Tanaka

[wopphil]

Is 40% of the way through an historically great season. All 13 of his starts have been quality starts. He leads the AL in WHIP and ERA. He is averaging over 7 innings per start. And his k/bb ratio is 7.36.

I was in the camp of "glad we didn't pay him that much," but I think it is safe to say that every pundit, analyst, and scout who said he doesn't compare to Darvish was wrong. This guy is walking away with the Cy Young, and possibly the MVP too.

[Tyler]

It's also clear as day that he wouldn't have signed anywhere other than the biggest MLB franchise.

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

"He's a #3 at best"

Uhm all those who said that, please exit room.

[Ohtaniland]

But his wife likes the west coast and Japan is much closer to Anaheim. cough cough.

[Angels]

Where's the genius flopflag who was polluting every thread with his wisdom in regards to Tanaka?

[ukyah]

It's also clear as day that he wouldn't have signed anywhere other than the biggest MLB franchise.

 

it's also clear as day that he would have signed with whoever gave him the most money. let's not be naive. if the angels offered him a better contract than the yankees, then he'd be singing buttercup right now.

[CaliAngel]

With all the stupid money the Angels have been throwing around I wouldn't have minded getting him.

[Bombsauce]

I don't think his success is going to last. It seems he getsa ton of strikeouts because hitters are chasing. Once they get more patient and start taking all those crazy breaking balls, his effectiveness will decrease.

[Adam]

These Asian dudes usually get figured out after a couple years, but he's lights out this year. He could win 22-25 games

[ten ocho recon scout]

These Asian dudes usually get figured out after a couple years, but he's lights out this year. He could win 22-25 games

so what youre saying is, right now hes got an oakland 'green and gold' sized package, but in a few years, it will go back to being a 'yellow' one?

[Jason]

Is 40% of the way through an historically great season. All 13 of his starts have been quality starts. He leads the AL in WHIP and ERA. He is averaging over 7 innings per start. And his k/bb ratio is 7.36.

I was in the camp of "glad we didn't pay him that much," but I think it is safe to say that every pundit, analyst, and scout who said he doesn't compare to Darvish was wrong. This guy is walking away with the Cy Young, and possibly the MVP too.

Don't forget Rookie of the year too

[gotbeer]

Man, I was one of those that was worried about him.  The main thing I was worried about was he used the high fastball a lot.  

 

Still don't think he was worth the amount that the Yanks paid, but it is paying off for them.

[dimitrig]

These types of signings are high risk/reward. These are not the types of signings the Angels should trade in. Neither should they be signing expensive guys on the downsides of their careers like Pujols. I am okay with the Hamilton signing because it is relatively short, but spending crazy money on an unproven commodity is stupid even if it happens to work out for someone else occasionally.

[Erstad Grit]

Is 40% of the way through an historically great season. All 13 of his starts have been quality starts. He leads the AL in WHIP and ERA. He is averaging over 7 innings per start. And his k/bb ratio is 7.36.

I was in the camp of "glad we didn't pay him that much," but I think it is safe to say that every pundit, analyst, and scout who said he doesn't compare to Darvish was wrong. This guy is walking away with the Cy Young, and possibly the MVP too.

 

and rookie of the year

[tdawg87]

If the Angels signed him he'd be 2-7 with a 4.78 ERA.

[arch stanton]

H's making long term cash for what will almost surely be short term brilliance. It would have been nice but it seems to me he was destined for the Bronx all along.

[ItzTacosYerrp]

If the Angels signed him he'd be 2-7 with a 4.78 ERA.

pretty much this

[ABC]

Why didn't the Angels sign him instead of the washed up domestics?

[Waybackman]

Why didn't the Angels sign him instead of the washed up domestics?

Sometimes you need domestics to wash up.

[mancini79]

The yanks would have signed him regardless of price. So even if the Angels did try to sign Tanaka, the end result would have been the same.

[Docwaukee]

there really isn't an amount that the halos would have bid that they could afford that would have been more than the yanks would have matched or outdone. 

[Ohtaniland]

Based on his success in some tight games in NY it's clear that he would have kicked Frieri in the nuts at least two or three times if he had sign with us.

[disarcina]

I think I've only seen one of the games he's pitched on TV and it was sort of a background noise type of thing so I really didn't get to sit down and watch his pitches.....

 

I've seen his box score/ line from start to start and that's been very impressive.....has really only gotten knocked around once or twice and at least one of those, he won the game.

 

at the end of the day, he was pretty much only going to sign with the Yankees so no need for teams like the Angels to essentially act like shills at an auction -- the bottom line is this -- what did the Yankees end up paying him on a long term deal??  If the Yankees make the playoffs this year (and that's IFFY -- although they've been playing better this week), it will be BECAUSE of Tanaka -- his starts have been ace like stopper wins which keep the Yankees from going into a prolonged losing streak........he's been very good.  I disagree with those folks who say his effectiveness is all of a sudden diminish the second half of the season -- actually quite the opposite, some of the starters who come over from the Japanese league seem to have greater endurance than some of the pampered US pitchers -- I don't think they concern themselves as much with pitch counts over there.........as for the second time around the league stuff -- there will be some of that and some will sort of figure him out but he's sort of made that second trip around and there has not been a fall off yet.

 

again, the bottom line -- assume the Yankees make the playoffs and it's attributable to Tanaka's performance (a strong argument could be made without him they'd be a ,500 or sub-.500 team) -- does the revenue that generates off-set what they've paid for his contract???  I think when one does the hard numbers, the answer is probably NO.  So if it does not pencil out for the Yankees how does it work for anyone else........just the economics of it.

 

sort of like these mid to smaller market teams (Exhibit A -- the Florida Marllns a few years back) -- if they spend tons to bring in a playoff/ championship team, the fans make like it for one year but the franchise goes broke, can't sustain it, has to have a fire sale followed by a long period of sub-par teams -- but what these teams discover in the 'down' years is that smaller payroll combined with half to less than half filled stadiums is better for the bottom line than paying what it takes for a championship caliber roster.........they lose less money (and maybe even make some, IMAGINE THAT!).

 

of course, the big network/ media deals have pretty much changed the landscape...........Dodgers are an example.......soon lots of dollars but no fans watching the game which over time translates to no one buying tickets either.

[Ohtaniland]

Geez this guy is amazing. 11-1 and 1.99 era. 

 

He will probably get to start the All Star Game and cash in on a Cy Young in his first season here.

[Sherlock31]

It's Hideo Nomo all over again.