Masahiro Tanaka is back with the Rakuten Golden Eagles in his home country of Japan, but that’s not how he envisioned his offseason.
According to Jason Coskrey of The Japan Times, the veteran righty would have preferred to re-sign with the New York Yankees.
“When I became a free agent, honestly I wanted to sign another contract with Yankees and play there,” Tanaka said during his re-introductory press conference for Rakuten. “Then as I heard different things, I thought I might have to take a different road and considered various things.