Don't Get Your Hopes Up - Blue Jays Scouted Tanaka (Elliot)

[P2F]

Just a quote from John Manuel during BA,s Minors POY chat

 

" Izzy (New York): How many pitching prospects (and which ones) do you prefer to Noah Syndergaard? "

 

 

John Manuel: I'd start with Archie Bradley, Taijuan Walker and C.J. Edwards. Andrew Heaney and Michael Wacha would be in that competition, could be one or two others that I'm not thinking of, but it's not a long list. He's in the top 5-7 pitching prospects in the game; just got a Roy Halladay comp from a FSL manager today.

 

We will be talking about that bad deal for the next 10 to 15 years

 

Ugh.

 

Words cannot even begin to describe how terrible that deal will probably look as soon as next season.

[P2F]

Really wish it was JPA + Gose like we all thought at the beginning.

 

Yeah, seriously. The trades would be worlds apart.

[admin]

Benefit-of-retrospect-useless-repeated-annoying-rant warning...

 

Nothing would have helped this team more than having signed Darvish 2 off seasons ago, and therefore having had no need to trade for R A Dickey this past season. We'd now have Darvish, Syndergaard and D'Arnaud, and Arencibia might have lost his job in July.

 

F me.

 

Sigh...

 

Signing Darvish.

Trade similar package paid for Dickey, for Latos.... a young, controllable ace.

Latos would have been locked up from 2012-2015

Darvish locked up until 2017.

[DuckDuckGose]

Signing Darvish.

Trade similar package paid for Dickey, for Latos.... a young, controllable ace.

Latos would have been locked up from 2012-2015

Darvish locked up until 2017.

 

sign Russ Martin, trade Farrell for Aviles and enjoy a playoff run

[The Cats Ass]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/tanaka-sets-japanese-baseball-record-with-21-straight-wins/

 

We need to sign those wins! I can see Rogers getting AA to go after him just for the publicity and the asian fans.

[G-Snarls]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/tanaka-sets-japanese-baseball-record-with-21-straight-wins/

 

We need to sign those wins! I can see Rogers getting AA to go after him just for the publicity and the asian fans.

 

Are the Orix Buffaloes as good as the Oakland A's and Boston Red Sox???

[The Cats Ass]

Are the Orix Buffaloes as good as the Oakland A's and Boston Red Sox???

 

Of course not. But casual fans don't care about what teams the wins came against.. They see the 21-0 record and assume he's the best thing since sliced bread.

[G-Snarls]

Of course not. But casual fans don't care about what teams the wins came against.. They see the 21-0 record and assume he's the best thing since sliced bread.

 

True dat

 

And yumm, sliced bread...

 

Multigrain, soft, with Kraft peanut butter...

 

Mmmm

 

s***, I need to go eat something. LOL

[ace3113]

Here's one of my promo gifs for the Tanaka campaign.

 

[Jays]

Here's one of my promo gifs for the Tanaka campaign.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]341[/ATTACH]

 

That is pretty good.

[Angrioter]

Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports that the Angels had a scout in Japan last week to watch Masahiro Tanaka pitch and are "considering making a run" at signing him.

 

Tanaka, 24, is 21-0 with a 1.24 ERA and 155/27 K/BB ratio over 188 innings this season with the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan's Pacific League. While he doesn't have the upside of Yu Darvish, scouts project him as a No. 2 or No. 3 starter in the majors. If the Eagles post Tanaka, it's expected that it could cost upwards of $25 million to secure negotiating rights.

 

Jodete Arte Moreno

[ace3113]

Hey guys here's a sneak peak of my Tanaka campaign video. I still have to work out a few kinks in it, but let me know what you think so far. Cashew Mirman will also be doing one of his great videos. If anyone is interest in helping me put together the campaign, I could use all the help I can get.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byP-3BrkvvU

 

(EDIT) Changed some aspects of the video at this new link. The old one won't work. Still more changes in progress. I will take it down in a day or so, and repost for the campaign in about a month.

