Igawa: Yankees rights with $25M bid

[Laura]

Maybe they used that parking garage money.

[Derwood]

who cares if the cubs spent that much? It doesn't count against payroll or luxury tax.

[1908]

Story from Kyoto news wire.

 

The Hanshin Tigers have accepted an offer from a major league team for the right to negotiate with left-hander Kei Igawa, the Central League club said Tuesday.

 

Hanshin made the announcement hours after the Major League Baseball commissioner's office notified the Osaka club of the amount of the highest bid. The successful bidder is scheduled to be revealed simultaneously in Japan and the United States on Wednesday morning Japan time.

 

Tigers President Toshihiro Makita said Hanshin plans to disclose the bid amount if it obtains approval from the highest bidder, who now has 30 days to reach a contract agreement with the 27-year-old key rotation starter.

 

''Igawa is one of the best pitchers in Japan, so there was little doubt that he would attract bids,'' Makita said. ''I believe the fact that he got an offer from a major league team shows what he is. And we had intended to welcome a bid since the beginning of this process if it was acceptable to us.''

 

Igawa said he felt as if he has just taken his first step toward fulfilling his dream of pitching in the majors.

 

''I have nothing to say about the bid amount,'' Igawa told reporters. ''It seemed as if I was waiting for results of the amateur draft. I've just taken a first step and I'm ready to play for any team that needs me based on what I've done (in Japanese baseball).''

 

According to media reports in the United States, the teams that have shown interest in Igawa include the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians.

 

Igawa had repeatedly tried to convince Hanshin to put him up for auction through the same system, only to have his request turned down by the team until receiving the green light finally after the 2006 season.

 

Igawa went 14-9 this year with a 2.97 earned run average, posting double-digit wins for the fifth straight year. He struck out 194 to tie Chunichi Dragons right-hander Kenshin Kawakami for the league lead, adding to the strikeout titles he won in 2002 and 2004.

 

Winner of the Sawamura Award and Central League MVP honor in 2003, the Ibaraki naive has an 86-60 record in his nine-year career with a 3.15 ERA and 1,174 strikeouts in 190 games and 1,244 innings.

[Sammy Sofa]

who cares if the cubs spent that much? It doesn't count against payroll or luxury tax.

 

Exactly. It's totally seperate from the payroll. It doesn't mean he'd get a huge contract afterwards.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

The team that posts for him has him for 6 years. So 24 million, is four million a year. Assume they can get him to sign a 6/18 contract, they get him for 7 million over six seasons which isn't too bad in this market.

[Garwilly]

who cares if the cubs spent that much? It doesn't count against payroll or luxury tax.

 

Exactly. It's totally seperate from the payroll. It doesn't mean he'd get a huge contract afterwards.

 

Count against the payroll for MLB purposes or not, the Trib would be spending an extra 25 million this season. That money does have to come from somewhere.

[Sammy Sofa]

who cares if the cubs spent that much? It doesn't count against payroll or luxury tax.

 

Exactly. It's totally seperate from the payroll. It doesn't mean he'd get a huge contract afterwards.

 

Count against the payroll for MLB purposes or not, the Trib would be spending an extra 25 million this season. That money does have to come from somewhere.

 

It's a pretty big company. I'm not sweating it. In contrast to almost everyone else here, I hope that the Cubs DID put in the highest bid. SPEND THEM DOLLAS AND POP THEM COLLAS.

[TruffleShuffle]

who cares if the cubs spent that much? It doesn't count against payroll or luxury tax.

 

Exactly. It's totally seperate from the payroll. It doesn't mean he'd get a huge contract afterwards.

 

Count against the payroll for MLB purposes or not, the Trib would be spending an extra 25 million this season. That money does have to come from somewhere.

 

It's a pretty big company. I'm not sweating it. In contrast to almost everyone else here, I hope that the Cubs DID put in the highest bid. SPEND THEM DOLLAS AND POP THEM COLLAS.

 

It's a pretty big company that's not in great financial shape, and actually has to answer to investors. If the Cubs run a $50 million deficit this season, there are going to be some pissed off people. This team isn't owned by Mark Cuban or Roman Abramovich (if you know your English soccer). There aren't unlimited resources. If the Cubs spend $25M on Igawa, that's definitely going to cut back on what else the Cubs can do this offseason.

 

And please don't pop them collas. Not if you have any self-respect.

Edited November 28, 2006 by TruffleShuffle

[Vinestal]

I hope the Cubs got him personaly, we wont know what the true amount was until MLB makes the announcement, I believe this guy could be a solid 3rd-4th starter and having another left hander in the rotation sure would be nice. I think they could get Kei and still get Schimdt, which would give us a very formidable rotation.

[Sammy Sofa]

*POPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOP*

 

Spend like there's no tomorrow!

[TruffleShuffle]

*POPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOP*

 

Spend like there's no tomorrow!

 

yeah, talk to the new york knicks about how that's working out for them

[goonys evil twin]

If the Cubs spend $25M on Igawa, that's definitely going to cut back on what else the Cubs can do this offseason.

