The MLB free agent rumor mill is starting to spin now that Masahiro has signed with the Yankees and the dominoes will start to fall for names like Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez, Ervin Santana and Bronson Arroyo are options for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs on the free agent market and now Garza is going to the Brewers.
Those names were all possibilities for the Yankees if they missed out on Tanaka, but now they have him on a seven year deal worth over $150 million and look like possible World Series contenders after signing Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann and now Tanaka is a piece of the puzzle. Garza and Santana are looked at as the top players on the market and now that Tanaka has signed, those names likely will start getting heat from teams and some of those names could start signing deals as well.
The Cubs appeared willing to spend on Tanaka and if they decide to keep Jeff Samardzija and sign someone like Santana, they should have a solid young rotation with Travis Wood and Edwin Jackson already there as well as Jake Arrieta on his way up. Garza was with the Cubs when he got traded to the Rangers so that likely knocks him out, but the other names could be options if Theo Epstein sees the money being worth it for a name like Jimenez or Santana.
The Dodgers have been spending billions on players and now that Clayton Kershaw is locked up and they lost out on Tanaka, they could be ready to bring in a player like Santana or Garza as a consolation price. The Dogers are top heave stacked with Zack Greinke and Kershaw and they also have Dan Haren, Josh Beckett and Hyun-Jin Ryu and another solid arm wouldn't be a bad thing at all, as one of those players could drop back in the rotation. David Price or a trade is obviously an option as well, but teams are more likely to go after one of the free agents for now.
Tanaka signed after going 24-0 in Japan last season and said that the Yankees were the team that wanted him the most and now the 25-year-old is Bronx bound. He will be paid over $20 million and now he is the latest Japanese player to sign a huge deal and this comes after Yu Darvish and Hisashi Iwakuma were Cy Young finalists last season.