Edited September 18, 2013 by ace3113

[GD]

Hey guys here's a sneak peak of my Tanaka campaign video. I still have to work out a few kinks in it, but let me know what you think so far. Cashew Mirman will also be doing one of his great videos. If anyone is interest in helping me put together the campaign, I could use all the help I can get.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5a_WLdKpjM

 

Oh my god. This is amazing. The pokemon bit. Just. Yes. Perfect. Ace you're the f***in' man.

 

I wish I could help but I know jack s*** about this stuff. If you need anything PM and I can try and help but if not I'll donate.

[DuckDuckGose]

I think it's looking very good so far. Going forward I think you should get away from the anime style. The anime and pokemon are Japanese stereotypes and although appropriate and positive I think it's important you develop your brand in these videos as well. Like I said so far so good though. Something similar with Tanaka placed in a Canadian satire (perhaps surrounded by South Park styled Canadians) would be funny IMO.

 

I also think what you've done so far will be great to develop a social media presence. You should develop a very strong professional brand so that when people view your campaign content they know who they are connecting with. Additionally, I think your target audience so far is young adults which is a great audience but you should try and broaden your markets.

 

IMO to be a part of bringing a top flight player Toronto is a great thought and something people can get behind. I think it would go a long way to give something physical for donating to your campaign, t-s***, key chain, mug. It would also be good for publicity as they can lug it around and advertise for you.

[GD]

South Park is an absolutely excellent idea.

[ace3113]

Oh my god. This is amazing. The pokemon bit. Just. Yes. Perfect. Ace you're the f***in' man.

 

I wish I could help but I know jack s*** about this stuff. If you need anything PM and I can try and help but if not I'll donate.

 

Thanks GD. I'm not necessarily looking for any technical expertise. Just looking for passionate Jays fans who can come up with ideas and constructive criticism, slogans, etc, and are willing to help promote through the usual social media channels.

 

P.S.- I knew jack about making videos until just a day ago, so no worries.

 

I think it's looking very good so far. Going forward I think you should get away from the anime style. The anime and pokemon are Japanese stereotypes and although appropriate and positive I think it's important you develop your brand in these videos as well. Like I said so far so good though. Something similar with Tanaka placed in a Canadian satire (perhaps surrounded by South Park styled Canadians) would be funny IMO.

 

I also think what you've done so far will be great to develop a social media presence. You should develop a very strong professional brand so that when people view your campaign content they know who they are connecting with. Additionally, I think your target audience so far is young adults which is a great audience but you should try and broaden your markets.

 

IMO to be a part of bringing a top flight player Toronto is a great thought and something people can get behind. I think it would go a long way to give something physical for donating to your campaign, t-s***, key chain, mug. It would also be good for publicity as they can lug it around and advertise for you.

 

I'll let Cashew Mirman know about your South Park suggestion. He's the guy to do it, not me, as I just learned how to do this stuff literally two days ago.

 

I'm not really trying to sell myself or this campaign as a brand per say. I just think it's cool to wonder if we as fans could actually do something to affect what the team does. I mean it's fun talking about wanting to sign this guy or this guy, but chances are the team's front office will never know what most of us think or want. If we can send a message to them through this campaign (I have connections at the G & M and the Star who I hope will write a story on it), I think that would be amazing and sort of revolutionary.

 

I think the campaign should be centered around a donation to Jays' care rather than giving money to Rogers to sign Tanaka. The offer could be that fi the Blue Jays sign Tanaka we will donate X amount to Jays care. If not then everyone gets their money back or we donate it to a non Jays related charity.

 

Anyway, good stuff DDG, I hope I can count on you for your input moving forward. You have great ideas.

[flafson]

Hey guys here's a sneak peak of my Tanaka campaign video. I still have to work out a few kinks in it, but let me know what you think so far. Cashew Mirman will also be doing one of his great videos. If anyone is interest in helping me put together the campaign, I could use all the help I can get.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5a_WLdKpjM

 

Cool, good job.

[kgm1]

Hate to burst anyone,s bubble but the new posting rules will certainly change things if passed . Teams with the top 3 bids would then court the player and he would decide where to play . i suspect the posting fees to go down but the contracts to go way up .

