The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles have re-signed veteran righty Masahiro Tanaka to a one-year deal worth 475 million yen (roughly $3.6MM), according to the Japan Times and several other media outlets. This will be Tanaka’s third season back in Nippon Professional Baseball with the Golden Eagles, following his stint in MLB with the Yankees from 2014-20.
Now entering his age-34 season, Tanaka rose to prominence as an 18-year-old with the Golden Eagles back in 2007, and established himself as arguably NPB’s best pitcher over his first seven seasons in Japan. That success naturally made Tanaka a hot commodity when he chose to explore a move to the big leagues, as the Golden Eagles posted the right-hander prior to the 2014 season.
The Yankees landed Tanaka with a seven-year, $155MM contract (plus a $20MM posting fee to the Eagles), and he mostly lived up to the hype, posting a solid 3.74 ERA, 23.1% strikeout rate, and a tiny 4.8% walk rate over 1054 1/3 regular-season innings in the majors, and then a 3.33 ERA over 54 frames in the postseason. Somewhat remarkably, most of that production came after a partial tear in his right UCL was discovered midway through the 2014 season, as the discomfort never became great enough for Tanaka to require Tommy John surgery.
Upon entering free agency in the 2020-21 offseason, Tanaka’s first choice was to re-sign with New York, but the Yankees’ chief order of business that winter was resetting its luxury tax penalties by getting under the tax threshold. The Yankees signed Corey Kluber to a one-year, $11MM deal that essentially closed the door on a Tanaka reunion, and the righty then chose to return to his home country rather than explore other options in North America. Tanaka inked a two-year deal with the Golden Eagles that had an opt-out clause last winter, but perhaps due to the lockout that ate up most of the MLB offseason, Tanaka chose to remain in his contract.
This latest pact represents a significant pay cut from Tanaka’s previous deal, as he reportedly earned 900 million yen in both 2021 and 2022. While Tanaka wasn’t quite his ace-level self from his initial stint in NPB, he still had a 3.16 ERA over 318 2/3 innings over the last two seasons, with a drop in strikeouts but continued elite control. Despite these numbers, Tanaka was most focused on his 13-21 win-loss record. As he said during an online news conference, “four wins (in 2021) and then nine (in 2022) are far behind the big expectations the club had for me and are a betrayal of the fans’ hopes too. It’s been a really undignified two years.”
Tanaka’s rather blunt self-assessment would imply that he views the 2023 NPB season as unfinished business, which perhaps explains why there wasn’t any public buzz about a possible return to the majors this offseason. Lack of wins notwithstanding, Tanaka still seems to be pitching well enough that MLB teams might have had interest, especially given the high price tags associated with so many other hurlers in free agency. Of course, it isn’t known if Tanaka was open to pitching in the majors whatsoever, and if so, anywhere besides the Bronx. The Yankees were already pretty deep in rotation options even before signing Carlos Rodon to a six-year, $162MM contract.
dshires4
My takeaway: he’s only 34!?
Yankee Clipper
Right?! I thought he was 34 when he left the Yankees. Maybe age is the same kind of conversion as yen….
Curly Was The Smart Stooge
I have a yen for conversion, but I didn’t buy into it…
Woob, woob woob, woob
CarverAndrews
@YClipper – Not that uncommon, actually – I mean, I am still 39 according to my revised Byzantine calendar.
Murphy NFLD
Mr.clipper i laughed out loud when i read this
Deadguy
Right 34, was surprised he didn’t pursue a MLB contract at the end of 2020? Other than 2020 Tanaka was amazing in the playoffs… There must have been a desire to return home to the Golden eagles if the Yankees didnt resign him cause age wasn’t the reason?
CaptainJudge99
Miss you Masahiro! I wish you nothing but success in Japan again.
