Masahiro Tanaka, Yankees Pitcher, Charters $200,000 Flight

Masahiro Tanaka's $200,000 Chartered Flight

How do you make sure you're ready for work in the "best of form?" Big breakfast? Extra-large cup of coffee? Maybe splurge on a cab ride to make sure you get to the office on time? Well, that's nothing compared to how Masahiro Tanaka, the New York Yankees new $155 million pitcher, is getting ready for his first day of work.

Tanaka shelled out a reported $200,000 to charter a Japan Airlines 787 to fly him from Tokyo to New York, and a Japanese baseball official told Australia's SBS he did it so he'd be ready for spring training "in the best of form."

Of course, with a plane capable of carrying close to 200 passengers, Tanaka wasn't flying alone. That would be silly, right? Excessive, perhaps. Maybe even wasteful.

His plane was loaded with six passengers, including Tanaka, his pop star wife Mai Satoda, his manager and a toy poodle named Haru, according to The New York Times.

“Totally over the top,” aviation consultant Robert W. Mann griped to the Times. “So Yankees.”

Mann must be against showing up for work in the "best of form." Or maybe he's a Mets fan.

The Yankees plan to hold a news conference on Tuesday to introduce Tanaka, who they signed out of Japan last month. The Times reports that the star pitcher was worried about getting out of Tokyo amid bad weather -- a reasonable concern, considering the city was hit with so much snow that even walking Ramen cups were forced to shovel.

Yankees pitchers and catchers report to Tampa for spring training on Friday.

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