Archive for the ‘Hiroki Kuroda’ Category
According to Ken Gurnick over at MLB.com, Japanese Right Hander Hiroki Kuroda finalized a three year deal worth about 35.3m
Kuroda went 12-8 with the Hiroshima Carp in Japan last year.
Sphere: Related ContentKyodo News out of Japan is reporting that Japanese free agent pitcher Hiroki Kuroda appeared to have chosen the Los Angeles Dodgers as his new team. He is expected to leave for the United States as early as Wednesday to sign a contract.
Kuroda, 32, went 12-8 with a 3.56 ERA for the Hiroshima Carp last season in Japan. In 2006, he went 13-6 with a 1.85 ERA with 7 complete games in 26 games.
Sphere: Related ContentAccording to Mark Hale of the New York Post, the Mets seem to be focusing their attention on free agent pitchers. Omar Minaya met with the agent of RHP Livan Hernandez yesterday, and were set to meet with the agents of RHP Octavio Dotel and Shawn Chacon as well.
Hale also reports that the Mets, who made the second round of bidding for Japanese RHP Hiroki Kuroda, are not one of the finalists. The four teams remaining are the Mariners, Royals, Dodgers and Diamondbacks.
At this point, this is the right decision by Omar. Although we would all like to see a top of the rotation free agent starter acquired, the chances of this happened seem slim, thus Minaya now needs to go to plan B.
Sphere: Related ContentMark Hale at the New York Post reports that the Mets have advanced to “Round 2″ of the bidding process for Hiroki Kuroda. The Mets let Kuroda know about what they would be willing to spend for his services.
8 to 10 teams including the Royals, Phillies, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Cubs, Rangers and Mariners have interest in the Japanese pitcher with the Mariners making an offer of 3 years for 30 million or 4 for 44 million according to the News Tribune. The Philadephia Inquirer reports that the Phillies have an offer out to Kuroda as well.
Sphere: Related ContentPeter Gammons of ESPN has reported that the Mets don’t currently have the trading chips to acquire one of the Athletics pitchers, Dan Haren or Joe Blanton. They were also denied a trade for Erik Bedard late last week. With that said, it may be time for the Mets to look elsewhere. Here is a list of potential targets and what they are valued at.
LHP Dontrelle Willis (Florida Marlins) - The Marlins have stated that they are willing to listen to offers for Willis, though they are expected to retain him for the 2008 season, or at least until the July 31st trading deadline. Willis is coming off his worst season of his career, going 10-15 with a 5.17 ERA. Throughout the past three seasons, Willis’ strikeout to walk ratio has decreased each season. In 2005, Willis struck out 170 while walking 55. The following season in 2006, he notched 160 strike outs while walking 83. Finally, last season, he struck out 146 and walked 86.
Potential Suitors: Mets, Reds, Mariners, and Diamondbacks
Cost: Two young players
Bartolo Colon (Free Agent) - Colon could definitely be a high-reward/high-risk signing for any team that picks him up. He has played only 28 starts due to his battle with shoulder and elbow problems since the beginning of the 2006 season. Omar once traded prospects Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips in a deal for Colon when he was general manager for the Expos.
Potential Suitors: Mets, Padres, Rangers, Diamondbacks, Phillies, Mariners, Nationals
Cost: One-year, $9 million deal or two-year, $16 million
Carlos Silva (Free Agent) - The 28-year old Silva currently leads a very thin market of starting pitchers. He went 13-14 with a 4.19 ERA for the Twins last season and figures to cash in at around $10 million a season with another team. Plenty of teams remain interested in him, though most of them plan to use him as a fall back option and prefer to look to the trade market before committing a large contract to him.
Potential Suitors: Mets, Royals, Cardinals, Tigers, Phillies
Cost: 4-Years, $40 million
Livan Hernandez (Free Agent) - Hernandez is an innings eater. He has not pitched less than 200 innings in any season since 1999. He went 11-11 with a 4.93 ERA for the Diamondbacks last season. The Mets lost a 200 inning pitcher in Glavine to the Braves via free agency and they need to find a way to fill those lost innings. The team have made it known that Livan is more likely a Plan C or D. The fact that his half-brother El Duque is on this team and his history with Omar in Montreal makes him a strong candidate to be a Met in 2008.
