We heard earlier in the month that the Rakuten Golden Eagles had committed to
posting right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma. Patrick Newman from NPB Tracker tweets
that the bidding will begin tomorrow, and the Golden Eagles are hoping for a
posting fee of around $16MM-$17MM.
Any team looking to sign Iwakuma would have to then also negoitate the
right-hander's contract. The 29-year-old posted solid numbers across the
board this year with a 2.82 ERA, 6.9 K/9, and 1.6 BB/9 over 201 innings. That
marked Iwakuma's fourth straight season posting an ERA of 3.40 or better.
At 29 years old (30 next April), Iwakuma likely still has several good years
left in his arm. Newman has said recently that Iwakuma is the second-best MLB
pitching prospect currently in NPB. A posting fee that high, however, will
undoubtedly limit the number of interested teams, despite a thin market for
free agent starting pitching this season.
There's also the risk factor of bringing on a Japanese starter. While some,
like Hiroki Kuroda, deliver on the investment, no team wants to end up with a
Kei Igawa situation on their payroll.
$16MM-$17MM
小蛇準備好了嗎?_?