Taking a look at Masahiro Tanaka

Is he worth the it?

      Now sure Tanaka has amazing stats but looking more into to his career you need to ask the big question? Is he worth the risk?

      Now there is no doubt about it that he is an amazing pitcher as were many Japanese pitchers coming over that didn't seem to pan out in the MLB. Tanaka had a stellar 2013 season in the Japanese League, with a 1.27 ERA with 24 wins and 0 losses, and this is not his first good season either. Over his 7 year career he has posted a career 2.30 ERA with 95 wins and 35 losses.

The big question has come up before, is he better or worse than Yu Darvish. Now according to both of the players stats, Darvish would have to be assumed as the better pitcher. In the Japanese league he also played 7 seasons, posting a career 1.99 ERA with 93 wins and 38 losses. Now they are very close, but you wont know for sure till Tanaka starts in the 2014 season.

        Now there is a lot of upside to Tanaka including that he is only 25. But there is one thinng about Tanaka that should cause for concern. Being 25 he should have a lot of gas in his arm before it starts to wear down, right? Wrong, though he has not had any drop in his performance he has pitched 1315 innings with the Rakuten Golden Eagles. It can make you wonder how long does he have left before his arm starts to wear down. With the type of money teams are willing to spend it shows a lot of concern for him. Tanaka is expected to get over a $100 million dollar contract, big money for a pitcher who has pitched so many innings and no expectation of how he will pitch against MLB hitters.