While still a productive hurler, Igawa became a target of enthusiastic fan criticism due to his inability to perform at his prior level. That's not at all how this was supposed to go. [6] Igawa returned to the Yankees in September 2007 when rosters expanded. He did it, he said, because of the quality of Colorado's schools. SV. So even before his new deal kicked in, he was a 32-year-old, declining player who was also severely damaged goods. The 10 wins, 105 strikeouts, and the 4.15 ERA were team bests for the 2009 year. The lefty lasted just parts of two seasons in pinstripes, pitching to a 6.66 ERA in 16 games (13 starts) and the Yanks ultimately buried him in the minors for the duration of his contract. Trenton Thunder activated LHP Kei Igawa from the 7-day disabled list. His signing in 2006 was a knee-jerk reaction to … Igawa has been the most praise in 2003, he performed 20 wins and ERA 2.80 so contributed to the victory of Tigers. Sandoval hit a lowly .245/.292/.366 last year and even played terrible defense, a part of his game he could usually rely on even when his sometimes erratic bat failed him. The Yankees signed him to a 5 year $20 million contract and paid a $26 million Japanese posting fee to get him in the first place. 1. He signed a five-year, $20 million contract on December 27, 2006. (USATSI). In February 2007, Igawa announced on his Japanese blog that he had married recently. For reference the Red Sox paid a … In the end, Toronto got just 155 1/3 innings out of Ryan, a ton of injuries, a breakdown in his skills that saw him lose his command by year three, and exactly zero major league innings in the final year of the pact. Not only did Crawford's defensive utility dry up, though; age and injuries eroded his speed, and a lack of over-the-fence power reduced Crawford to a rich man's version of Michael Bourn (maybe just a slightly well-off version, for that matter), both in Boston and then in L.A. That's a pretty horrible deal for $142 million. Kei Igawa, five years, $46 million from Yankees (2006). In January 2007, the Japanese Shogi Association appointed Igawa as the "shogi goodwill ambassador" to popularize shogi outside Japan, and presented the diploma of the first grade and the letter of the commission of authority to him. © 2004-2021 CBS Interactive. More Kei Igawa Pages at Baseball Reference. K. 0. Howard was undeniably a good player in his prime. All Rights Reserved. His record during day games in Japan was 4-5, 7.09 ERA. The Orix Buffaloes of NPB signed Igawa to a two-year contract worth ¥200M prior to the 2012 season. When the Yankees signed pitcher Kei Igawa to a 23 million dollar contract, they didn’t envision the left-hander spending the length of his contract in Triple-A … K. SV. After a couple of years in the Hanshin minor league system, Igawa entered the starting rotation in 2001. Hide Foreign. [8] He was promoted again in June for one appearance before being optioned back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre the next day. [12] On July 27, 2009, Igawa set a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre franchise record for most career wins, with a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Clippers. June 16, 2011 Igawa posted a 4.15 ERA in 145.3 Triple A innings this year, and still has $8MM remaining on his contract. [6] Igawa enjoys playing shogi. He also led the Central League with 206 strikeouts. The actual contract for the Japanese lefty cost just $20 million, but that didn’t include the $26 million posting fee the Yankees dished out to earn the right to negotiate with him. Ryan Howard, five years, $125 million from Phillies (2010). He finished third in ERA (2.49), trailing Masumi Kuwata and Kenshin Kawakami. The Rockies offered him what was at the time the biggest contract in major league history anyway, and Hampton happily accepted. In 2006, the Yankees took a big chance by paying a $26 million posting fee to negotiate a contract with Japanese pitcher Kei Igawa. Even if you remove that fee it’s still a bad deal. Kei Igawa (井川 慶, Igawa Kei, born July 13, 1979) is a Japanese left-handed pitcher. And while salaries' natural tendency is to rise (and thus shatter new records), the 2000 and 2001 offseasons stand out for ushering in so damn many of these off-the-charts deals. see also. Check out the latest news below for more on his current fantasy value. Real estate mogul Tom Hicks was one of the spendiest owners of that era, giving Alex Rodriguez his infamous quarter-billion-dollar megadeal (which would have looked pretty decent had A-Rod stayed with Texas and put up the numbers that he did in subsequent seasons), as well as throwing way, way too much money at Park. Igawa had stated that he preferred to stay in the United States to play in MLB after his contract with the Yankees expired. Igawa made a great contribution with his brilliant performance. [citation