Tanaka's First Major League Outing a Success

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Masahiro Tanaka, the off-season’s most coveted free agent who was signed by the New York Yankees, made his first official Major League start Friday in Toronto against the Blue Jays. In the bottom of the first inning the it didn’t appear like the 25-year old Japanese phenom was going to have a very good day on the mound. The right-hander gave up a home run to the Blue Jays’ leadoff hitter, Melky Cabrera, on his third pitch.

Certainly an interesting and most likely terrifying way to start off your Major League career that is under the scrutiny of both U.S. and Japanese baseball fans and media. What started out on a bad note ended on a good one for Tanaka. After serving up the homer to Cabrera and two more runs in the second inning, Tanaka settled down into a rhythm that got him his first career win and the Yankees’ their second on the season.

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Garza Contract NOT Confirmed by Brewers!

Contrary to all of today's media reports, including my own, Matt Garza has NOT finalized a contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. It was reported early Thursday morning that a four-year, $52 million deal had been reached between the two parties, pending a physical. But come afternoon Thursday the Brewers released the following statement, 

Despite media reports, negotiations between the Brewers and Matt Garza are ongoing, but there is no deal yet.

 There is no indication that the lack of a concrete deal has anything to do with Garza medically but the 30-year old pitcher is coming off of two injury plagued seasons.

As of now, Garza is still the most coveted free agent pitcher on the market, since Masahiro Tanaka was signed by the Yankees, followed by Ervin Santana, Ubaldo Jimenez and Bronson Arroyo. Jimenez is the most available as both Santana and Arroyo have draft picks tied to them.

Garza Signs 4- year Deal with Brewers

Dominoes Start to Fall; Brewers Sign Garza to 4 Year Deal

28-year-old right-hander Matt Garza is the first domino to fall after the Tanaka signing. Everyone’s been ready for it to start happening and happening quickly as the free-agent pitchers need homes and all the teams waiting out to see if they would get Tanaka are now scrambling to get their starting rotations in order.

Honestly, the Brewers were a huge surprise in the Garza signing as they were not in the race to sign the Japanese phenom and were until today the only big league club to have yet to sign a free agent. So Garza has agreed now to a four-year, $52-million deal, pending a physical. It  is a good fit for them though to bolster their rotation. Garza started 24 games for the Texas Rangers last season and posted a 3.82 ERA.

With those numbers though do come concerns about his health. He’s had trouble the last few seasons battling a rib cage strain in 2013 and elbow issues in 2011-2012. But the physical should answer any questions there. But there are still the questions of his temper and sometimes erratic behavior. A quick and poignant example would be the tirade Garza took to on Twitter after Oakland Athletics’ second baseman Eric Sogard bunted in a run. He openly disrespected and violated the privacy of not only Sogard but of Sogard’s pregnant wife Kaycee making Garza look at best, a bit unstable. But the key factor is that they guy can pitch, period. And that is what the Brewers need.

Garza was in Milwaukee Thursday apparently to take a physical and when the contract is confirmed by the club, he will become only the fourth pitcher in Brewers history signed for at least four years. The others were Jeff Suppan, Yovani Gallardo and Ben Sheets.

Garza will join the Brewers expected starting rotation of Kyle Lohse, Yovani Gallardo, Wily Peralta,Marco Estrada and Tyler Thornburg. Thornburg is likely going to be the depth in the rotation, ending up in a relief role as he is relatively new and unproven. Gallardo is entering the final year of his contract in Milwaukee and with the addition of Garza could be used as trade bait.

Garza started out his career being drafted in the first round by the Minnesota Twins in 2005 and made the big league club by 2006 after the departure of Lohse to the Cincinnati Reds. He was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2007 where he was highly successful in the tough American League East Division. In 2008 he was named MVP of the American League Championship Series and in 2010 he threw a no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers.

Garza is a surprising yet good addition to the Brewers. In his 3 seasons in the National League with the Chicago Cubs he went 21-18 with a 3.45 ERA. Overall in his career which includes last season with the Texas Rangers, Garza, is 67-67 with a 3.84 ERA. Hopefully for the Brewers this surprising turn of events will be beneficial as long as Garza stays healthy and off of Twitter. 

For more news check out MLB Nation

With Tanaka Taken, What's in Store for Santana and Company?

The free agent market has been nearly dead since Masahiro Tanaka was posted by the Rakutan Eagles in December. But now that Tanaka has signed a 7-year $155million deal with the New York Yankees there's going to be a lot more action in a short period of time.

The left over major contenders for Tanaka: the Chicago Cubs, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Mariners  and even some smaller less-likely contenders like the Toranto Blue Jays or the Chicago White Sox, for example, are going to be scrambling to get the good players who have been waiting to sign with a team. Scarily enough, even with the signing of Tanaka, the Yankees could still be in the mix. With the amount of money they've been spending what's a little more for another starter to help out their aging rotation?

Of those  starting  pitchers who are still free-agents four stand out: Ervin Santana, Ubaldo Jimenez, Matt Garza and Bronson Arroyo. 

• Ervin Santana is a right handed pitcher who played for the Royals last season. He has been one of the most reliable pitchers in baseball with the exception of 2012. He posted a 3.24 ERA in 30 games last season. He has had an ERA below 4.00 in three of the last four years. So his potential to do well is certainly high. His value has been diminished slightly this off season as most interested teams with the exception of the Blue Jays would have to give up a first round draft pick to sign him. The bottom 11 teams in the league have protected first round draft picks so they would only have to give up a second round pick for Santana.

