When the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles lost ace Hisashi Iwakuma to the major leagues in 2011, they had another, Masahiro Tanaka, waiting in the wings.

The No. 1 slot in the Eagles rotation hardly missed a beat, with Tanaka going 34-4 with a 1.54 ERA in the ensuing two seasons.

Tanaka is widely expected to follow Iwakuma to the majors sometime this winter, again leaving the Eagles bereft of their top pitcher, and the next name in the Rakuten pipeline is Takahiro Norimoto.