes to the process.
Since the Yankees have prioritized adding Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka to a rotation that needs three starters behind CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova, they will add Tanaka to their list of people they are waiting on.
Robinson Cano’s first free-agent dance is expected to be a lengthy process. So, too, is a resolution to the Alex Rodriguez saga.
Under the expired system, teams in Japan could begin posting players Nov. 1 and with Tanaka expected to be posted by the Toho Rakuten Golden Eagles there is intense interest in who will gain the 25-year-old right-hander’s negotiating rights.
One sticking point is MLB teams face a possible cost of $120 million to land Tanaka. Teams in Japan use the posting process for much needed money, but if the total outlay for a MLB team rises too high MLB teams simply might wait for the player to become a free agent. Then the player’s team in Japan would receive nothing when he leaves.
Also being discussed is whether to allow the player to have more say in what team he negotiates with instead of being limited to the winning bidder.
An NPB player become a free agent following his ninth season. Tanaka just completed his seventh and helped the Golden Eagles win the Nippon Series in seven games over Yomiuri.
To date the highest posting fee ever paid was the $51.7 million the Rangers doled out for Yu Darvish in January 2012. They then signed him to a six-year, $56 million deal. That $107.7 million outlay could be topped by the club getting Tanaka.
During the regular season Tanaka went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA and allowed less than one baserunner per inning in 212 frames and fanned 183 against 32 walks.
He lost Game 6 of the Nippon Series, 4-2, when he went the distance and threw 160 pitches. The next day he worked the ninth for the save in the clincher.
While Tanaka’s stuff is a shade behind Darvish’s, Tanaka has better command of the strike zone with a 93-mph fastball and disappearing splitter.
Considering this year’s group of free-agent starters doesn’t house an ace, Tanaka is easily the jewel of the class even though he technically isn’t a free agent and has never thrown a pitch in the big leagues.
Included in the free-agent starters list are Ubaldo Jimenez, Matt Garza, Ervin Santana, Bartolo Colon and Hiroki Kuroda, who has until Monday to decide whether to accept or decline the $14.1 million qualifying offer the Yankees made him on Monday.