Can the Yankees really afford to wait around?
There has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding Masahiro Tanaka and his posting in 2013. With the agreement between MLB and NPB expired, a new deal must be struck if a team wants to sign him. It was believed an agreement was reached, but then it wasn't, and then it was again. The two leagues are still negotiating on the details, but a source elieves an agreement will be reached by the end of the year and the Japanese right-hander will post sometime before the 2014 season.
While this is better news than him being completely off the table, the uncertainties surrounding him could hinder the Yankees' offseason plans. With Alex Rodriguez's appeal hearing already keeping the Yankees from spending and Robinson Cano's free agency likely to go into 2014, the offseason seems to be a lot of waiting around.
The Yankees still need to figure out whether or not Hiroki Kuroda will re-sign with them or not so they can handle their rotation concerns. They're still looking for a catcher, someone who can play part-time at third base, and a backend reliever. If the $189 million budget is in play, then that means the Yankees will have limited money to work with and trying to score big in free agency is tough when you don't know who will be available and what your needs really are.
They need to get the answer to something before the winter meetings, otherwise it's going to be a lot of silence as they wait to see what resources they ultimately have to work with.