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Hisashi Iwakuma

Odds & Ends: Dodgers, Boras, Francisco, Dunn

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Links for Tuesday night, one year after the White Sox signed Omar Vizquel. One year later, the White Sox have already re-signed the 43-year-old infielder for 2011… 

Iwakuma’s Agent Tweets His Side

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Talks between the Athletics and Hisashi Iwakuma broke off on Saturday, and his agent Don Nomura has taken to Twitter to explain why.

Nomura says the A's offered a four-year, $15.25MM deal, for an average of $3.8125MM per year.  The team was using Kei Igawa (five years, $20MM) and Colby Lewis (two years, $5MM) as comparables, while Nomura countered with Hiroki Kuroda (three years, $35.3MM) and Daisuke Matsuzaka (six years, $52MM).  The A's pointed to their $19.1MM posting fee, but Nomura wanted to keep the pitcher's contract separate (presumably since Iwakuma wouldn't see any of the posting fee money).  Nomura remains open to a deal since the sides have until December 8th, though he suggests the A's are now "hunting two free agent pitchers."  He finished by noting that the team's offer to Adrian Beltre "was just a PR" move.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle broke the story yesterday; her blog post was updated with similar information prior to Nomura's barrage of tweets.  Her source pegs the posting fee at $18MM.  In either case, Iwakuma would have cost the A's over $8MM a year.  In my opinion, that commitment was already plenty risky.

Oakland Breaks Off Talks With Iwakuma

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4:58pm: Slusser writes that the figure Iwakuma was said to be seeking was including the posting fee. She also notes that Iwakuma wasn't looking for the same number of years as Zito, just the same annual salary. Oakland, on the other hand, was thinking somewhere along the lines of a $3MM-$5MM salary.

The A's are also looking for a power hitter, and one thought was that signing Iwakuma could have made Oakland a more appealing destination for Hideki Matsui.

Slusser says she recently spoke with a scout who saw Iwakuma pitch in Japan, and described the 29-year-old as "Nothing special. Just a guy." With Iwakuma presumably out of the picture, Slusser says a healthy Outman would be the frontrunner for the fifth starter job. The 26-year-old lefty was having a strong season in 2009 before he underwent Tommy John surgery and missed all of 2010.

3:38pm: The Athletics have broken off talks with Hisashi Iwakuma, according to this series of tweets from Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

While the A's will have until December 7 to make a decision on Iwakuma, Slusser's sources have told her that Iwakuma was seeking something similar to Barry Zito's seven-year, $126MM contract with the Giants to sign in Oakland, which the A's are obviously unwilling to do. Iwakuma is preparing to announce his return to the Rakuten Golden Eagles at an upcoming fan fest.

If Iwakuma's demands don't come down, the A's will be down one fifth starter option, having traded Vin Mazzaro to Kansas City in exchange for David DeJesus. Slusser says the A's will then approach the season with Josh Outman, Tyson Ross, and Bobby Cramer as fifth starter candidates, barring a free agent signing of course.

It's not unthinkable that the A's would venture to free agency to find a suitable replacement; they clearly have the money to spend on pitching should they see fit. Oakland bid around $17MM to win the rights to negotiate with Iwakuma, but that amount will be returned if no deal is reached.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Cox, Crawford, DeJesus

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Two years ago today the Athletics acquired Matt Holliday from the Rockies in exchange for Carlos Gonzalez, Huston Street, and Greg Smith. Holliday hit .286/.378/.454 in exactly 400 plate appearances with Oakland before being dealt to the Cardinals for a package led by Brett Wallace at the 2009 trade deadline.

Street has battled injuries but has been solid when on the mound for Colorado, pitching to a 3.30 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 109 innings. Smith has appeared in just eight games for the Rox (all starts), putting up a 6.23 ERA. The real get was CarGo, who will certainly be in the MVP mix after a .336/.376/.598 season with 34 doubles, 34 homers, 26 stolen bases, and a batting title.

