Masahiro Tanaka may not be made available to MLB teams by Rakuten Golden Eagles – ESPN

Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka‘s baseball future was thrown into flux Thursday when the president of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles told a newspaper that the team might not make the prized starter available to major league teams as a free agent this winter.

Yozo Tachibana told Sponichi that the Golden Eagles might refrain from making Tanaka available through the posting process. Under a proposed system, major league teams would submit maximum bids of $20 million for rights to negotiate with Tanaka, and Tanaka would be free to sign with the club of his choosing among those that meet the threshold.

Previously, major league teams would submit bids and the club with the highest offer would receive exclusive rights to negotiate with the player.

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Masahiro Tanaka, who is 99-35 in seven seasons in Japan, went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA this year.

“We have an obligation to explain to our stakeholders whether it’s fair,” Tachibana reportedly told Sponichi. He added that if Rakuten shareholders do not think the proposed rules are fair, “There’s a possibility we won’t take the next step.”

Tanaka, 25, is a prime target for multiple big league clubs that hope he can have an impact similar to the one Yu Darvish has had wi

via Masahiro Tanaka may not be made available to MLB teams by Rakuten Golden Eagles – ESPN.