 

 

Quite possibly, but not necessarily. If they bid $25m and that counted against the theoretical budget of $125m this year, then that's bad. But that $25m represents an investment that could possibly make the franchise more valuable over time.

 

 

 

oh, and I completely agree with your collar popping statements

Edited November 28, 2006 by goony's evil twin

[VanceJergins]

From the quotes I've seen lately, Hendry didnt seem too excited about Igawa. So if the bid really is $25 million, I doubt its from us. But who knows.

[Bruno7481]

25 Million for a guy projected to be a 5th starter or long reliever?

 

Damn, I bet Glendon Rusch wishes he was Japanese.

[Jehrico]

I don't understand why they're waiting until Friday to make a decision. Just sort the bids in reverse numerical order, and whoever's on top, gets the rights to negotiate with him. It's not rocket science. I don't know what the hold up is.

 

igawa's japanese team has until friday to decide whether or not to accept the bid. we're not waiting for them to determine who made the largest offer - that's already known by the commissioner's office and igawa's team.

 

So they posted him without giving any previous thought as to what would be an acceptable bid? I would find it hard to believe that they didn't have a minimum in mind that they would accept in exchange for giving up their rights to him. You would think that they've already thrown some crap at the wall on that one.

 

I think they have already determined what would be acceptable. But there is still a lot of due diligence that goes into decisions involving this much money. First and foremost, I would think they would want to be absolutely certain that the winning bidder would end up signing the guy, so they wouldn't have to give the money back.

That doesn't make any sense. They don't get paid anyways until the guy is signed. They already made the decision to post him for money, and they should already have had an idea how much they were looking for at a minimum. There's no risk in accepting the bid and having the team end up not signing him. Then they're back where they started, with nothing lost that wasn't already sunk in the decision to post him.

 

No, it does make sense. They wouldn't want to accept a bid from a team that didn't end up signing the guy. If they suspected the winning bidder was just bluffing other teams, I'm sure they'd go to MLB to try and get some assurances that the winning bidder was legit.

 

If that happens, the commissioner can get involved and assess measures to take against a team, then the Tigers could simply repost him.

[TruffleShuffle]

25 Million for a guy projected to be a 5th starter or long reliever?

 

Damn, I bet Glendon Rusch wishes he was Japanese.

 

yeah, so he could wrestle sumo

[Soul]

From the quotes I've seen lately, Hendry didnt seem too excited about Igawa. So if the bid really is $25 million, I doubt its from us. But who knows.

 

Not one chance in hell it's us. You can flog me later if I'm wrong. If I am, then Hendry is even more desperate for pitching than even I thought.

[Guest]

25 Million for a guy projected to be a 5th starter or long reliever?

 

Damn, I bet Glendon Rusch wishes he was Japanese.

 

yeah, so he could wrestle sumo

 

 

the pitcher doesn't get the money anyway . . .

[Bruno7481]

25 Million for a guy projected to be a 5th starter or long reliever?

 

Damn, I bet Glendon Rusch wishes he was Japanese.

 

yeah, so he could wrestle sumo

 

 

the pitcher doesn't get the money anyway . . .

 

I know that, but it is still money that has to be paid in order to get the player.

 

Is this guy really worth that kind of bid?

[Derwood]

With the Cubs being linked to so many free agent pitchers, it would seem silly for them to bid high here.

[NorthsideAvenger]

We are being mentioned....

 

The Cubs are believed to have put in a bid for Japanese left-hander Kei Igawa prior to Monday's deadline, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The Yankees, Mets, Giants and Padres are amongh the others thought to have bid in Igawa, who could go for $10 million or more.

 

Awww....man, Boston isn't going to pony up $30 or so million dollars for Igawa? Crap.

 

I can't wait to see what happens when Boston gives up its right to negotiate with Matsuzaka. It's going to be a complete free for all.

 

I think he's talking about the $ the Red Sox are going to throw at players if the deal falls through.

 

Actually, I was being sarcastic. Considering the "fee" Boston paid just to talk to Matsuzaka, I thought---sarcastically---that the Red Sox were going to throw $30 mill at Igawa for "shoots and grins."

 

Well, then considering the "winning bid", I guess I was too far off.

[Rob]

If the fee really is 25 mil, there's no way it's us.

 

I could see us potentially throwing 13 or so at him, but there's no way we threw 25.

[Guest]

25 Million for a guy projected to be a 5th starter or long reliever?

 

Damn, I bet Glendon Rusch wishes he was Japanese.

 

yeah, so he could wrestle sumo

 

 

the pitcher doesn't get the money anyway . . .

 

I know that, but it is still money that has to be paid in order to get the player.

 

Is this guy really worth that kind of bid?

 

I would just go sign Ted Lilly instead. but maybe its a marketing ploy.

[goonys evil twin]

YES says Yankees won the bid.

[Guest]

YES says Yankees won the bid.

 

LOL. at least he's left-handed and manny might be leaving the division.