The hot stove league will certainly bring us more blockbuster trades, but for now you'll have to settle for this long collection of links, the best the blogosphere had to offer this week…

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.

Twins Rumors: Payroll, Iwakuma, Pavano

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The Twins spent about $101MM on payroll in their first season at Target Field. Now that Joe Mauer's $184MM extension is about to kick in, the team will likely be even more expensive in 2011. Here are the details on Minnesota's offseason plans:

Odds & Ends: Lee, Blue Jays, Mets, Hampton

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Here are the rest of the day's links on the 11th anniversary of the Shawn Green–Raul Mondesi trade…

  • Darek Braunecker, the agent for Cliff Lee, told the AP (on CBS Sports) that his client is “clearly the best player on the free-agent market.” Hard to argue with that one.
  • If the A's reach a deal with Japanese righty Hisashi Iwakuma, they'll have a surplus of arms and a number of suitors for them, so Mychael Urban of CSNBayArea wouldn't be surprised if Oakland flips a starter for some offense this offseason. 
  • Mets GM Sandy Alderson will interview DeMarlo Hale, Clint Hurdle and Don Wakamatsu for the team's managerial opening according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com (on Twitter).
  • Andy Martino of the New York Daily News hears that the Mets will also consider internal candidates Tim Teufel and Ken Oberkfell.
  • The Blue Jays announced that Wakamatsu will serve as the team's bench coach assuming the Mets don't hire him to be their next manager. Joining Wakamatsu on John Farrell's staff: former AL Cy Young Award winner Pat Hentgen.
  • Derrek Lee, who had surgery on a ligament in his right thumb, told Yahoo's Tim Brown that he'd like to sign with a team that has a good chance of reaching the playoffs.
  • The Pirates agreed to a minor league deal with left-handed reliever Justin Thomas, according to MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch.
  • Mike Hampton, who pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings with Arizona last year, wants to pitch again and is drawing interest, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).

Athletics Win Bidding On Hisashi Iwakuma

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8:03pm: The A's bid about $17MM, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter).

10:25am: The Athletics won the bidding on Japanese righty Hisashi Iwakuma, MLB announced (via Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports on Twitter).  Last night, Iwakuma's agent Don Nomura appeared to tweet the same.  The A's now have 30 days to hammer out a contract with Iwakuma.  Iwakuma's team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles, are expected to accept the bid, tweets NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman.  He adds that the Athletics and Golden Eagles already have a working relationship.  The Rangers and Mariners also submitted bids, according to Ken Rosenthal.

There's been speculation that Rakuten wanted roughly $18MM in a posting fee, but we really don't know what the A's bid.  Iwakuma could be a fairly risky signing with a contract on top.  Rosenthal suggested Saturday that the A's may be trying to create a pitching surplus, which for me conjures memories of their unexpected Esteban Loaiza signing five years ago.

Iwakuma, 30 in April, posted a 2.82 ERA, 6.9 K/9, 1.6 BB/9, and 0.49 HR/9 in 201 innings this year.  In August, Newman rated him as "the second best MLB pitching prospect currently active in NPB" in a FanGraphs article.  He described Iwakuma as "a fairly standard fastball/slider/forkball righty."  ESPN's Keith Law ranked Iwakuma as seventh-best free agent starter available, pegging him as a solid No. 4.

Athletics Win Hisashi Iwakuma Bid?

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SUNDAY, 10:00pm: Iwakuma's agent Don Nomura tweeted about the Athletics winning the bidding, it appears.

SUNDAY, 8:55am: NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman passes on a pair of Japanese reports suggesting that Rakuten will accept the top bid for Iwakuma, which could be higher than $16MM (Twitter links).

SATURDAY, 1:48pm: Rosenthal writes that the A's "are believed to have made a strong push" for Iwakuma. He speculates that if the Brewers are willing to part with Casey McGehee, they could potentially match up for a trade with Oakland given their need for pitching. 

