Masahiro Tanaka has agreed to a deal with the Yankees for 7 years, $155 million. With the Japanese hurler making headlines, we take a look at the top Asian players to make the leap to Major League Baseball and play for the Anaheim Angels
Update (01/22/2014 7:55 am PST): Masahiro Tanaka has agreed to a 7-year, $155 million deal with the New York Yankees, according to multiple sources.
Original Article:
Masahiro Tanaka is the top offseason free agent target this year in Major League Baseball, and multiple teams have been in the bidding war for the young pitcher – including the Dodgers, Yankees, Mariners, Cubs and even the White Sox. However, only a small handful of teams remain in the hunt.
The Cubs have already made a “real offer” to Tanaka, according to Bruce Levine, and the White Sox have also been trying to pursue the 25-year-old. The last real team in the hunt is the Dodgers, who are still in talks with Tanaka’s agent even after extending Clayton Kershaw to a lucrative contract. Adding Tanaka would be considered another long-term investment for the team.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have no real chance to sign Tanaka, although the same was said about Albert Pujols.
Tanaka hopes to join the ranks of these elite players who once played for the Halos:
As a relief pitcher for the Angels, Takahashi was an average bullpen pitcher, and never really shined late in the games.
He pitched for the Angels for two seasons, recording a 3.44 ERA in his first season, and followed up with a 4.93. He owned a 4-6 record with the Angels in his two seasons.
Takahashi was never used very often, appearing in a total of 103 games and pitched 110 innings. He was used mainly as a set up for the closer.
Matsui turned out to be a 1-year rental for the Angels in the 2010 season. He batted in the DH position, even though he requested to play in the outfield again for the angels.
Matsui gave the Angels a nice bat in the lineup, with a .274 batting average and a .361 on base percentage. He hit 21 homeruns and drove in another 84 runs.
He gave the Angels the desired numbers they wanted under a 1-year, 6.5 million dollar contract, but almost a 7 million dollar rental gave the Angels nothing to look forward to in the future.
The team decided against re-signing him, after announcing they would not offer him salary arbitration.
He is the best Asian player and pitcher at the time the Angels had him. He was purchased by the Angels in 1997 and played with the team until he became a free agent just before the 2002 season.
He worked great as the setup man for the Angels, and pitched his best season for the angels in 1998. With a 3.14 ERA and an 8-3 record, Hasegawa gave up only 34 earned runs and had 73 strikeouts in 97.1 innings.
As the years went on, Hasegawa’s role decreased, but he provided the Angels a solid pitcher in middle innings, and proved to be the best Asian player the Angels have had in their franchise.
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