Kei Igawa Rumors

Odds and Ends: Happ, Igawa, Hawkins, Lowe

Rounding up rumors and links from the weekend... SI.com's Jon Heyman says the Mariners are asking the Mets for Jon Niese for Raul Ibanez. Not likely. ESPN's Buster Olney says the Braves would require Conor Jackson from the D'Backs in a Mark Teixeira deal, but Arizona is not biting. Another quick hit from Olney: the White Sox are surveying the relief market in the wake of Scott Linebrink's shoulder injury. Several readers have written in about Phillies' lefty J.A. Happ being pulled early from a Triple A start (2.2 scoreless innings) with no sign of injury. Something to keep an...   Continue Reading

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Yankees Still In Talks For Washburn

Updating a rumor that seems to have died down in the last few days, the Yankees and Mariners are still having serious discussions about Jarrod Washburn, reports Dan Graziano. Up until a few days ago, the Yankees wanted to include Kei Igawa and Melky Cabrera in the deal but the Mariner's didn't particularly appear interested in neither player. The Mariners asked about Austin Jackson, but were turned down, and now two other prospects have been thrown into the hat: Brett Gardner and Justin Christian. Washburn has a no-trade clause, but Graziano thinks he would waive it for a shot at...   Continue Reading

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Jarrod Washburn Rumors

3:09pm: Jayson Stark says the Yankees view Washburn as a salary dump, and won't include even low-level prospects unless the Mariners eat money or take Igawa. 1:27pm: Peter Abraham says the Yankees are trying a new way to get Washburn. Neither Abraham nor Geoff Baker believes Washburn's no-trade clause will be an issue or something the Yankees would compensate for. 9:59am: SI.com's Jon Heyman says Seattle's request of Cabrera and Gardner for Washburn is "a non-starter for the Yankees." FRIDAY, 9:21am: Joel Sherman says Igawa is not part of the Washburn discussions. THURSDAY, 5:36pm: According to Ed Price of the...   Continue Reading

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Yankees In Trade Talks For Washburn

11:38pm: SI.com's Jon Heyman checks in on these talks. He says the Yankees want to ship Kei Igawa to Seattle, but then the Mariners could see that and raise them a Jose Vidro. It would probably be easier for the Yankees to eat all of Washburn's contract while just sending the Mariners a marginal prospect. 9:34pm: Dan Graziano of the Newark Star-Ledger reports that the Mariners are scouting the Yankees' Double A club. The Ms aren't big on Melky Cabrera, but may be willing to take minor leaguers if New York takes on all of Washburn's contract. 1:36pm: According to...   Continue Reading

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Stark's Latest: Braves, Robertson, Igawa

Jayson Stark has a new Rumblings and Grumblings column up. Let's take a look. While Greg Maddux is not out of the question, the Braves are more interested in a younger starter they can control for multiple years. One possibly available starter who hasn't gotten much buzz: Nate Robertson. The 30 year-old southpaw hasn't pitched well since '06, and he's signed through 2010. The Mariners will probably talk about Miguel Batista and Jarrod Washburn, but not Erik Bedard. No big surprise there. Both Batista and Washburn are signed through '09. Stark rattles off a bunch of available relievers. Mostly names...   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Millwood, Posey, Igawa

Here's the latest link collection. Former Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta is now blogging for the public. He currently works for the Padres as Special Assistant for Baseball Operations. In his words, Kevin Millwood felt a stabbing pain even though he hadn't been stabbed. He's on the shelf with a groin injury, taking him off the trade market temporarily. Rays Index had some quality draft links yesterday about the Rays and their #1 pick. Jim Callis of Baseball America says catcher Buster Posey is "the current favorite." Joel Sherman wonders what might've been if the Yankees had signed Ted Lilly instead...   Continue Reading

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Padres Interested In Igawa, Lamb, Loretta

UPDATE: Will Carroll reports that the Padres appear to be close to a deal for both Lamb and Loretta. Not sure if the Ensberg acquisition changes this. I'm not sure when it was published, but Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the Padres have interest in Mark Loretta or Mike Lamb from the Astros. That we knew, but Krasovic also mentions that the Padres would like to buy low on Kei Igawa but the Yankees aren't shopping him   Continue Reading

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Madden Takes On Mike Pagliarulo

Bill Madden of the New York Daily News illustrates an interesting discrepancy regarding some harsh criticism of Brian Cashman. Mike Pagliarulo, former player and co-founder of a scouting company, has a pretty cool website called The BaseLine Report where he dishes scouting knowledge. His company often gathers intelligence on Japanese players and consults for many teams. Pagliarulo put up this MySpace post a few weeks ago, giving Brian Cashman a D- grade and calling him one of the worst GMs in the game. He compares the Kei Igawa signing to the Mike Hampton contract. Huh? Madden quotes Pagliarulo as writing,..   Continue Reading