needed]. On November 29, 2006, it was announced that the New York Yankees were the highest bidders at $26,000,194, with the last three digits representing his strikeout total for the 2006 season. In 2004, despite leading the league at 228 strikeouts, he went 14-11 with a 3.73 ERA. July 7, 2011: Trenton Thunder placed LHP Kei Igawa on the 7-day disabled list. Kei Igawa, whom the Yankees signed for five years at a total of $46 million, did most of his bad pitching in the minor leagues. WHIP. Not only did they give him a 5yr/20M contract, they also paid a 26M posting fee (one that NO other team was coming close to for Igawa). Instead, the Yankees paid him like he was a perennial award winner, blowing him out of the water with a seven-year, $153 million contract that seemed ill-advised from the get-go. On July 27, 2007, Igawa was demoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yankees … 0. In 2010, Igawa was invited to spring training as a non-roster invitee. Originally, he was a fan of the Kashima Antlers, which is based near his hometown of Ibaraki, but he became a Gamba Osaka fan after joining the Hanshin Tigers. He was named to the Best Nine, won the MVP in the Central League and also won the Eiji Sawamura Award, the Japanese equivalent of the MLB Cy Young Award. Adjust for Arlington’s hitter-friendly environment all you want -- there's still no way to avoid wincing at 68 starts and a 5.79 ERA for $65 million. [16] Injuries were a problem for Igawa in his return to Japan, he made only 29 starts from 2012 to 2014. Top relief pitchers are far less valuable than top starters, often coming from the ranks of failed starters in the first place. Some of these people were baseball owners. League Foreign. Contract: 4 years, 12.8 million, plus the $3 million the Yankees sent to the Padres to acquire him Stats with the Yankees: 29-20, 4.80 ERA, 64 starts, 74 games, 395 2/3 IP Don't Edit But he also possessed the exact skillset that made him inherently overrated, and likely to age poorly. After 14 appearances they sent him down. First let’s scratch a move back to NPB off the list of possibilities, at least for now. [1], Igawa saw a decline in performance in 2004 and 2005. Even 11 years after this deal, you could count the number of relief pitchers you’d want to give this many years and this many dollars to on one hand. When the Sox signed Sandoval to a five-year, $95 million deal (and Hanley Ramirez to a simultaneous four-year, $88 million pact), they envisioned getting big production from both players, augmenting a core of rising young talent with two capable veterans. Feel free to pick your alternate favorites in the comment section below): B.J. In exchange for that deal, Igawa made just 16 appearances, posting a 6.66 ERA over 71 2/3 innings. Covering the impact of coronavirus on the sports world. Pablo Sandoval will miss the rest of the season after going under the knife to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. He was 2-4, 6.66 ERA, 13 starts, 16 … Ryan, five years, $47 million from Blue Jays (2005). 2021 Projections. On January 8, 2007, Igawa was officially announced at a Yankee Stadium press conference. On April 7, 2007, he made his major league debut, allowing 7 earned runs in five innings, but received a "no decision" because of Alex Rodriguez's walk-off grand slam. At the end of the 2011 season, the contract expired. Igawa is a 36-year-old of born 1979, he joined the Hanshin Tigers in 1997. And it begs the question — can Igawa be moved? Contract: 4 years, 12.8 million, plus the $3 million the Yankees sent to the Padres to acquire him This is true, he was never considered for inclusion. For his first two years, he was 2-4, 6.66 ERA, 13 starts, 16 games, 71 2/3 innings. The Red Sox will miss him...not at all. His wife and children visit New York for a couple months per year. [14] In 2011 Igawa played most of the season for the Yankees' AA affiliate, the Trenton Thunder, but did pitch four games in AAA for the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees where he went 1-0 with a 2.78 ERA. He played for the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). The Yankees signed him to a 5 year $20 million contract and paid a $26 million Japanese posting fee to get him in the first place. He was called up to replace Ian Kennedy,[7] In Igawa's first MLB start of the 2008 season, he gave up eleven hits and six runs in 3 innings. Matsuzaka has $ 23 million left on his contract. I guess if the Yankees want to spend money I thought this might be a good deal and I would assume only the Yankees would want to spend that kind of money. Either within MLB or back to NPB? Ditto the five-year contract for $20 million for Kei Igawa that had an additional $26 million posting fee to the Hanshin Tigers. New York coaches didn’t like anything they saw from the Japanese star who joined the club in 2007. Kei Igawa was another name in a long list of former Japanese All-Stars trying their hand on American shores. Considering the fact that Igawa pitches exceptionally better in night games, he wears sunglasses during day games to make the game environment closer to that of a night game. He also won the title of the most wins and best ERA. 41-Year-Old Pitcher P Free Agent Foreign. In 2006 Igawa started for the Yankees at the major league level. [13], During the 2008 and 2009 seasons, Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman twice attempted to sell Igawa to a Japanese team, but Igawa refused to return to Japan both times.