Tanaka could make his decision early this week so that teams can conduct more medical tests before Friday's deadline.
If you've been paying attention, the deadline for teams to bid on Masahiro Tanaka is January 24th at 5:00 PM. As Tanya wrote yesterday, the Yankees were among five teams to have made formal offers to Tanaka, including the Cubs, White Sox, Diamondbacks and Dodgers. Of those, the Cubs and White Sox seem to have the smallest chances of landing Tanaka.
While there has been some speculation as to whether Tanaka has to make his actual decision before the January 24th deadline, or whether that's just the latest any team can make an offer, it seems as though it is the former (at least according to this article). Now an AL scout has said that Tanaka's decision could come as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday, so that teams have time to conduct "further medical exams" before the Friday deadline.
There has been a lot of waiting this offseason (for both the A-Rod decision and now Tanaka's decision), so the sooner Tanaka picks a team, the better. Especially since the Yankees will need to come up with a fourth starter if Tanaka signs elsewhere, assuming that Pineda, Phelps, Warren, etc., are going to compete for the fifth spot.
