The waiting game for Masahiro Tanaka ended on Wednesday after the highly-coveted Japanese pitcher agreed to a deal with the New York Yankees, who were considered as the favorite to sign him since the beginning of the bidding war.
Reports indicated that the 25-year-old Japanese pitcher signed a seven-year deal worth $155 million with the Yankees with an opt-out option after the fourth season.
Now that the right hander is officially out of the market, other big-name pitchers are expected to attract interests of teams who lost out on Tanaka.
Veteran MLB analyst Tracy Ringolsby reported that teams who are looking to shore up their starting rotation will make a strong push to acquire one of the remaining big-name pitchers on the market like Ervin Santana, Ubaldo Jimenez, Matt Garza, Bronson Arroyo, Jason Hammel, and Paul Maholm.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, and Arizona Diamondbacks, who all failed in their bid to land Tanaka are reportedly setting their sights to Jimenez. Another team, the Toronto Blue Jays, who were not in play for Tanaka, is also allegedly interested in acquiring the former Cleveland pitcher.
Aside from the interesting free-agent pitchers left on the market, teams are also expected to revive their interests in trading for Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price.
Price has been overshadowed by Tanaka in the past several weeks, but sources believe that the 28-year-old pitcher will be one of the most coveted players before the start of Spring Training.
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Price recently signed a one-year deal worth $14 million with the Rays, but the deal was just finalized to avoid arbitration next month. Speculations indicated that the losing bidders for Tanaka are expected to sit down with the Rays and talk about a possible trade involving Price.
The five-year-veteran pitcher made it no secret that he wants to stay in Tampa Bay, but the former Vanderbilt standout said that he is ready for any eventuality before the start of the 2014 MLB season.
"One thing I know for sure is I'm still playing baseball and I'm still pitching," Price told MLB.com. "So for me, my mindset hasn't changed. I continue to prepare for the game of baseball the way that I have. And whether I'm a Ray or somewhere else, I'm still playing baseball and the mound's still 60 feet, six inches."
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