※12/3 (Tue) 5:00 Tokyo Sports Web Is Ma-kun’s “next” a thorny road after all? On the 2nd, the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) announced the list of players on hold for next season and free agents. Pitcher Masahiro Tanaka (36), who left Rakuten and was aiming to transfer to another team, has become a free agent. Although Yakult has emerged as a possible new home for the powerhouse right-hander, who has a total of 197 wins in Japan and the United States, there has been little concrete progress and things remain stagnant. As for the five Pacific League teams in the same league, they are currently turning their backs on the team. Why is Tanaka, who is supposed to be a popular star, being avoided for some reason? Tanaka is just three wins away from reaching 200 wins in Japan and the United States, but he suddenly announced his intention to leave Rakuten. Will Yakult be his only choice for a new home? However, as if to put a stop to the series of hasty reports on the 28th of last month, the team’s GM, Ogawa, commented to the media that “we are not at the stage where we are investigating acquiring Tanaka.” The club has emphasized that it is not interested in the matter at this stage, as its top priority is to acquire pitcher Shuta Ishikawa (32), who exercised his domestic free agent rights from SoftBank. Other teams have responded more slowly. Even after the team and Tanaka himself announced on the 24th of last month that he would be leaving Rakuten, no battle for Tanaka has yet broken out. Officials from both the Giants and Hanshin, the Central League’s most financially-rich teams, gently denied acquiring Tanaka. The five rival teams in the Pacific League are also choosing to remain silent. In fact, when asked about the possibility of acquiring Tanaka, SoftBank GM Mikasa stated, “Our area of focus is pitching strength, but I don’t think there is any possibility of acquiring anyone who is a target at the moment.” The same can be said for Seibu, who has been a big part of the stove league as a “veteran pitcher collector” during the off-season in recent years. As compensation for the loss of Sunagaya (currently with Seibu), who moved to the Giants as a free agent in the off-season of 2018, the team acquired pitcher Tetsuya Utsumi (36 years old at the time, currently a pitching coach for the Giants). The following offseason in 2019, the team welcomed back legendary pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka (39 years old at the time, now retired), who had become a free agent from Chunichi. And last offseason, it was revealed that the team had briefly considered nominating pitcher Takeshi Wada (43, retiring at the end of this season) as compensation for Yamakawa, who transferred to SoftBank as a free agent, which caused quite a stir. Given this background, Seibu was initially seen as the leading candidate and some people thought that “they would be the first to put their name forward to acquire Ma-kun.” However, on the 25th of last month, Hiroike, deputy general manager of the team headquarters, quickly denied the idea, stating, “At this stage, I don’t feel that we are thinking that positively about it.” Read more below The reason why popular star Masahiro Tanaka is “avoided” is because of his “fearlessness in his prime” and “power harassment scandal.”
>>6 200 wins are too difficult these days, so 150 wins would be fine for the Hall of Fame. In fact, players with 100+ wins and 100+ saves like Sasaoka Ohno (Carp), Kuwata Makihara
I can’t imagine anything positive about it, like it could be a role model for the younger generation or attract customers. Nori-san could have done better.
The press conference where he explained the circumstances of his departure from Rakuten was everything. That must have put off any team that was considering signing him. Criticizing the team in public is completely unacceptable. Just like any other dad, he should keep his complaints about work to his wife and close friends.
I would have sympathized if he just let himself play and didn’t care about the salary, but the fact that salary = player value is still a factor that makes other teams hesitate to join. In reality, the right thing to do would be to stay with Rakuten and pay whatever he wants. He may be uncomfortable because of the Anraku incident, but he sowed the seeds himself.
Would he really walk away just because he had trained with Yasuraku on his own for a while and they were good friends? Surely there must be something else that’s the main reason?
When the Yankees released him and no other major league team made an offer, it was obvious that there was no need to offer him such a huge salary even if he returned to Rakuten.
>>24 Professional scouts are amazing in both baseball and soccer. I wonder what they look at when they decide that a player is no good. On the other hand, there are players who are signed to a top team even at 40, so they look at something and decide that “this guy can still do it.”
I’m sure many other teams would also be interested if he were offered a lower price, around 30 or 40 million yen. But I guess it’s not going to be that way. He’s not the type of player to be used as a relief pitcher, and the 200 win limit is also a problem.
Comments