Yanks and Masahiro Tanaka agree to 7-year deal worth $155M

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees and prized Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka today agreed to a $155 million, seven-year contract.

In addition to the deal with the pitcher, the Yankees must pay a $20 million fee to the Japanese team of the 25-year-old right-hander, the Rakuten Golden Eagles.

Tanaka caps an offseason that saw the Yankees add Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran. The four big deals totaled $438 million.

"We're going to do what we've got to do to win," Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "We had to make sure we had enough pitching to go together with our new lineup."

Big league teams had until Friday to reach an agreement with Tanaka, who was 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA last year as the Golden Eagles won the Japan Series title.