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Rosenthal's Latest Videos: Teixeira, Dye, Garland

Ken Rosenthal has a couple of recent videos up at FOXSports. Check 'em out. Some highlights: The Mark Teixeira talks are at a standstill; the Braves and Angels are reluctant to improve their offers. The Dodgers are said to be out of the picture. Daniels, Schuerholz, Stoneman - which one blinks first? I'll say Daniels; he'll go with Atlanta's best offer. Jermaine Dye is Plan B for the Angels, but as you know the Red Sox still have interest. Jon Garland can be had, but Kenny Williams' price is sky-high. The Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Mets, and Braves all have interest. The..   Continue Reading

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Mariners Considering Kei Igawa, Al Reyes, Jason Jennings?

Apparently the Mariners have some interest in twice-demoted Yankees starter Kei Igawa, according to an uncited TV report. The report pleased Ichiro Suzuki and Kenji Johjima. Igawa is locked up through 2011, which may or may not be a positive. He earns another $1.5MM this year plus $4MM annually through the end of the contract. The posting fee situation ensures that Igawa's salary is really cheap, the price a team might pay for a semi-utility guy like Mark DeRosa. If Igawa can be league average in the comfy confines of Safeco, he's a bargain. More likely he'd have value to..   Continue Reading

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Yankees Starting Pitching Looking Ugly

I understand that the Chien-Ming Wang injury was just bad luck, and that the Yankees are being careful with him. Still, can you believe a $190MM team has a rotation including Carl Pavano, Darrell Rasner, and Kei Igawa right now? The Yankees' starting pitching has been atrocious. I don't mean to overreact after a week but one can certainly picture below-average contributions from Pavano and Igawa all year. Even the Yanks can't give away two games out of every five. Maybe Igawa gets acclimated, posts a 4.50 ERA over the balance of the season. But you have to admit that..   Continue Reading

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Yankees Sign Igawa

ESPN reported late last night (early this morning) that the New York Yankees have reportedly agreed to a contract with their own Japanese star pitcher Kei Igawa. Igawa should get $20MM (plus incentives) over 5 years according to the report and should fill the Yankees' fifth starter position in their rotation. That added to the $26MM the Yankees paid for Igawa'a posting fee brings his total cost to $46MM, more than $65MM less than Matsusaka of the Red Sox could cost (if all of Dice-K's incentives are met). With Igawa, the Yankees' rotation is currently looking to shape up with..   Continue Reading

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Making Progress With Kei Igawa

It seems very likely that the Yankees will sign Kei Igawa to serve as their fifth starter. According to Igawa's agent Arn Tellem: "We are making good progress. However, I do not anticipate reaching a deal this week." The two parties still have nearly two weeks left to negotiate. Igawa cost a hefty $26MM posting fee. The AL East has recruited all the major Japanese talent this year, with Matsuzaka, Igawa, Iwamura, and Okajima all ending up in the division. The inevitable Matsuzaka/Igawa pitching matchup should be a fun one   Continue Reading

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Yankees win Igawa bid

Looks like the Yankees won the bidding to negotiate with Japanese lefty Kei Igawa for $25 million. It was only a matter of time before Cashman threw some money around. In other news, the Brewers are closing in on a deal with Craig Counsell. (I'm not a fan: once around was enough for me.) That's right on the heels of hearing that Counsell was destined for San Diego; now, it would seem that Counsell's original deal-two years of playing second base for the Padres-now will go to Tony Graffanino, who Doug Melvin had wanted to bring back to Milwaukee as..   Continue Reading

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Pitchers on the move

Jason Schmidt has been offered $45 million over three years to join the Cubs. If that offer has been leaked already, $60M/4 seems within the realm of possibility. Strangely, Schmidt has already said he's not interested in the East Coast-you'd think he'd wait until Cashman made an offer and drove up his price before saying no. Once Schmidt signs, it'll be fun to watch Scott Boras conduct the sure-to-be-insane bidding for Barry Zito. Some team (to be announced tonight) won the bidding for Kei Igawa for $25 million. Hanshin has accepted. That's the second largest posting fee ever-somebody must think..   Continue Reading

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Kei Igawa Has Been Posted

Rotoworld lists the potential suitors for Kei Igawa as the "Padres, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Yankees, Braves, Mets, Cubs and Indians." They rule out the Red Sox and Mariners, though this Tacoma News-Tribune article says the M's are "likely" to bid. That same article predicts that the posting fee will be about "two-thirds less" than Daisuke Matsuzaka's $51.1M: $17M. That seems high for a guy who David Wright isn't convinced has MLB-quality stuff. Personally, I wouldn't want my team spending more than $10M for his rights, but with all those teams involved, $17M seems plausible. UPDATE: An alert e-mailer points out this..   Continue Reading

