Is Kei Igawa Movable?
This blog post generated a little traffic for NPB Tracker a couple of weeks ago. The gist of it was that Kei Igawa wasn’t wanted for the Japanese WBC team. This is true, he was never considered for inclusion. And it begs the question — can Igawa be moved? Either within MLB or back to NPB?
First let’s scratch a move back to NPB off the list of possibilities, at least for now. It was reported that the Yanks looked for a way to return Igawa after the 2007 season, but couldn’t make it work and gave up. Igawa fueled speculation in the Japanese media of an NPB return again last offseason, when went to visit the offices of the Hanshin Tigers, his old NPB team. Nothing came of that either, and Igawa wrote it off as just a visit. Later in the offseason, the former chair of the Tigers’ Old Boys club blasted him publicly, but I’m not sure if that’s entirely reflective of Hanshin’s management’s view of Igawa.
Hanshin still holds Igawa’s NPB rights, and the only way he could go to another NPB team would be if they choose to release him or trade his rights away. Kazuhisa Ishii is so far the only player to return to his former team after being posted.
Give Hanshin credit for posting Igawa when they did — they rode Daisuke Matsuzaka’s coattails to a $26m windfall for the team, without seriously harming their long term competitiveness.
So what about a move to another MLB team? Igawa was placed on waivers when he was removed from the Yanks’ 40-man roster was unprotected in the rule 5 draft last off season, but didn’t attract any takers. There were rumblings that Detroit was interested, and Yankees were trying to move him to the Brewers for Mike Cameron, but obviously nothing happened.
Igawa is openly showcasing himself for other teams this spring, and he’s doing a pretty good job at it. He’s survived the first cut of the spring and pitched 9 scoreless innings in 5 appearances so far. He also put up respectable numbers in AAA last year, but in this economy his contract will be an issue. Igawa is owed $4m/year for the next three seasons, so if the Yanks want him gone they’ll have to take some money back. The Giants seem like a fit if they can match up with the Yankees on a contract.
But perhaps the biggest stumbling block is Igawa’s reputation — no one seems to think he can survive at the MLB level. In an interview offseason, he said, with a laugh, “it seemed like there was a team that saw my (AAA) numbers and tried to acquire me. Then I was told ‘we found out the name, and it was you!'”. Igawa is going to have to prove he can be an MLB pitcher, and it’s going to take more than 8 good spring training innings to do that. It’ll probably take a combination of a lights-out spring plus some injury problems for him to get a look somewhere, but his spring performance is certainly a start.
15/03/2009 at 1:32 pm Permalink
I’m not sure if Igawa was really eligible for the rule 5 draft.
If the Yanks want to move im right now they’d have to eat large portions of his contract. So probably they’ll put him in AAA and trade him midseason when they really have to do some kind of trade.
But if Igawa stays off the 40 men roster ’till next winter he’s got the possibility to file for free agency AFAIK.
15/03/2009 at 1:56 pm Permalink
I’m not sure if Igawa was really eligible for the rule 5 draft.
You’re right. Here are the eligibility rules from the Rule 5 Draft Wikipedia Page:
Players are eligible for selection in the Rule 5 draft who are not on their major league organization’s forty man roster and:
– were signed at age 19 or older and have been in the organization for three years; or
– were signed at age 18 or younger and have been in the organization for four years.
Thanks for catching that.
16/03/2009 at 7:44 am Permalink
“But if Igawa stays off the 40 men roster ’till next winter he’s got the possibility to file for free agency AFAIK”
Hmmm…I’m not certain that’s true.
After the Yankees put him through assignment waivers last summer and he cleared, they moved him off the 40-man roster and he was outrighted to AAA, it’s true.
However, his MLB contract is still in full force and effect, meaning they have to honor the terms of that–he can’t become a free agent unless they decided to outright release him(by putting him through unconditional release waivers and clearing), and even then they’d still owe him the money.
If released, he could sign with another team(either a minor-league or major-league deal), but it would probably be for the league minimum(or less if a minor league deal).
And most players from Japan do get to become arbitration-eligible if their contracts only cover 3 or 4 years, unless they’re extended before the contract is up. If Igawa served out his full 5 years in MLB, he would technically have 1 year of arbitration-eligibility after that, although at this point, he’s not accumulating MLB service time by being in the minors, so I suppose that doesn’t really apply!
Anyway, just some thoughts. 🙂
16/03/2009 at 9:29 am Permalink
I can’t see Igawa voluntarily opting out of his deal in any event — there’s no way he gets $4m/year somewhere else.