True Blue LA - Dodgers' 3-year deal with Hisashi Iwakuma falls apartWhere The Dodger Dogs Are Always Grilledhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/49563/truebluela_fav.png2015-12-17T21:56:12-08:00http://www.truebluela.com/rss/stream/96283572015-12-17T21:56:12-08:002015-12-17T21:56:12-08:00Iwakuma returns to Mariners on 1-year deal
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<figcaption>Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>LOS ANGELES -- The <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Dodgers</a>' pursuit of <span>Hisashi Iwakuma</span> is now officially over, with the pitcher returning to the <a href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Seattle Mariners</a> on a one-year contract for 2016, with vesting options for 2017 and 2018, the Mariners announced on Thursday night.</p>
<p>Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto made the announcement at the Mariners holiday party.</p>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Jerry Dipoto delivers a special gift to the front office at the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mariners?src=hash">#Mariners</a> holiday party: Kuma is back. <a href="https://t.co/8Bo8Y93ub2">pic.twitter.com/8Bo8Y93ub2</a></p>
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mariners/status/677722932324392960">December 18, 2015</a>
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<p>The Dodgers had a reported agreement with Iwakuma for a three-year, $45 million contract, but reports out of Japan on Thursday <a target="_blank" href="http://www.truebluela.com/2015/12/17/10271734/hisashi-iwakuma-failed-physical-dodgers">said Iwakuma failed the Dodgers' physical</a>, and a new deal could not be worked out.</p>
<p>Earlier Thursday, Dodgers manager <span>Dave Roberts</span> said he wasn't given daily updates on the club's pursuit of Iwakuma, but did address the issue.</p>
<p>"I don't know a whole lot about it. I know there was an opportunity to sign him. I just know that I like the player when he's healthy," Roberts said. "There's really not a day-to-day of we might do this, we might do that. I don't know where we stand right now."</p>
<p>Iwakuma was 9-5 with a 3.54 ERA in 20 starts with Seattle in 2015, with 111 strikeouts and 21 walks in 129... innings. He has a 3.17 ERA in four years in the majors, all with the Mariners, and was third in the American League Cy Young voting in 2013.</p>
<p>The Dodgers' offseason has seen their pursuit to keep <span>Zack Greinke</span> usurped by not one, but two teams within the division, then had a trade for closer <span>Aroldis Chapman</span> scuttled by a month-old domestic violence incident just coming to light. Iwakuma, a fallback option for Greinke, then reportedly agreed to a deal, only to see it fall apart.</p>
<p>Roberts walked the company line when asked if he was concerned about the Dodgers' offseason to date.</p>
<p>"I like the core and nucleus of players we have on the 25-man roster. It's impressive for the [front office] not to be reactionary. There's a push to do something right now," Roberts said. "For us to make a good go at Greinke, and what happened with Aroldis, it's not that we're sitting on our hands. The guys are working hard to better out club. We don't believe to force something.</p>
<p>"There's plenty of time between now and opening day, and it's been proven that just because you win the offseason doesn't mean you win the postseason. There's really no correlation."</p>
<p>The Dodgers, for now, will <a target="_blank" href="http://www.truebluela.com/mlb-draft/2015/10/5/9453005/2016-mlb-draft-dodgers-first-round">retain their first-round draft pick in 2016</a>, which would have been forfeited had they signed Iwakuma, one of 16 free agents to decline a qualifying offer in November.</p>
https://www.truebluela.com/2015/12/17/10497600/hisashi-iwakuma-contract-mariners-dodgers-outEric Stephen2015-12-17T09:14:46-08:002015-12-17T09:14:46-08:00Iwakuma reportedly fails physical
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<p>The <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Dodgers</a> offseason has gone from depressing to downright laughable, with the latest misstep a failed physical exam from fallback option <span>Hisashi Iwakuma</span>, per reports out of Japan.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jiji Press reporting the Dodgers backing out from Iwakuma after failed physical. <a href="https://t.co/JJ3MMEmWxI">https://t.co/JJ3MMEmWxI</a></p>
— Kazuto Yamazaki (@Kazuto_Yamazaki) <a href="https://twitter.com/Kazuto_Yamazaki/status/677521090579587072">December 17, 2015</a>