• Ubaldo Jimenez was considered one of the best pitchers in the game until he had some major problems in the end of the 2011 season and most of the next season. Jimenez bounced back in 2013 posting a 3.30 ERA  in 32 starts with the Indians. Even though he made a comeback last season Jimenez could be considered a risk because he has control issues. Last season he walked 80 batters in 182 2/3 innings. He could be a liabilty but he's overall ERA stands well for itself. The right handed Dominican might just be lucky enough to grab a spot on someone's big league roster.

• Matt Garza, well there are a lot of things I would like to say about Matt Garza but I will stick with his stats unfortunately I cannot be biased here. One, the guy can pitch period. Last season with the Rangers he started 24 games and posted a 3.82 ERA. But there are health question regarding the 28 year old right hander. He was injured part of last season and there are always the questions of his temper and erratic behavior. Here is what I was not going to mention this but it should make a difference to the club who signs him. Last year he went on a well documented tirade on Twitter against Oakland's Eric Sogard and his wife Kaycee, making him look, at best, a bit unstable. It was all over a bunt. So regardless of how Garza can pitch he has his downfalls as well.

• Bronson Arroyo could be a catch for any team. He reportedly had a deal with the Twins in the works but it never panned out. So here he is still on the market just a month away from Spring Training. He's one of the most durable pitchers in the league, pitching at least 200 innings in all but one of  the past nine seasons. In 2011 he missed that mark by one inning.  Here's the issue most teams will have with  Arroyo, he is seeking a three year deal at the age of 37 and most clubs won't want to put too much money into that kind of risk. But in reality a lot of  pitchers, including starters, have been pitching into their 40's. It's not exactly a new thing. Yet the age factor can sometimes go a long way when deals are being made.

So now the question remains who is going to end up where?

Tanaka Signs with the Yankees

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Get ready for this one folks, it is going to be a huge shock. Japanese phenom, RHP Masahiro Tanaka, has finally chosen a home – a home in New York. This winter’s most coveted free agent has signed with the New York Yankees at least according to a source who passed the breaking news on to ESPN’s Buster Onley.

The contract is reportedly a seven year deal worth $155 million with a club opt-out after four years and is the fifth largest ever for a pitcher. Apparently the Yankees are sparing no expense in order to return to their former dominance. The Yankees missed the post season in 2013 for just the second time since 1995.

Having been on a winter spending spree by already signing OF Jacoby Ellsbury, OF Carlos Beltran, and catcher Brian McCann to lucrative deals, it’s no surprise that the Yankees went after Tanaka. All four of those contracts combined comes to around $438 million.

Read More and give us your opinion on Tanaka on Sports Unbiased - Your site for all Sports News, Polls and Predictions!


*I woke up to my phone giving me this news this morning ... and it wasn't all over the internet yet! Kinda shocking and funny .... technology! LOL! SMH.*

Holland Has Accident at Home; Out Until Mid Season

On Tuesday, 27 year old Texas Rangers’ pitcher Derek Holland fell on the stairs at his home severely injuring his left knee.  Unfortunately the result of the injury required arthroscopic surgery that was performed on Friday by the team physician Dr. Keith Meister. During the surgery Dr. Meister repaired the torn cartilage behind Holland’s knee but lucky for both Holland and the Rangers there was no ligament damage.

Via AP: “I am devastated by this injury. It was a freak accident at home that resulted in a hard fall on my knee,” Holland said in a statement released by the team. “As upsetting as this is, my goal is to begin rehab and get back on the mound as quickly as possible.”

Getting back to the mound quickly might be a little tougher than the Rangers’ star expects. According to Texas General Manager Jon Daniels, Holland will only be allowed limited activity for the next six weeks. The team is planning for the lefty to be able to return by mid-season but are optimistic that he may be available earlier than that.

“I feel I could be back sooner, but I don’t know, I’ve never had an injury like this,” Holland said. “That seems like a long time, but I’ve never had this before, so I don’t know what to expect.”

It appears both he and the Rangers will  just have to wait and see. Holland, who has been with the Rangers for the last five seasons, pitched a career high 213 innings in 2013 finishing the season at 10-9 with a 3.42 ERA. He is under contract with Texas until 2016 with club options for 2017 and 2018.

Holland is a staple to the Texas starting rotation along with Japanese ace Yu Darvish. This injury is certainly a set back for the Rangers. Even without Holland Texas still has four solid pitchers in their rotation. As it appears now their opening day starting rotation will be Darvish, Matt Harrison, Martin Perez and Alexi Ogondo.

When asked about replacing Holland in the rotation Daniels said that the Rangers will definitely be looking to add to their pitching before the start of the 2014 season. He did specifically clarify that he didn’t necessarily mean finding a replacement for Holland but just adding in the “depth category.” Mostly likely this will entail having a long reliever from the bullpen step up to the starting rotation.

“This is an opportunity for a number of our guys,” Daniels said. “We’re going to go out and hopefully fortify that group and give ourselves some additional options and expect Derek will be back midyear.”

The Rangers were once rumored to be interested in, newly posted, Japanese free-agent Masahiro Tanaka and they certainly have the money to spend. But Daniels seemed to hint that would not be their course of action saying that it didn’t seem like a “big ticket item,” which would be a player like Tanaka, would be the answer to the temporary loss of Holland.

For more injury related news go to MLB Nation - delivering the latest news, insights, and analysis from around the league.

My A's fan perspective: well, it's definitely NOT a bad thing for us A's fans but it is usually Texas' job to choke down the stretch! Let's just hope they just choke all season! LOL! JK! (kinda, I just don't wanna bring us bad baseball voodoo karma, ya know?) We are gonna do it this year A's fans! Our team is hella complete and it just seems right and this year people know the name Josh Donaldson in the baseball world and Sonny Gray ... Our rotation is gonna be kick ass and I need to see a Gold Glove Award in BringerOfRain's hand at the end of 2014! Anyways, I'm rambling! I hope you read and shared my article! :-)