TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Former New York Yankee and free agent Masahiro Tanaka has agreed to join the Yomiuri Giants, the Central League club announced Tuesday.

The Giants have been looking for a starter with 35-year-old right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano, who led the CL with 15 wins this season, leaving for the Baltimore Orioles in Major League Baseball.

The top three Giants starters left over from last year, Shosei Togo, Iori Yamasaki and Haruto Inoue are all in their 20s.

"We don't have many pitchers with that kind of experience, so Tanaka's presence will be reassuring," a team official said.

Tanaka opted to be released in late November by the Rakuten Eagles, the 36-year-old right-hander's only club in Nippon Professional Baseball, after receiving an offer with an over 40 percent pay cut from the Pacific League club.

Tanaka is three wins shy of the iconic 200-win milestone in his top-flight pro career, including 78 from his seven seasons with the Yankees from 2014 to 2020.

He is 20-33 since returning to the Eagles in 2021 but threw in just one game this year after right elbow surgery, taking the loss in a Sept. 28 start against the Orix Buffaloes.

Tanaka joined the Eagles out of high school ahead of the 2007 season and has been the face of the club that only entered NPB in 2005. He went 24-0 in 2013 to lead the Eagles to the PL pennant and a Japan Series championship before leaving for New York.