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Jays Considering Barajas, Mulder

Here are notes from the blog of Paul Hoynes, Indians beat writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. These were posted yesterday. Hoynes says the Blue Jays are talking to Rod Barajas and have some interest in Mark Mulder. Even if they signed both, the Jays would still need to come up with a shortstop and one decent starter. The Tribe is expected to bid on lefty Kei Igawa, who will be posted next week. If they win, the Indians, like the White Sox, would be six deep in their starting rotation. A good kind of problem   Continue Reading

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Cubs Could Settle For Kei Igawa

A week ago for my Top 50 Free Agents list, I ranked lefty Kei Igawa 24th overall and had this to say: "The Cubs have a clear need for a starter or two, and an increased focus on scouting Japan could lead to Jim Hendry to Igawa. Only one team can get Matsuzaka, after all. Igawa would be a fine consolation prize." With the winning Matsuzaka bid likely to exceed $30MM, it appears that my speculation could become reality. After reading some scouting reports on Igawa, though, I wonder if I ranked him too high. Keith Law ranked him 31st,..   Continue Reading

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Kei Igawa: Plan B To Matsuzaka?

It appears that both the Mets and Yankees were scouting 27 year-old lefty Kei Igawa Tuesday night against the MLB All-Stars. He'll be an option for teams looking overseas for pitching that are reluctant to break the bank. However, David Wright was not impressed: "Asked if Igawa's pitches were major-league quality, Wright hedged a bit. 'I just don't know,' Wright said. 'I'd have to see him when he's in midseason form. You send a guy up there after a month layoff and you can't get a handle on a guy. But as far as a lefty goes, he has a..   Continue Reading

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Update on Igawa, Kuroda, Iwamura

As you probably have read, Japanese ERA leader and free agent Hiroki Kuroda has re-signed with his current team the Hiroshima Carps. It was expected that he would stay in Japan, but it was thought he might sign with the Hanshin Tigers to be their ace. At one point, the posting of 27 year-old southpaw Kei Igawa by Hanshin was said to depend on the team signing Kuroda to replace him as the staff ace. Despite that option disappearing, it is expected that Igawa will still be posted this week. 71% of Japanese baseball fans filling out this survey believe..   Continue Reading

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Hiroki Kuroda To Stay In Japan?

Japanese free agent and ERA leader Hiroki Kuroda is leaning towards playing for the Hanshin Tigers in 2007. Kuroda was said to be on the Cubs' wish list. Should Kuroda join Hanshin, the likelihood of Kei Igawa being posted increases because Hanshin would have their ace. However, Kuroda could still be convinced to play in the U.S. and will take about a week to decide   Continue Reading

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Kei Igawa Hopes To Play On West Coast

Word from Yahoo Japan (in Japanese) tonight is that southpaw pitcher Kei Igawa would like to join a West Coast team. That probably means the Dodgers or Mariners, who have hosted such Japanese stars as Ichiro, Kenji Johjima, and Takashi Saito. Of course, Igawa is coming to the U.S. via the posting system and doesn't have a say in his destination. However, his preference to play on the west coast may compel Ned Colletti or Bill Bavasi to bid higher and sign Igawa to a slightly cheaper contract. So far the Braves, Mets, and Tigers have also been connected to..   Continue Reading

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Rosenthal On Matsuzaka, Igawa, Edmonds

Here's a link to Ken Rosenthal's latest. Rosenthal confirms Yahoo Japan's earlier story, which indicated that the Braves had interest in Japanese southpaw Kei Igawa. A Yahoo story had mentioned that Igawa's posting would be contingent on Hanshin signing free agent Hiroki Kuroda, but Rosenthal states as fact that Igawa will be posted. In addition to Atlanta, we know that the Mariners, Dodgers, Mets, and Tigers have special interest in Igawa. Rosenthal also officially adds the Tigers to the list of teams interested in Daisuke Matsuzaka. While we know every team has scouted him, the Cubs, Angels, Royals, Yankees, Mets,..   Continue Reading

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Posting Possibility: Kei Igawa

Kei Igawa is a 27 year-old southpaw with the Hanshin Tigers in Japan. He pitched 200 innings this year with a 3.11 ERA and 8.3 K/9, winning 13 games. Igawa made a request for posting after 2005, but was denied. While Igawa hopes to be posted this winter, the Tigers' owner seems opposed to the idea. There's also the somewhat odd and perhaps related occurence of Igawa breaking down in tears on the mound after his final home start. If he's not posted, Igawa will become a free agent after the 2009 season. Reader Iwanaga Tak was kind enough to..   Continue Reading

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