Big whiffa
That’s a whole lotta yen
LordD99
I believe he was only 25 or 26 when he first signed with the Yankees.
dasit
through his first 14 mlb starts he was 11-1 with an era under 2 and a 10+ SO/W. if his UCL had held up that season might have been historic
ws_champs
Why does everyone say this about Masa? Yes, he was young — a we liked Yankees. And Hal/Cash just let him walk.
thecoffinnail
He was only 26 when he signed with the Yankees. I disagree with the article. He lived up to the hype for the first 6 weeks of the season. The he tore his UCL from throwing splitter after splitter after splitter. Once he came back and didn’t throw his elite level splitter 60-70% of the time he became a solid #3 starter. I know that’s what Cashman said he was expected to be but come on not even the Yankees are going to give $155m to someone they view has a ceiling of a #3. Yankee fans expected the next Yu Darvish and they got the next Hiroki Kuroda. Solid but nowhere near what they thought they were getting. At least he wasn’t the next Kei Igawa (fat toad). Really wish they would have brought him back instead of signing Carl Pavano 2.0
jacks81x
Kei Igawa wasn’t fat toad. That was Hideki Irabu. Kei Igawa was a skinny guy.
Poster formerly known as . . .
Good luck to him. I hope he can finish his career on his own terms.
Yankee Clipper
I had a *slim* hope he would come back for a second tour with the Yankees before this offseason began. Masa was awesome though.
Murphy NFLD
Yes he was, i vividly remember a few occasions when his splitter gave Donaldson, Bautista and the rest of my bluejays fits. He could still be a good 3/4 starter today im sure
Deadguy
The other guy eventually became a Yankee, hiw did you forget Encarnacion
In Seager/Hader We Trust > the 70 MM DH Ohtani
Some team could have given him 7 years high a higher AAV than that in the MLB!
angt222
People forget that Tanaka wasn’t just the clear-cut front runner for AL ROY in 2014, prior to his partial UCL tear, but the front runner for AL Cy Young too. It was amazing that his elbow managed to hold up without needing TJS.
Ronk325
I’ve always wondered if things would have gone differently for Tanaka had he opted for TJS in 2014. Sure, he was still good after the injury but never quite looked like that dominant ace again
Jung Like My Daddy
“four wins (in 2021) and then nine (in 2022) are far behind the big expectations the club had for me and are a betrayal of the fans’ hopes too. It’s been a really undignified two years.”
Omg. I wish every mlb player had this attitude. Some guys are just built different.
Yankee Clipper
Matsui was very much the same way. In fact, he almost didn’t come back for the ring celebration because he thought he would get booed because of his performance in pinstripes! And Godzilla was adored.
I wish that was the pervasive attitude in MLB, man. Humility, self-reflection, sincere appreciation.
Fever Pitch Guy
Clip – You and me both. It’s definitely a culture thing, Asian players are all about not only humility but also respect, honor, dignity. They play the game the right way, they don’t go overboard with hair and gestures and bling and all that showboating crap.
Did you see the ceremony with Daisuke and Ichiro? It was amazing.
Yankee Clipper
I didn’t, unfortunately. I did however see Ichiro’s 93 MPH FB as he threw out the first pitch!
That dude is amazing. I really enjoyed watching him on the Yankees. Just his routines, stretching, constant effort….
You’re right FPG. Makes you wonder if our culture is really “progressing.”
stanthefan
Y’all. You all are complimenting the same attributes that you all recognize & acknowledge. There are people in America, yourselves, that are this same person.
You just don’t have a 90 mph fastball, but nonetheless, if u did, u would be complimenting your very selves.
This is what makes u exceptional. Acknowledging your flaws & strive to be better. Beautiful.
CarverAndrews
@Jung – Just to take a swipe at all of the fantasy baseball and saberdude types, one must point out that we have a pitcher that still cares about the win.
Folks that strictly live the game via Fangraphs and Rotoworld are having a hard time grasping the fact that some of the old school stuff always mattered. Batting average and total bases…pitchers that knew how to work their way through the game to get the win, and thus and so on. Metrics continue to elevate our detailed knowledge of the game, but when the game is run by analytics it is warped beyond where it should go. Balance. Perspective. Old school baseball is still necessary.
