WEDNESDAY, 9:49am: The Mariners are very close to a deal with Iwakuma, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.
TUESDAY, 5:06pm: The Mariners are the leading suitor for Japanese right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma, according to a Sponichi report passed along by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. Iwakuma has drawn interest from a number of teams, but seems to be favoring Seattle.
"We've received terms from a number of clubs, but considering where I'm needed and an environment my family can live in, at present we're closest to a contract with the Mariners," Iwakuma said.
MLBTR's Tim Dierkes reported yesterday that the Orioles are in on Iwakuma. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reported that another American League team was pursuing the Sosnick/Cobbe client.
The Rakuten Golden Eagles posted Iwakuma a year ago and the A's won the rights to negotiate with him for $19.1MM. However, the sides didn't work out a deal and Iwakuma re-signed with Rakuten. The 30-year-old posted a 2.42 ERA with 6.8 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 119 innings in 2011.
I just hope he signs this year. Last year, he got a lot of media attention only not to sign.
Yes, because his delusional agent wanted 7/125M for him.
Hopefully he’s found an agent more in touch with reality.
He didn’t sign because the A’s never intended to sign him. They won the bid, knowing they’d get a full refund of the fee when they lowballed him and he refused to sign with them. Beane torpedoed the guy’s chances of coming to pitch in America so he could keep him away from the competition without incurring any cost to Oakland’s cheapskate owners, Fisher and Wolff.
Exactly. The A’s were going to spend $20M just to negotiate last year, but now can’t afford to keep anybody but CoCo Crisp.
Wrong! The A’s offered him a 4 year 28 million deal but his agent wanted a 6 year 70 million deal. I bet he will not even come close to the A’s original deal of 7 million a year. His agent was fired after reports of the 12 million a year he wanted. His quote was that his agent wanted a Zito like contract. I bet the M’s will be the low ball club not even coming close to the A’s offer of 4/28.
No, you’re wrong. The A’s offered him 4 years at a measly $15.5M and, according to Nomura, expressed it as a “take it or leave it” offer instead of the first bid in a negotiating process. That was an insulting offer to a pitcher who was ranked the second-best starter in the Japanese league at the time, and they knew he’d reject it. In Nomura’s own words:
“After our first proposal, we were thinking we had a compromise through negotiation, but the Athletics seemed to think ‘if you can’t take this price, you don’t have to come here’. That wasn’t a condition we could accept.”
BTW, Nomura is co-agent with Arn Tellem for Yu Darvish.
“an environment my family can live in” Just a question. Do they bring the entire family as well? or is the process that much faster when you’re a millionaire?
Yeah the posting fee for wife and kids barely 5 mill not bad
MARINERS!
Iwakuma will be a good addition to a rotation that already consists of Felix, Pineda, Vargas, and probably Beavan. It’s nice to see the M’s finally getting active!
furbush will end up in tacoma and vargas would probably get dealt for a bat.
I hope you’re right about Furbush….
The only reason I don’t agree about Vargas is because trading him leaves us with a rotation full of right-handers, and I don’t see that happening. Even if Hultzen makes the team this season he’ll be back-of-the-rotation. My guess:
Felix
Vargas (for the change of pace)
Pineda
Iwakuma
Beavan
I’m afraid if we trade Vargas then Furbush is going to take his spot in the rotation (not in the second spot, of course), at least for now.
Now, if you’re talking about mid-season or next off-season then I’ll agree with you on Vargas. He’ll probably hit the trading block with lefties Hultzen and Paxton making their way to the big league club.
Go M’s!
A good pick-up for the M’s. Rotation depth is an issue. It got a little shaky last year after Fister and Bedard were dealt.
This should give them a solid five provided Beavan performs well, with one ace on top and maybe two if Pineda performs.
Now if they get break outs from position players they might move into .500 range again.
Yes!! I saw Iwakuma in the World Classic and he´s really good, love this for the M´s.
Midseason rotation: King Felix, Pineda, Iwakuma, Paxton, Hultzen… Filthy!
Deal isn’t done yet. It will be nice if the money is right but we should really be spending money on offense right now.
The Mariners should be spending money on making their team better. Iwakuma makes the team better.
I’d prefer an MLB proven bat over a pitcher from another Leauge that has recently had shoulder issues.
Give it some time. It’s only January.
Why are you talking like it’s an either/or proposition when it clearly is not? Both Iwakuma and Fielder are being simultaneously and aggressively pursued.
Felix, Pineda, Hultzen, Iwakuma, Paxton, Walker, Campos! We have the best pitching depth in the majors, much more cheap than the Phillies…
While good, it’s not exactly the best in the majors.
I don´t know, but Felix , Pineda , Hultzen and Walker are #1 , aces for any team, Paxton is a solid #2, and Iwakuma a great #3…
Lets not get ahead of ourselves. Felix is the only one in that bunch that has done anything. Pineda still needs to do it on a consistent basis and show that he can finish the season strong. The others haven’t even faced major league pitching. Those are solid options, but they’re far from being the best rotation in the league let alone the majors.
