This morning there are various tweets on Mashiro Tanaka's twitter feed which can either be poorly translated as "I cannot decide" or "I have decided." So no one knows what really is going on.
There is also a whirlwind of speculative gossip about what the five teams bid for Tanaka's services. Anywhere from 6 years $120 million to 8 years $180 million.
Tanaka needs to have a signed contract in the hands of MLB by Friday. It seems that this negotiation is dragging on. Maybe it is language barrier. Maybe it is personal, since Tanaka is moving his family to the States and his wife wants to continue her singing career. Maybe it is because Tanaka wants the team he would like to go to to up their last bid. Maybe there is a new last minute bidder gumming up the process (like the Mariners or Giants).
What is lost in translation so far is any real indication of where Tanaka would prefer to play. Does he want to play in the American League and face a DH? Or does he want to take his swings in the National League?
I suspect that will take a minor role to the major factors of a) guaranteed money and b) a competitive team.
If Tanaka was confident in his skills, he would actually want to sign a short term, high annual salary ($20 million/year) then hit the free agent market again at age 28 to get Kershaw-type deal in the $30 million/year range for more seasons. But he will probably sign a Darvish-like deal in terms of money and years.
