The face of a ‘living legend’ with 190 victories in the major leagues and Japanese professional baseball is unreasonable. Following an annual salary cut of 425 million yen (about 4 billion won) this winter, he was not listed on the 30-man list for the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC).
According to Japan’s ‘Sponichi Annex’ and ‘Daily Sports’, on the 25th (Korean time), Masahiro Tanaka announced himself that he was “not included in the WBC 30 man list.” There was still a lot of time left before the final roster announcement, and a final roster has not yet been announced, but Tanaka’s name was not there.
Tanaka is a ‘living legend’ in the Japanese professional baseball world. Tanaka started his professional career after being selected in the first round by the Rakuten Golden Eagles in the 2006 rookie draft, and earned a total of 99 wins in Nippon Professional Baseball before stepping on the major league stage. In particular, in the 2013 season, he played 28 games and left a season that will go down in history with an average ERA of 1.27, ’24 wins and undefeated’.
His performance in the major leagues was also dazzling. Wearing the New York Yankees’ “pinstripe” uniform, Tanaka appeared in 20 games in 2014 and recorded an average ERA of 2.77 with a mark of 13 wins and 5 losses, and also harvested double-digit wins in the big leagues for six consecutive seasons. And in 2020, when the season was shortened due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), he recorded an average ERA of 3.56 with 3 wins and 3 losses. 온라인카지노
After seven seasons in the major leagues, Tanaka qualified as a free agent (FA) after the 2020 season. Tanaka was able to continue his career in the big leagues, but he chose to return to his ‘home team’ Rakuten. Tanaka, who had enough competitiveness in the major leagues, seemed to be able to continue his good performance in Japan. But the reality was different.
Tanaka went 4-9 with a 3.01 earned run average in 23 games in his first season back in Japan. And last year, he failed to live up to expectations with an average ERA of 3.31 with 9 wins and 12 losses in 25 games, including his personal record of most consecutive losses. There were some things that were not particularly lucky to win, but Tanaka’s skills definitely declined.
The results of the series of sluggishness were disastrous. After returning to Japan, Tanaka received 900 million yen (about 8.5 billion won), the highest annual salary in Japanese professional baseball, for two consecutive years. However, after the 2022 season, during the salary negotiation process, a whopping 425 million yen was reduced, and Tanaka stamped 475 million yen (about 4.5 billion won) + option.
For Tanaka, who won a total of 190 victories in the major leagues and Nippon Professional Baseball, the drastic cut in his salary was a shame, but it was even more humiliating. Tanaka had always hoped to compete in the WBC, but due to his disappointing performance for the second year in a row, he was unable to make the 30-man roster.
According to ‘Sponichi Annex’, Tanaka said, “I contacted coach Hideki Kuriyama to the effect that I was not included in the 30-man list this time.” will send,” he said.