TOKYO (Reuters) – Pitcher Masahiro Tanaka has agreed to return to Japanese baseball team the Rakuten Eagles after spending seven seasons with the New York Yankees, Rakuten announced on its website on Thursday.
Tanaka began his career with Rakuten in 2007 before moving to the Yankees in 2014 for a reported $155 million contract, one of the highest ever for a pitcher at the time.
Media reports have said Tanaka, a free agent, was looking at returning to the Nippon Professional Baseball club after the Yankees recently added starting pitchers Corey Kluber and Jameson Taillon.
Terms of Tanaka’s new deal were not immediately known.
(Reporting by Chris Gallagher; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