Shouldn’t we wait to actually see Hultzen, Walker, and Paxton actually perform at the major league level before declaring them Aces or top of the rotation guys?
This Mariner fan agrees with you … but we remain optimistic about all three prospects.
As the others have said, it ridiculous you are already considering them to be aces. Hultzen=Halladay, Walker=Lee?
Hultzen will be like Lee, Walker will be like Verlander, Felix is better than Halladay, Paxton would be Hamels, Phillies don´t have an Iwakuma type…
Doesn’t mean squat if the M’s can’t score runs..
Clement should also be tearing the cover off the ball as the starting catcher, Adam Jones should be our starting CF, Smoak should be the next Texeira, Mark Prior should be in the prime of his HOF career, Jason Heyward should be killing baseballs in Atlanta, etc…the list can go on for ages. The point is that it’s exciting what their potential may be, but none of these guys have seen the light of day in the majors yet. It’s a far jump and a very unfair one, to start comparing them to the likes of Lee, Halladay, Hamels, or Verlander. They still have a long ways to go and anything can happen.
Calm down wet blanket. Everyone understands the inherent volatility of baseball prospects. It doesn’t change the fact that having great prospects is a good thing.
Ummm…actually not. In an ideal world we’d all understand the same but that’s just not the case. Plenty of people overvalue prospects and plenty undervalue them. Regardless of what you think, no one’s a sure thing. I never said anything was wrong with having great prospects, but that doesn’t make them automatic aces.
Better than Halladay lol
FYI, during the run up to the June draft Hultzen had NEVER been projected as a top of rotation #1 and has done nothing since last June to make anyone think otherwise. JackZ admitted he was drafted because of his closeness to being big league ready and his leftiness as they had a dearth of quality upcoming lefties. He doesn’t have the high heat to be a #1, with a top heater that maxes out at 93 his ceiling would be a #2 finesse lefty.
I’d be more apt to think Paxton has the potential to be a future #1 given his blazing high heat. He’s also a lefty.
You sound like an A’s fan last year. We’ll see how it pans out for you
I love the enthusiasm lol… I’m going to assume you’re being facetious given only one of these guys is an established ace.
Now if only we can get something for Vargas, hes about to get somewhat expensive for what he produces. Wish we traded Vargas for lesser prospects last year rather than trading Fister.
If they traded Vargas last year instead of Fister they would likely not be pursuing Iwakuma right now and instead be after a lefty veteran starter as their starter stable would be monolithically right handed.
Nice to see us as a suitor for somebody not to mention a leading suitor………..it’s been pretty quiet………..but can he hit?
Uhhhh… he’s a pitcher.
This report has been floating around Japan for almost a week now. Surprised it took this long for MLBTR to pick it up.
For the M’s to reach .500 level in 2012 they need the youth to step up even they did add a “Bat” or even two of them. Even if they add a Fielder he still only gets one turn every time through the line-up.
If they did reach .500 or even slightly below with some surges from young players it is entirely different ballgame than 2009 or even 2007.
In those years it was only really Felix who was a solid piece of the future to build on.
2009 and 2007 had players who were not even back the following year like Beltre, Branyan and Jose Guillen. Veterans who were well positioned to fall off suddenly.
Too many holes to fill to be able maintain consistent contention.
Both years were followed by 101 loss seasons because of the lack of depth and the failure of veteran players to perform as they had before.
A .500 season based on youth with pitching rotation depth is a team that can with the right additions be a contender.
It may never be pretty. It might always be like the 2010 Padres if they contend in 2012 and like 2010 Giants if they are to go all the way sometime later. But it can be done. The M’s can do something the Giants can’t do.
They can use a subpar defender at DH. The Giants and Padres have had to compromise defense for more offense in ways the M’s don’t have too.
And yes, it is about time the M’s have a DH that hits better than most NL teams pitchers and pinch hitters perform. A real MLB regular in the spot.
I disagree. To be a .500 team they need the Vets to step up. The youth just need to keep doing what they’re doing.
Expecting the vets on the downside of their career to step up and have career years is unrealistic.
Whereas youth are expected to improve their games as they’re supposed to be on the developmental upswings of their nascent careers.
I support the M’s any time they position themselves to add legitimate talent to the roster. It does not happen nearly enough.
Uhhhh… he’s a pitcher.
Shonymat, I knew that but we’ve been focusing on a bat for the past couple seasons. I was really hoping to get one. Your right though, you can never have too much pitching………….
Sounds good to me this team needs to add talent no matter the position as long as the price is right. Adds more depth to trade from plus its not like this is a great rotation as it stands even though it could be in a year or 2. Theres not a group of pitching prospects in the game I would rather have.
Trade some our young pitching and go after David Wright. Jack has a Big trade already under his belt that included the mets so let’s see him do it again