1:07pm: Rosenthal says that the Athletics also bid on Iwakuma (Twitter link) with the idea trading one of the excess starters for a bat if they landed him. The FoxSports.com scribe adds that the Rangers may have bid too low.

12:11pm: FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal tweets that the Rangers may be the high bidder for Japanese righty Hisashi Iwakuma. Last night we heard that the Mariners were the favorite to land him. In a second tweet, Rosenthal says that Texas definitely submitted a bid, but there's no guarantee that the Rakuten Golden Eagles will accept the high bid. They were seeking $16MM-17MM in the posting process.

The Rangers had tremendous success bringing Colby Lewis over from Japan last year, so it makes sense that they'd explore that avenue again. Iwakuma is widely considered to be the second best starting pitcher in Japan behind Yu Darvish. 

The bidding closed last night, and reports out of Japan indicated that Seattle submitted a bid of $13MM. Iwakuma was also said to prefer the West Coast.

Odds & Ends: D’Backs, Red Sox, Simmons, Bush

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We're now less than 12 hours away from the start of free agency. Here are some links to help you pass the time…

  • The Diamondbacks have outrighted pitchers Leo Rosales and Clay Zavada off the 40-man roster according to the team's official Twitter feed. 
  • Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe places odds on each of the Red Sox's four free agents returning the team. 
  • Larry Larue of The Tacoma Tribune reports that the Mariners have hired Ted Simmons as a senior advisor to GM Jack Zduriencik. Simmons was in the mix for various managerial jobs.
  • The Rays have added Matt Bush, the first overall pick in 2004, to their 40-man roster according to The Tampa Tribune (Twitter link). Bush would have been eligible for minor league free agency otherwise. 
  • Joel Sherman of The New York Post hears from a source that Terry Collins is anywhere from "a strong candidate to the front-runner" for the Mets managerial job. Collins will interview with new GM Sandy Alderson this weekend, and has a backer in Fred Wilpon. He's also a favorite of Paul DePodesta, who Alderson is trying to lure to New York.
  • Don Wakamatsu has plenty of job opportunities these days. FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal tweets that he has an offer to become the Blue Jays bench coach, an interview for the Mets manager's job forthcoming, and is also in the mix to be Baltimore's bench coach. 
  • Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik unsurprisingly declined to comment about Hisashi Iwakuma two days ago, according to Larry Stone of The Seattle Times. Last night we heard that the Mariners appear to be the favorites to land the righty.
  • Robert MacLeod of The Globe And Mail passes along a quote from Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos in which he indicates a willingness to bringing Kevin Gregg back. He just wasn't comfortable with the price of the reliever's options, which is why they were declined.
  • Scott Boras told MLB.com's Todd Zolecki that the Phillies "have the ability to do what they need to do to retain their players," referring to Jayson Werth. He compared Philadelphia's financial situation to that of the Yankees 
  • Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News offers some good and bad news about the Rangers' catching situation.
  • Henry Schulman of The San Francisco Chronicle speculates that the Giants will keep an eye on Derek Jeter's negotiations with the Yankees. GM Brian Sabean ran New York's farm system when Jeter was drafted, so there's a connection there in the unlikely event that he can't work out a deal with the Yanks.

Bidding For Iwakuma Closes, Mariners The Favorite?

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NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman passes along a report saying that the bidding has closed for Japanese righty Hisashi Iwakuma (via Twitter), and a report from Sports Hochi (article in Japanese) indicates that the Mariners appear to be the favorite to land him. More than one team submitted a bid, and Seattle reportedly wagered $13MM.

The above reports indicate that Iwakuma prefers the West Coast, but neither the Angels nor Dodgers planned to submit a bid. Both the Yankees and Diamondbacks scouted him during the season, though whether or not they chose to pursue him remains to be seen. The Rakuten Golden Eagles were hoping to land $16MM-17MM in the posting process, though it appears they might fall a little short of that.

The Mariners have a long history with Japanese-born players, none more notable that Ichiro Suzuki. In recent years they've also employed Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Kazuhiro Sasaki, and Kenji Johjima, among others.

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