Ryota Igarashi Rumors

Odds & Ends: Yanks, Boras, Greinke, Cards

A few more items for Wednesday evening... Chad Jennings of The Journal News thinks the Yankees ought to at least call Toronto about right-handed ace Roy Halladay. "I have no idea what the asking price might be," writes Jennings, "but Halladay is better than [John] Lackey and he’ll surely cost fewer prospects than Felix Hernandez." As noted by the Boston Globe's Nick Carfado, MLB executive vice president Rob Manfred said Wednesday the revenue sharing figures thrown out by agent Scott Boras during last week's GM meetings "have no basis in reality" and that Boras is living in a "fantasy land."...   Continue Reading

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Giants, Pirates Interested In Igarashi

The San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates are among the teams interested in Japanese reliever Ryota Igarashi, according to Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. Giants GM Brian Sabean says that while Igarashi isn't their main priority, he's someone they're "looking into." Meanwhile, Pittsburgh GM Neil Huntington says that acquiring Akinori Iwamura was a factor in their interest in Igarashi: "In acquiring Iwamura, we opened the door to getting Japanese players. We gave up a middle reliever to get Iwamura, so he [Igarashi] is a player we have interest in." Igarashi is represented by Arn Tellem and the Wasserman Media Group,...   Continue Reading

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Igarashi To Pursue MLB Next Season

Patrick Newman at NPB Tracker passes along a report which says that hard-throwing reliever Ryota Igarashi has decided to pursue a Major League contract for 2010. We first learned that Igarashi qualified for international free agency back in June. The 30-year-old has spent his entire 11-year career with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, posting a 3.25 ERA with 630 strikeouts in 570 IP over 507 appearances. He's hooked on with agent Arn Tellem, who also represents Hideki Matsui. Patrick profiled Igarashi back in May. At 98.75 mph, Igarashi holds the record for the fastest pitch thrown by a Japanese pitcher in...   Continue Reading

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Igarashi Qualifies For Free Agency

Patrick at NPB Tracker passes along a report saying that righthander Ryota Igarashi has met service time requirements and will qualify for international free agency this offseason. The hard throwing 30-yr old has a 1.48 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP in 24.1 IP of relief for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Igarashi missed all of 2007 due to Tommy John surgery but pitched well in his return last season. He has closed in the past. Patrick profiled Igarashi last month, saying that he would be his choice for the top free agent coming out of Japan this offseason. At 98.75 mph,...   Continue Reading

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Odds & Ends: Igarashi, Cubs, Cardinals

Links for Friday... Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker talks about hard-throwing Japanese reliever Ryota Igarashi, perhaps the top free agent from the country for the 2009-10 offseason. I did a Q&A over at Coast to Coast Baseball. Some doubt with the sale of the Cubs to the Ricketts family: Tribune owner Sam Zell said, "We've made it very public that the Cubs don't fit into the long-term picture of the Tribune. So if the Ricketts deal doesn't get done, I'm sure there will be other ones." In separate articles, Dan Uggla and Octavio Dotel comment on the possibility of being...   Continue Reading

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