Where will Masahiro Tanaka land?

Talented starting pitchers are always sought after on the free agent market, and this offseason with the lack of quality pitching, Masahiro Tanaka will cash in big time.  Now the question is, which team will step up to the plate to sign the 25-year-old Japanese sensation?

There are a handful of teams who are believed to be seriously interested, and of course the high spending New York Yankees are the favorite to land the righties services; but just because the Yanks are the favorite, doesn't mean they will end up landing him.  Instead the Seattle Mariners will be the lucky organization to sign the young pitching star.

The Mariners have a huge presence in Japan due to their owner being Nintendo of America, and Ichiro Suzuki spending the majority of his career with them.  Plus with Hisashi Iwakuma, a former teammate of Tanaka, there is now a bigger connection.  Due to these connections and a comfort level with the organization, it will put the Mariners ahead of the other teams trying to land Tanaka.

Seattle has already signed the top bat on the market, and time will tell if they can add Tanaka to their already solid pitching staff.  Jack Zduriecik has shown that he wants to build a competitive team, and if he can get upper management to approve this move, it will take their ball club to the next level.  

The 3rd Man In Sounds Off: Tanaka isn't worth huge money

In baseball pitching wins championships.  While it sounds cliche it is true.  If you look around the major leagues, all the great franchises have great pitching.  This causes talented pitchers to be coveted and overvalued when they hit the open market, and Japanese pitching sensation Masahiro Tanaka is the latest example of this.

After months of speculation the 25-year-old phenom has officially been posted, and is expected to land a long-term deal that pays him at least $17 million per season, along with the $20 million release fee the team that signs him has to pay.

Last season the righty completely dominated in Japan going 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA in 212 innings, and in his seven years playing professionally he has gone 99-35 with a 2.30 ERA, while averaging almost a strikeout per inning.

Although those are impressive numbers, he has thrown more innings at a young age than anyone in baseball has in the past 35 years, as he has pitched in 1,315 innings throughout his young career.  Japanese pitchers are also know for having bigger workloads, and after a few seasons performing in the major leagues they tend to break down.  In fact out of the 11 Japanese born pitchers who have made 25 MLB starts, only Hideo Nomo and Hiroki Kuroda were able to reach that number three or more times.

These two statistics alone are reasons to be concerned, plus he has never faced a lineup anywhere near the level he will be facing in the majors on a consistent bases.

Signing any pitcher is a risk, but Tanaka seems to have more question marks surrounding him than most others usually do.  While signing a top of the rotation pitcher to a huge deal is not uncommon in today's age, signing someone who has no MLB experience and some miles on his shoulder is.  Baseball is a game of risks, but signing Tanaka to a major deal worth at least $17 million per season is a risk that will never live up to the reward.  

Red Sox sign submarine-style pitcher

When it comes to taking chances on Japanese players, the Boston Red Sox are notorious for doing so, as they have had five different Japanese pitchers pitch for them over the years.  So seeing the Red Sox going out and signing a Japanese pitcher is not uncommon, but when they sign a pitcher that has a delivery like Shunsuke Watanabe, it surprises some people.

(Watanable delivery in slow motion)

Watanable, 37, signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox last week, after spending 13 seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league.  Mostly as a starter the submarine-style pitcher posted a career record of 87-82 with a 3.65 ERA and 846 strikeouts in 255 games, 244 of them as starts.

He will report to minor league camp this spring, and will work as a reliever the Red Sox reported. Although people should not expect him to break camp on the major league roster, if he performs well in the minors, there is a good chance fans could see him in midsummer.

It is rare to see a pitcher with a submarine delivery, and hopefully Watanable will appear in at least one game with the Red Sox next season because if he does, he will go down as having the most unorthodox delivery baseball has ever seen.