There has been talk of the Mariners pursuing Hiroki Kuroda, a RHP out of Japan. He is a free agent so there is no posting fee and could come at a bargain compared to some other pitchers out there.
The Mariners could have an upperhand in signing Kuroda. He has a 103-89 career record in 11 seasons pitching in Japan. He has a career 3.69 ERA and has thrown 74 complete games. Kuroda has a 90-92 mph fastball, he throws a slider similar to Dice-K's, but he doesn't throw a curveball. His best pitch is a fork-split, which is his strikeout pitch.
Kuroda projects as a #3 starter in MLB and the Mariners have 2 openings in their rotation. Since he will come cheaper then some no-good, garbage free agent pitchers out there we think the Marines have to make a serious offer to him.
A Hernandez, Batista, Kuroda, Washburn, Rowland-Smith rotation doesn't get us jacked up over the roof, it does look better then if it had some of the other free agent pitchers out there in it. We discussed U.S.S. Mariner's offseason plan earlier, where they had the M's adding Bartolo Colon. If Seattle adds Kuroda and Colon, then it shows they are making a serious effort to improve the team, realizing that they cannot just sit on their hands because this team won 88 games last season.
The Mariners could have an upperhand in signing Kuroda. He has a 103-89 career record in 11 seasons pitching in Japan. He has a career 3.69 ERA and has thrown 74 complete games. Kuroda has a 90-92 mph fastball, he throws a slider similar to Dice-K's, but he doesn't throw a curveball. His best pitch is a fork-split, which is his strikeout pitch.
Kuroda projects as a #3 starter in MLB and the Mariners have 2 openings in their rotation. Since he will come cheaper then some no-good, garbage free agent pitchers out there we think the Marines have to make a serious offer to him.
A Hernandez, Batista, Kuroda, Washburn, Rowland-Smith rotation doesn't get us jacked up over the roof, it does look better then if it had some of the other free agent pitchers out there in it. We discussed U.S.S. Mariner's offseason plan earlier, where they had the M's adding Bartolo Colon. If Seattle adds Kuroda and Colon, then it shows they are making a serious effort to improve the team, realizing that they cannot just sit on their hands because this team won 88 games last season.
Mariners in hunt for Japanese ace? [Tacoma News Tribune]
The Japanese Scouting Report [Prospect Insider]
