Drafting in 2014: Where to Draft Masahiro Tanaka

Dec 11, 2013; Orlando, FL, USA; Rakuten Golden Eagles president Yozo Tachibana (right) walks through the lobby during the MLB Winter Meetings at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. Tachibana has not decided whether or not to allow Masahiro Tanaka (not pictured) to sign with a MLB team now that Nippon Professional Baseball and the MLB have agreed on a $20 Million maximum posting bid. Mandatory Credit: David Manning-USA TODAY Sports

Crackerjacks released some early ranking lists, which included the top 25 pitchers. This is the internet, you see! We have to make lists and rank things or we get our Googling privileges revoked.

Darn you, Internet!

Never change, Internet.

But those were early rankings, pulled from our experience, and our gut, and off the top of our heads, and from our nether regions. Since that time we’ve been hustling, working, researching, crunching, and calculating. We’re almost ready to release new lists. Shinier lists.

Lists attached to a Draft Kit. *ahem*

Also since those early lists the baseball world has exploded with questions about Masahiro Tanaka, the Japanese import pitcher who will be signed by a MLB team within the next 3 weeks, getting at least $100 million according to many sources.

I’ll let you read up on the sweetness of Tanaka in case you’ve been living under a pitching mound this offseason: Tanaka here. Tanaka there. Tanaka everywhere.

Ready? Because the reason for this post is that is just might rank be inclined to rank Tanaka within the Top 25 starting pitchers for the 2014 fantasy season, sight unseen. That would put him in the company of Matt Cain, Kris Medlen, Jordan Zimmermann, and Alex Cobb. Is that too high? Too low? Will he be Yu Darvish or Daisuke Matsuzaka?

But YOU get a say on where Tanaka will be ranked. We’re all in this together, after all.

I’m setting the over/under at the 25th starting pitcher drafted off the board. Where do you think Tanaka should be ranked? Make your vote. Make a difference. Make it Tanaka.

I’m nothing if not

totalitarian

democratic, Dear Internet Readers.