Yankees will meet with Masahiro Tanaka while he's in America

Masahiro Tanaka was posted by the Rakuten Golden Eagles almost two weeks ago, but the party is just getting started.

Tanaka is now in the United States, reportedly in Los Angeles, to start meeting with any clubs interested in his services – and there are a lot of them.

The Yankees are among at least a dozen teams that Tanaka is expected to meet with over the next couple weeks, and it’s no surprise because he is their top free-agent target, and the player that could make or break the Yanks’ offseason.

After spending almost $300 million so far on Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran, but the Yankees have yet to spend on a starting pitcher – which they currently need more than anything.

The Yankees have not shown much interest in the current free-agent pitching market, and should the fail to sign Tanaka, it would seem that trading for a starting pitcher is the only other way. However, some MLB general managers think the Yanks could end up with Ubaldo Jimenez.

The Seattle Mariners could be the biggest threat to the Yankees landing Tanaka. If they can convince ownership to let them spend the money on him, Seattle might be able to steal Tanaka away from the Yanks just like they did with Cano.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs are probably the other two team with the best chance to land the 25-year-old. The Dodgers seemingly have unlimited funds to throw at him, and the Cubs are expected to go after him hard in hopes of setting up a solid rotation when the rest of their prospects become big league ready in a couple of years.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels are among the other teams interested, and expected to meet with him. 

Tanaka, because of the $20 million posting fee that will be paid of two years -- $13 million in the first and $7 million in the second -- is expected to command a contract upwards of $100 million over at least six years, and there is no doubt that he will get it.

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