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Report: Masahiro Tanaka posting to begin Thursday

Masahiro Tanaka was 24-0 with a 1.72 ERA last season. (The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images)

Masahiro Tanaka was 24-0 with a 1.72 ERA last season. (The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images)

Reports centering on the off-again, on-again Major League Baseball posting of Masahiro Tanaka could have the Japanese league ace beginning the 30-day process Thursday, according Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News.

Feisand tweeted Wednesday that Tanaka's posting will begin Thursday and be completed by Jan. 24 at 5 p.m. ET.

Teams can bid up to $20 million starting Thursday morning for the rights to talk with Tanaka. He must sign with a team by Jan. 24.

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Late Tuesday night, the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball announced they would post Tanaka and allow him to come to Major League Baseball, according to a report in Japan’s Sankei Sports and Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. The announcement, which Sankei says came directly from Rakuten’s president, Yozo Tachibana, means that all 30 MLB teams will have an opportunity to bid on and sign Tanaka, regarded to be one of the top free-agent pitchers on the market.

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