IT'S TANAKA-MANIA!

The baseball world is excited about Masahiro Tanaka.  The Yankees are too.  Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record wrote a great piece the other day.  The title was simply Yankees Must Get Tanaka in the hard copy. If I was one of those people that just read the headline and went about my day, I would have.  But I dove right in, I'm excited about Tanaka too.

In it Klapisch wrote: "The Yankees’ greatest weapon, of course, is their money and the willingness to spend it." And in a nutshell, the rest of the teams in the major leagues are not going to sit there and just let the Yankees go for it.  Other teams, like the Dodgers or the Red Sox, will be out there full force too. After all, the bidding started on December 26th and teams will slowly come forward and put in their bid.

What's important to recognize though is if the Yankees don’t secure negotiating rights with Tanaka, the "Plan B" for the Yankees doesn’t seem too good.  I mean, not since Yu Darvish have I seen this much of a frenzy and trust me, we here at BYB were right there too, longing for Darvish before anyone else.  Read WHY I'LL CONVINCE YOU ON YU from October 2011.

We needed Darvish then, we lost out to the Rangers... well, we can't lose out again.  The Yankees need Tanaka and they have to do anything they can to NOT muck it up.

Klapisch goes on about Tanaka’s talent, writing,"If the international scouts are right, Tanaka and his signature pitch, the 90-mph splitter, will give the Yankees a legitimate Game 1 starter in the playoffs, someone who can match up against the other team’s ace..." 

Not only that, but with CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova and Hiroki Kuroda already locked in, the only thing we'd need is 1 more starter, be it a Bronson Arroyo or a Matt Garza. OR, we throw in David Phelps to compete against Vidal Nuno and we call it a day.  The fact is, there are more options for 1 extra starter than there would be for 2.

Overall, Klapisch's piece convinced me that we need this guy more than I thought we needed him before. But one thing stuck out in my head as a read this line... and to be honest, it annoyed me:

"You can’t indict Hal Steinbrenner for not being his father. If the family has grown tired of watching their money vanish, remember, the cash is theirs, not ours."

Sure Bob, it's there money, but we're the ones, the fans who pay our hard earned money to go to Yankee stadium fight the traffic and spend $8 bucks for a hot dog to see the best guys on the field to represent the New York Yankees.  We pay for it. We pay the salaries, we do the free advertising and we want winners.  Sure, over the years Yankee brass has tried to fool us with old timers that are "good players" only to not make the playoffs.  No, I'm not expecting Hal to be George, but I am expecting them to get the players we want.  Bob, we want Masahiro Tanaka, because if the reports are true, this guy will be an animal with our club.

The only real update on the Yankees and Tanaka is that the Yanks have already reached out to him, read that HERE... but no offer yet. Tanaka wants $17 million annually, read that HERE, and the Yankees can pay that. And look, Casey Close is his agent and he's also Derek Jeter's agent, so, there's a connection there. But don't get it twisted... Close is still a business man and he's going to do what's best for his client.  Do I think Tanaka will be served best in the Bronx? Of course, but I'm biased.  Let's just hope the Yanks do the right thing here.

Now I'm off to send a tweet to Klapisch to figure out why he decided to stop following me.... anyone want to join me?

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If the international scouts are right, Tanaka and his signature pitch, the 90-mph splitter, will give the Yankees a legitimate Game 1 starter in the playoffs, someone who can match up against the other team’s ace. - See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/sports/Klapisch_Yanks_have_no_choice_but_to_bid_for_.html#sthash.m8Ziqgul.dp