The good news is that there has been an evolution back towards some of this as they are seeing the downsides of the “revolution”. Teams are trying to find real hit tools, and not just yank and crank, three true outcome types that the metrics determined worked best. Player development that focuses on bringing out the best in the player, as opposed to artificially molding the entire system to follow a trend dictated by the spreadsheets.
Sorry to use your post as my foil and soapbox. And your point is very valid…we need more athletes that are in this to win…not to pose and posture.
rct
While his attitude is indeed great, keep in mind that you’re also getting a translation, one which could be literal rather than a more nuanced one.
YankeesBleacherCreature
It’s a different culture in Japan where accountability and honor matters. You guys remember Kei Igawa? As a star in Japan, he quickly became a poor Cashman signing. The Yankees pretty much gave up on him after a season and took him off their 40-man roster. His $4M or $5M annual salary was also removed from their CBT total payroll. There was very little to no chance he would ever be called back up.
The dude was committed to commuting every day between his NYC apartment and Scranton, PA to play minor league baseball. Many questioned why he didn’t try to negotiate a buyout with three plus years remaining on his deal. He could’ve certainly played again in Japan while still in his prime years. Igawa’s response was he wanted to honor his contract with the very slim chance of making the show again.
While he did hurt the Yankees, I have tremendous respect for Igawa.
dasit
incredible. i remember thinking someone should make a documentary about that
Fever Pitch Guy
YBC – Great post, I completely forgot about Igawa.
Frankie Bani
Deep in rotation and short in hitting like every years
CravenMoorehead
We miss him in pinstripes 🙁
fre5hwind
Yankees legend.
Yankee Clipper
Thanks Freshwind! But so is Masa, and we should keep this about him.
fre5hwind
For some reason I keep thinking Hideo Nomo was on the Yankees.
Yankee Clipper
Well, he was in NY (Mets)… could you be thinking of Hiroki Kuroda? Both started in the LAD….
Fever Pitch Guy
Clip – He’s thinking of I-Rob-U.
Yankee Clipper
Man, FPG, I feel like he had a single-digit ERA+ one year….. painful.
Cleon Jones
So very interesting the cultural differences on display. His public self-criticism, acknowledging the hopes ad disappointments of the organization and the fans. Accepting lower salary. Good on him. A different reality than the cycle of self-promotion that is pro sports here.
drprofkevin
Never getting that from Trevor Bauer!!!
drprofkevin
Never getting that from T.Bauer!!!
Tdat1979
I thought he would get at least 500 million.
Moneyballer
He’s only 34?! I thought he was way older!
Old York
Guy’s gonna rake in Japan!
/s
acoss13
Swing and a miss by all these MLB teams. He’s still has what it takes to play at the high end, he could have helped a number of teams that need pitching.
YankeesBleacherCreature
From what I remember, he only wanted to resign with the Yankees. There was one particular outing I watched where he got shelled for 12 ER in the first inning or something. Joe Girardi tried to pull him earlier but he wanted to stay in to provide more innings and not tax the bullpen. Most pitchers would’ve been like I’m out as I don’t want to mess up my mechanics/psyche.
ctbronx7
He was an effective pitcher with the Yankees. More of a #2 than a true ace, he was never quite as good as his first half season in the Bronx , before the UCL injury.
Fever Pitch Guy
CT – Other than Ohtani the past couple seasons, no Japanese player has lived up to their billing as a true ace starting pitcher over their MLB career.
Few would be able to name the Japanese pitcher who had the greatest MLB career.
That would be Koji. Take away his Age-34 rookie season and his Age-42 final season, over a 7-year period he had a 2.26 ERA and 0.795 WHIP and an 8.78 K/BB ratio. His 2013 season was off the charts.