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Masahiro Tanaka is now available for all who want to bid for his services. He'll likely get a hefty contract, being the best pitcher on the free agent market. He's also going to get a lot of money because he's so young. Born on November 1, 1988, Tanaka is just 25 years old and 2014 will only be his age-25 season. He's the youngest free agent all offseason. He's younger than me.
If the Yankees sign him, there's a chance that he ends up being the Yankees' youngest player on the 25-man roster. He's younger than Adam Warren, who turned 26 in August, David Phelps, who recently turned 27, and Ivan Nova, who will turn 27 in January. Tanaka is younger than former Yankees prospect David Adams, who made his MLB debut in 2013 at 26, and he is even a few months younger than Dellin Betances.
He wouldn't be the youngest player on the 40-man roster, but of the players who are younger than the Japanese right-hander, only a few of them could potentially make the team. Zoilo Almonte and Cesar Cabral are 24, Michael Pineda will turn 25 in January, Austin Romine is only a few weeks younger than Tanaka, and J.R. Murphy and Manny Banuelos are just babies at 22 years old.
How young is Masahiro Tanaka, really? He's younger than the ridiculously young Clayton Kershaw. I'm not saying he'll be that good, but Kershaw is very young. Tanaka is a few months younger, so that's another feather in his cap. I'd spend big money on that.