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<p>The <a href="http://www.truebluela.com/2015/12/6/9859328/hisashi-iwakuma-dodgers-agreement-report" target="_blank">three-year, $45 million contract reportedly agreed to on Dec. 6</a> is now in limbo at least, though apparently not completely dead. Re-working the deal remains a possibility, also suggested by Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times.</p>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">"Inaccurate" to say <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Dodgers?src=hash">#Dodgers</a> are out on Iwakuma, I'm told. Perhaps they're reworking the contract?</p>
— Dylan Hernandez (@dylanohernandez) <a href="https://twitter.com/dylanohernandez/status/677532695237255168">December 17, 2015</a>
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<p>Iwakuma was 9-5 with a 3.54 ERA in 20 starts in 2015 with the <a href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Mariners</a>, with 111 strikeouts and 21 walks in 129⅔ innings. He missed 66 games from April to July with a strained right latissimus dorsi muscle in his upper back.</p>
<p>The right-hander, who turns 35 in April, has averaged 27 starts and 176 innings over the last three seasons.</p>
<p>It is unknown exactly what caused Iwakuma to fail the physical.</p>
<p>He missed a month at the opening of the season in 2014 with a strained tendon in his right middle finger.</p>
<p>Iwakuma was limited to just six starts in 2006 with Rakuten in Japan, dealing most of the year with lingering shoulder soreness. One year later he was sidelined during the year with back soreness and a left oblique strain, limited to just 16 starts. After the 2007 season Iwakuma had arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow in October.</p>
https://www.truebluela.com/2015/12/17/10271734/hisashi-iwakuma-failed-physical-dodgersEric Stephen2015-12-06T20:36:00-08:002015-12-06T20:36:00-08:00Dodgers, Iwakuma nearing 3-year deal
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<figcaption>Harry How/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> have reportedly added free agent right-handed pitcher <span>Hisashi Iwakuma</span> to their starting rotation, adding the soon-to-be 35-year-old, <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/JonHeymanCBS/status/673694545339531266">per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports</a>, who says the agreement is believed to be for three years. Nikkan Sports reports that <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nikkansports.com/baseball/mlb/news/1576293.html">the total contract is worth roughly $45 million</a>.</p>
<p>Jim Bowden of ESPN <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/JimBowden_ESPN/status/673668379006365697">was first to report the agreement</a>.</p>
<p>Iwakuma <a target="_blank" href="http://www.truebluela.com/2015/12/5/9855296/hisashi-iwakuma-interest-dodgers-rumors-free-agency-mlb">moved up the Dodgers' wish list over the weekend </a>after losing <span>Zack Greinke</span> to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> on Friday, and with free agent target <span>Jeff Samardzija</span> signing with the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/">Giants</a> on Saturday.</p>
<p>The Japanese right-hander was 9-5 with a 3.54 ERA in 20 starts for the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/">Mariners</a> in 2015, with 111 strikeouts and 21 walks in 129⅔ innings. He missed nearly two months with a right lat strain, but after returning from the disabled list in Seattle was 9-4 with a 3.10 ERA, with 100 strikeouts and 18 walks in 113⅓ innings.</p>
<p>Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi was in the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.athleticsnation.com/">Athletics</a> front office when Oakland won the negotiating rights with Iwakuma after the 2010 season for a reported $19.1 million bid. But with one year before Iwakuma was to hit free agency in Japan, the A's were unable to reach an agreement with Iwakuma in their 30-day negotiating window.</p>
<p>"Their offer was low and they weren't sincere," then-agent Don Nomura <a target="_blank" href="http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5898160">told the Associated Press at the time</a>.</p>
<p>After returning to Rakuten for one more season in Japan, Iwakuma signed as a free agent with the Mariners before 2012. In his four years in Seattle, among MLB pitchers with at least 400 total innings, Iwakuma <a target="_blank" href="http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=400&type=8&season=2015&month=0&season1=2012&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=16,a">ranks 15th in ERA (3.17)</a>, 39th in FIP (3.62), 16th in xFIP (3.25) <a target="_blank" href="http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=400&type=1&season=2015&month=0&season1=2012&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=9,d">and 18th in K-BB% (16.3 percent)</a>.</p>