Potential Suitors: Mets, Astros, Cardinals
Cost: Three-years, $21 million
Hiroki Kuroda (Free Agent) - The 33-year old right hander went 12-8 in 26 starts with a 3.56 ERA for the Hiroshima Carp last season in Japan. Scouts project him to become a middle of the rotation starter in the MLB. Conflicting reports have come out recently that the Mariners have have offered him a contract. One report says that it was for three-years, $30 million. The other states that they offered him four-year, $44 million.
Potential Suitors: Mets, Mariners, Dodgers, Royals, Phillies, Cubs, Rangers
Cost: Four-year deal, $45 million
Sphere: Related ContentAccording to Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic, the Arizona Diamondbacks have made an offer of 3-years, $27 million for Japanese free agent right-hander Hiroki Kuroda, though industry insiders consider the Seattle Mariners to be the heavy favorite to land Kuroda.
Sphere: Related ContentPhillies beat writer Todd Zolecki ruminates on the Phillies off season plans on his blog for the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Phillies plans do not seem to include Aaron Rowand. Rowand will likely command something in the neighborhood of a six years, $14 million per year contract in the wake of Torii Hunter’s massive deal.
Zolecki writes that the Phillies feel they have some depth in the outfield to cushion Rowand’s loss, and thinks righthander Hiroki Kuroda is a better investment. A rotation that includes Adam Eaton and his 6.29 ERA along with a 45 year old Jamie Moyer is certainly in need of an upgrade.
Sphere: Related ContentConsidering the landscape of this free agent market, this year could be the biggest off-season of trades in quite some time.
Johan Santana, Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis, Scott Rolen, and Miguel Tejada are among those who could be seeing a change in scenery this winter.
In terms of Santana, Jayson Stark on ESPN writes that the Mets might be the team most willing to give up the prospects needed to get him.
One NL executive says: Watch out for the Mets, given the pressure on GM Omar Minaya to win now.
“Omar seems determined to make a huge splash,” the exec says. “And I think that’s the guy they’ve had earmarked all along.”
The Dodgers, Angels, Yankees, and Mets would appear to be the top teams in the running for Santana.
The Yankees don’t appear willing to deal Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, or Phillip Hughes, which would likely put they out of the running for Santana.
The Dodgers would need to make a choice on who to use their prospects on, Cabrera or Santana. Buster Olney on ESPN cites a NL source who said that the Dodgers and Marlins are ‘pretty far apart’ on Cabrera. Olney writes that ‘there is growing expectation around the game is that the Angels will land Cabrera’.
However Rosenthal believes the Angels no longer are the front-runners for Cabrera.
Rosenthal cites major-league sources who say, if the Dodgers are willing to part with outfielder Matt Kemp along with third baseman Andy LaRoche and Class AA left-hander Clayton Kershaw, they would likely be able to land the Marlins All-Star third baseman.
If the Dodgers fail to land Cabrera, they are rumored to have interest in Scott Rolen as well.
Jayson Stark believes it will take two young players to get Dontrelle Willis. The Mets, Mariners and Diamondbacks are believed to have interest.
The Orioles want to get rid of the $26 million left on Miguel Tejada’s contract which does not leave many suitors. The Dodgers and Angels may use Tejada as plan B if they lose out on Cabrera. The O’s are also rumored to be shopping Erik Bedard.
The Reds may make Ryan Freel or Scott Hamilton available due to the emergence of minor league player of the year Jay Bruce.
The Pirates could offer 26-year old Ian Snell who has more quality starts (22) than Santana or Roy Oswalt and a better strikeout rate (7.66 per 9 innings) than Carlos Zambrano or Ben Sheets.
The Phillies are looking at Randy Wolf, Matt Clement, Kris Benson, Mike Wood, and Japanese free agent Hiroki Kuroda.
Sphere: Related ContentHere’s a rundown of Hot Stove news this afternoon…
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