 

Really can't see Toronto getting Tanaka to play in Canada . At least not without a huge overpay . West Coast cities like LA , San Fransisco and Seattle would have a huge advantage .

[Abomination]

Hate to burst anyone,s bubble but the new posting rules will certainly change things if passed . Teams with the top 3 bids would then court the player and he would decide where to play . i suspect the posting fees to go down but the contracts to go way up .

 

Really can't see Toronto getting Tanaka to play in Canada . At least not without a huge overpay . West Coast cities like LA , San Fransisco and Seattle would have a huge advantage .

 

I think this could actually help us.

[G-Snarls]

South Park is an absolutely excellent idea.

 

Slow motion: Granderson swings wildly at a slider, misses badly and collapses in a heap on the ground.

 

Girardi in the Yankees dugout yells to Tanaka: "You killed Curtis! You bastard!"

Edited September 18, 2013 by G-Snarls

[GD]

Bump

 

http://blogs.thescore.com/djf/2013/09/30/did-aa-say-the-jays-would-bid-for-tanaka/

 

I think we are. … We’ve certainly gone over there and scouted him. … We’d definitely be in a position to do something. Ultimately it comes down to a post and how it all works out, but he’s someone that is definitely going to be one of the impact starters.

 

-AA

 

Good article.

[The_DH]

Why wouldn't Tanaka be interested in playing in Canada. Especially Toronto with a massive Asian population. Toronto is the most multicultural city in the world. You would think we would have an advantage in international free agency. The problem isn't been luring them its been spending the money.

 

Toronto is not that Japanese.

[G-Snarls]

Yankees Expected To Aggressively Pursue Tanaka

 

By Steve Adams [October 11, 2013 at 9:00am CST]

 

Masahiro Tanaka's video-game numbers for NPB's Rakuten Golden Eagles this season have turned quite a few heads in the United States, and according to George A. King III of the New York Post, the Yankees "are going to be serious players" for the Japanese ace.

 

King spoke with several executives who guessed that the posting fee for Tanaka could go as high as $60MM, but the Yankees aren't overly concerned about that number given the fact that the posting fee wouldn't count against their stated desire to get underneath baseball's $189MM luxury tax threshhold. The expected $50-60MM contract that would go along with such a posting fee -- contract totals are usually in the same ballpark as the posting fee -- certainly would.

King writes that assistant GM Billy Eppler and pro scout/former Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu have both watched Tanaka extensively this season. While the common consensus has been that Tanaka is a lesser prospect than Yu Darvish was prior to joining the Majors, King spoke to a scout who prefers Tanaka to Darvish:

 

"He is better than Darvish because he is a strike thrower," the scout said. "Overall, Darvish’s stuff might be a little bit better, but this guy knows how to pitch. He is like Kuroda, he has a lot of guts. He throws four pitches but when it gets to [stone]-cutting time, it’s fastball and splitter."

 

Tanaka, who doesn't turn 25 years old until Nov. 1, is 22-0 for the Golden Eagles with a 1.23 ERA. His strikeout rate has dipped slightly from previous seasons, though he still manages nearly eight whiffs per nine innings and has averaged just over one walk per nine innings as well. His splitter is such a wipeout pitch that Baseball America's Ben Badler called it perhaps the best splitter in the world back in late August.

 

The Yankees will have competition for Tanaka -- one talent evaluator told King that the Red Sox, Dodgers and Rangers will be in the mix as well -- but they also have a clear need for starting pitching with Andy Pettitte's retirement and Hiroki Kuroda's uncertain future. New York also saw CC Sabathia decline in 2013 and is unsure what, if anything, they can receive in the future from Michael Pineda.

[ace3113]

Klaw on tanaka

 

kent (nyc)

 

can you opine on tanaka and if can potentially be as good as darvish? Or do you not know enough about him to comment?

 

klaw

(1:17 pm)

 

he's not close to darvish. No one from npb is. The entire comparison is based on ethnicity/former league. Tanaka is more comparable to kuroda.

 

klaw

(1:17 pm)

...but no one wants to say that because it's not as exciting. Tanaka is more like a mid-rotation guy here, but he'll be paid like he's much better than that.