Major League teams will likely have to shell out more than $100 million dollars over as many as seven years to sign Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka.
That will be in addition to his $20 million posting fee.
"Teams will see signing Tanaka not as a seven-year deal, but as a chance to make an immediate impact and then follow up with a trip to the playoffs in 2014," writes Richard Justice.
"By seeing the deal simply as an investment, it's easier to understand. The bottom line is that at a time when most teams don't let their best players reach free agency, Tanaka is seen as a difference-maker. In other words, a bunch of teams believe he'll be worth the investment."