<p>Iwakuma pitched partially in relief in 2012, but was a full-time starter the last three seasons, averaging 27 starts and 176 innings per year. He also missed a month in 2014 with a sprained right middle finger.</p>
<p>The Mariners did extend a qualifying offer to Iwakuma, who declined the one-year, $15.8 million offer. That means the Dodgers will have to forfeit their first-round draft pick in 2016, which <a target="_blank" href="http://www.truebluela.com/mlb-draft/2015/10/5/9453005/2016-mlb-draft-dodgers-first-round">given the other reported signings to date was the 23rd pick</a>. Seattle would get a compensatory pick between the first and second rounds.</p>
https://www.truebluela.com/2015/12/6/9859328/hisashi-iwakuma-dodgers-agreement-reportEric Stephen2015-12-05T16:04:56-08:002015-12-05T16:04:56-08:00Iwakuma on Dodgers radar
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<p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> start the winter meetings this coming week in Nashville with a gaping hole in their starting rotation, thanks to <span>Zack Greinke</span> signing with Arizona. But the Dodgers are trying to remedy that, with free agent right-hander <span>Hisashi Iwakuma</span> the latest target, <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/673280146737074181">per Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports</a>.</p>
<p>Iwakuma turns 35 in April, so he presumably wouldn't require the long-term commitment of younger pitchers like <span>Johnny Cueto</span>, or the five-year deal signed by <span>Jeff Samardzija</span> with San Francisco earlier on Saturday. The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/">Giants</a>, even after agreeing to terms with Samardzija, are also interested in Iwakuma, as are the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/">Mariners</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/673283822608367616">per Rosenthal</a>.</p>
<p>The Dodgers, as you might imagine, are linked to just about every available starting pitcher on the market, with <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/JonHeymanCBS/status/673285616981905408">Jon Heyman of CBS Sports</a> specifically mentioning Iwakuma, Cueto, <span>Mike Leake</span>, Kenta Maeda, and of course "maybe more."</p>
<p>Iwakuma was 9-5 with a 3.54 ERA and 3.74 FIP in 20 starts with Seattle in 2015, with 111 strikeouts and just 21 walks in 129⅔ innings, including pitching a no-hitter on Aug. 12 against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.camdenchat.com/">Orioles</a>. He missed seven weeks on the disabled list with a right lat strain from the end of April until the first week of July.</p>
<p>From Aug. 1 through the end of the season, Iwakuma was 7-3 with a 2.63 ERA in 12 starts, with 74 strikeouts and 13 walks in 82 innings.</p>
<p>He also missed the first month of the season in 2014 with a sprained right middle finger.</p>
<p>Iwakuma finished third in American League Cy Young Award voting in 2013, and over the last three seasons has averaged 27 starts, 176 innings, 150 strikeouts and a 3.17 ERA, a 117 ERA+. Among the 54 pitchers with at least 500 innings from 2013-2015, Iwakuma ranked 10th in ERA, 21st <a target="_blank" href="http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=500&type=8&season=2015&month=0&season1=2013&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=17,a">in FIP (3.45)</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=500&type=8&season=2015&month=0&season1=2013&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=18,a">11th in xFIP (3.17)</a>.</p>
<p>Iwakuma during that span also ranked 10th in K-BB% (17.5 percent), just below ninth-place Greinke (17.9 percent). He has struck out between 21.3 percent and 21.7 percent of his batters faced in each of his three full seasons as a starter.</p>
<p>Seattle made Iwakuma a qualifying offer, so signing him would cost the Dodgers their first-round pick, currently with the other signings <a target="_blank" href="http://www.truebluela.com/mlb-draft/2015/10/5/9453005/2016-mlb-draft-dodgers-first-round">at No. 23 overall in the 2016 draft</a>. The Mariners would receive a compensatory pick in between the first and second rounds should he sign elsewhere.</p>
<p>An ancillary benefit of Iwakuma signing would be <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/8/12/9145453/felix-hernandez-hisashi-iwakuma-no-hitter-hat">adding the "Kuma Bear" hats to the gift shop</a>.</p>
https://www.truebluela.com/2015/12/5/9855296/hisashi-iwakuma-interest-dodgers-rumors-free-agency-mlbEric Stephen