It could be a very, merry Christmas for teams interested in Tanaka. Ben Badler of Baseball America cites Japanese media reports suggesting, because of Tanaka's schedule, if a decision to post him is an**unced before the end of the year it could come Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The deadline to post any Japanese player is February 1.
Japanese newspaper Nikkan Gendai reports the Rakuten Golden Eagles may be delaying their decision so as to maximize the $20MM posting fee by taking advantage of the dollar-to-yen exchange rate (h/t Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times). * *