On a otherwise, expectedly slow holiday break, there was one piece of news that broke that gave baseball fans the gift they were truly hoping for. Word spread that Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka would indeed be posted by the Rakuten Golden Eagles, his current team in Japan, and would be allowed to pursue a career in the MLB. This is major news for any pitching needy teams in the MLB, as he will now be the best pitcher on the market, as well as finally allowing the market to take shape when he does in fact sign. Earlier this winter, I looked at Tanaka's pitches as well as how he might profile as a major league pitcher. If you missed it you can check it out right here, but in short I believe he will be a quality number 2 guy for the team that ends up signing him. I think this announcement is a fantastic development for Major League Baseball, as it shows that the new posting system shouldn't be a hindrance to the movement of the best Japanese players to the states. On the flip side, this announcement can only cripple support for Japanese baseball and it only reinforces the notion that they are a feeder league to the MLB. Either way, seeing if Tanaka can make the jump successfully will be one of the biggest storylines of the upcoming season,