As Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka awaits the start of the 2017 campaign, the former Japanese phenom has been in contact with another star from his native country this winter.
Tanaka and Shohei Otani — who has been nicknamed Japan’s “Babe Ruth” — have spent time working out together in the offseason. The 22-year-old, who’s exceptionally skilled on the pitcher’s mound and in the batter’s box in Nippon Professional Baseball, is reportedly expected to travel stateside for Major League Baseball next offseason.
“If you have what it takes, I think the younger you are the better contract you get. I feel the same way as the fans do,” Tanaka told the Japan Times in a report last December. “He was good, just as I expected. There’s no comparing him physically with how he was in his rookie year, when I pitched against him.”
Recent reports have noted that Otani could potentially receive a $200 million contract as a free agent, but it will be up to his team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, to post him. Although Otani’s wish may be to leave NPB as soon as possible, waiting three more years would ultimately put more cash in his pocket. Due to a stricter international signing cap implemented in the new collective bargaining agreement, clubs can offer no more than $6 million on a signing bonus to players younger than 25-years-old.
When Tanaka was 25 in 2014, he received a seven-year, $155 million deal with New York, which also included a $20 million posting fee from the Yankees to Tanaka’s former employer, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. Tanaka is eligible to opt out of his contract after this upcoming season.
Otani, who was the Pacific League’s MVP in 2016, hit .322 with 22 home runs and 67 RBI in 104 games as a designated hitter. When he wasn’t holding a bat, he was on the rubber, finishing 10-4 with a 1.86 ERA and 174 strikeouts in 20 starts (160 innings).
According to the report, Otani will make $2.37 million next season.
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