Yankees: Masahiro Tanaka could cancel his contract in Japan and return to New York

Lhe New York Yankees are one of the teams hoping to strengthen themselves in a great way to finally break their championship drought next season, and with the incentive that they will only have two free agents for 2022 with Corey Kluber and Anthony Rizzo, likely Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner Go for some signatures to shore up the team and become the “Evil Empire” again.

One of the players who has begun to ring to arrive, or in his case rather return to the Bronx is the Japanese Masahiro Tanaka, who left the organization at the end of the 2020 season to return to his native country and play for the Rakuten Eagles of the NPB, signing a contract for two seasons and 8.6 million per year, thus becoming the highest paid player in the history of Japanese baseball.

However, in Tanaka’s contract there is the possibility of leaving after the first year and becoming a free agent, thus being able to sign in a Major League team if the Japanese and Olympic medalist in the past Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games so desired, where he won the gold medal by beating the United States in the final.

According to Pete Simonetti of the NYY News podcast, a source has told him that scouts who work for the KBO of South Korea and the NPB of Japan that Tanaka himself wants to return to MLB and play again for the New York Yankees, for which could be a plausible goal for the Bronx Bombers to meet with the Japanese and sign a contract heading to 2022.

Last season at NPB, Tanaka finished 3-9 with the Rakuten Eagles, posting a 3.01 ERA in 155.2 innings pitched, throwing a shutout and striking out 126.

Gabriel Delgado

I started as a rookie on Al Bat in early 2018 and I am going into my third season covering Major League Baseball as a web reporter. I am a fan of the San Francisco Giants, a number one defender of Barry Bonds and a critic of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto and Ronald Acuña are the future of baseball, Mike Trout is overrated, and the Astros deserved to be taken away from the World Series for cheating. Besides baseball, I also enjoy soccer, football, basketball, and just about any other game that includes a ball or a ball. I am also an amateur musician, penniless gamer and very nerdy. Graduated in journalism from the University of Guadalajara, I graduated in 2017. Born in the shrimp capital of the world, Escuinapa, Sinaloa. I lived in Australia for a while; i survived giant spiders, tasmanian devils and fought a kangaroo and didn’t die trying.

see more