Masahiro Tanaka floats the possibility of signing with a Japanese baseball team:

The 32-year-old, along with most of his free-agency class, has been a casualty of the economic pain caused by the novel coronavirus, with clubs’ revenues slashed dramatically in 2020 and an uncertain forecast for the upcoming campaign.

NYPost.com

Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) manged to play 120 games of their 143 game season in 2020. I could imagine Tanaka signing a one-year deal that would likely provide him with more work, then coming back to the US when he’s sure to get paid for a full season. The probability is low that will happen, but given the current pandemic situation in the US, it’s not clear how many games the majors will play this season. It was clear last season that 60 games is the max they will play with no fans in the stands.

I have hoped for a long time that NPB would go after North American free agents. This might be the year those players could sign for a reasonable price.