Ryota Igarashi has departed to Arizona for offseason training. On his way out, he let it slip that he had received an offer from a team he wanted to play for, but didn’t say which team it was. Nikkan Sports speculates that he’s received at least four offers already. Nikkan Sports also says that he wants to close in MLB, which I hadn’t read before.
Igarashi appears to be getting healthy amount of interest, and he’s arguably most attractive free agent reliever still remaining unsigned (he’ll come cheaper than, say, Fernando Rodney). Last week I ran down his current suitors, and haven’t seen anything since to suggest we need to add to this list.
Nikkan Sports and others are reporting that Hiroshima Carp ace Colby Lewis has turned down the team’s offer and will return to MLB for 2010. Lewis cited family health problems as his decision to leave the Carp.
Lewis leaves big shoes for Hiroshima to fill. He stepped in to the ace role that Hiroki Kuroda vacated, and in some ways outperformed the current Dodger. In 54 NPB games, Lewis went 26-17 with a 2.83 era, and led the Central League in strikeouts in each of the last two seasons. More impressive was his command of the strike zone, which was not his strength at the MLB level. In Japan, Lewis only walked 46 over 354.1 innings pitched. Somewhat weirdly however, he did hit 14 batters in 2009.
Lewis looks like an interesting back-rotation MLB starter to me, and could be very effective if his command makes the trip back. Please see our data site to get a feel for his arsenal.