10th anniversary of Tohoku disaster motivated pitcher Tanaka to return to Japan

Not as much as the yankees did not want to extend his contract

I'm surprised that some other team did not make him an offer. I know he said he received some, but I doubt they were the 15-16 million dollar range he got from the Yankees. 9 million from Rakuten is not bad when you figure he will get a ton of advertisements.

He is not what he was 5 or so years ago but Tanaka is still a good pitcher and when a "clutch" start was needed the Yankees called on him often and knew he would deliver more often than not. The reaction of his teammates shows that he was truly valued.

I think he would have certainly got another offer but probably the amount would have been around the same or possibly less than what Rakuten is offering. He also probably wants to get the heck out of the U.S. and Sendai is not a bad place to be these days, especially when one is making US$9 million give or take. He may want to get away from the craziness of the U.S.

There is a good article on him below. He was the one of the most popular Yankees with the fans and very well respected by his peers.

https://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/david-lennon/yankees-brian-cashman-masahiro-tanaka-1.50135892

The title is straight bs. He didn't get a contract offer to his liking from the Yankees. Plain and simple. I'm a Yankees fan and a Baystars fan but will be rooting for him.

If he still had MLB starting talent at more than 9 million a year, he’d still be in MLB SOMEWHERE.

Tanaka wouldn't have minded staying in NY, but the Yankees are going for their younger pitchers or more affordable contracts. They just couldn't afford him anymore for a middle of the rotation, while to offer him half would've been an insult to his loyal years of service

Tanaka could've still pitched for another MLB team though. (Heck, Darvish is already well-traveled.) But it has to be an offer he couldn't refuse since, with all else being about the same, he prefers Japan. (Better than signing a minor league contract with a major league option.) But he's open to returning to MLB if such an offer materializes

Will be hard to top that 23-0 W-L record from 2013. Welcome back to NPB for a few years at least.

As for the money, remember that all MLB playbers took huge pay cuts from the truncated season in empty parks. Ma-kun lost at least 10 million in 2020 I would guess. Even worse is anyone stuck in the minors had no game experience for a year to increase their chances of breaking into the majors.