[6]. New York Yankees introducing their new signing, Japanese pitcher Kei Igawa. In short, no matter how much or how little Sandoval and Ramirez play between now and the end of their deals, these will likely go down as two of the worst contracts signed by any team in recent memory. 2020 Stats. Add Your Blog Posts Here; Player News Archive; Player News RSS Feed; Hide MLB. The Yanks won Igawa’s rights with a $26,000,194 bid during the posting process; the extra $194 was an ode to his league leading strikeout total in 2006. This got us thinking: What are the worst contracts in baseball history anyway? Some context is in order for all the megadeals signed in 2000 and 2001: The stock market had gone bananas in the late-90s, soaring to unimaginable heights. They would have to all come after the advent of free agency, since baseball’s reserve clause all but ensured that players couldn’t get anything close to what they deserved, let alone have the opportunity to get overpaid. He was the winning pitcher in the Yankees' 3-1 victory over their rival Boston Red Sox.[2][3]. 6-keys: media/spln/mlb/reg/free/stories, at 6 Kei Igawa - New York Yankees (2007) - 5 Years, $46 Million This contract is a bit deceiving since it includes the $26 million posting fee the Yankees paid just to negotiate with Igawa. He was the number two draft choice of the Hanshin Tigers in 1998. Sherman tweets that there is interest in Japan from Kei Igawa, but he doesn't want to go. Igawa is a great soccer fan, but he joined the baseball club because there was no soccer club in his junior high school. In 2006, Igawa announced his intention to play in North America. However, on March 13 Igawa was once again cut and sent to AAA. Igawa was known to possess above-average control in Japan, but has a very poor track record of control at the Major League level.[18]. [9] On July 26, 2008, Igawa cleared waivers and was removed from the 40-man roster. The gist of it was that Kei Igawa wasn’t wanted for the Japanese WBC team. Height 6'1" Weight 212. WHIP. But while Sandoval’s name is in the news due to his season-ending surgery (and his considerable girth), don’t overlook Ramirez’s own lousy play. After posting the winning bid of $26 million, the team then signed lefty Kei Igawa to a five-year, $20 million contract. He was claimed on waivers by the San Diego Padres in August 2007,[4][5] but the Yankees pulled him back without making a trade. Eighteen months later, we can officially declare both contracts as disasters. Howard hasn't just been disappointing in the four-plus seasons since; he's been a sub-replacement level player in every season but one. Unlock Our Projections. Kei Igawa was a miserable pitcher. In 2003, the Tigers won the Central League pennant. He was only tied for fifth in strikeouts (down significantly to 145) and 10th in ERA, but was still third in the circuit in victories. 10:54 am ET, the third-worst player in the majors by Wins Above Replacement, 20 MLB in-season trade candidates for 2021 season, Cardinals' Bader out at least four weeks (forearm), MLB cracks down on pitchers using foreign substances, Ty Cobb's game-used bat sells for $1.1 million, Tatis Jr. leaves game with shoulder discomfort, MLB rankings: Top 5 players at every position, From Kei Igawa to Mike Hampton, a look at the worst deals in MLB history, Ranking top five players at every position, MLB cracks down on foreign substances for pitchers, Padres' Tatis leaves game with shoulder discomfort, Blue Jays' Yates expected to get Tommy John surgery, Twins demote top prospect Kirilloff after rough spring, D-Backs pitcher Gallen hurts forearm swinging bat. Kei Igawa. However, Ramirez’s .284/.306/.412 line at hitter-friendly Fenway Park, combined with passable defense at first base, still makes him the living embodiment of a replacement-level player. [citation needed], After failing to make the team out of spring training, Igawa started the year with Scranton/Wilkes Barre. [17], Igawa's fastball will usually stay in the 87-90 mph range, but he is able to reach back and throw harder when in need of a strikeout (tops out at 93 mph). The bigger problem, though, was that the Phillies banked on this short-shelf life skill set two years before they actually had to. Position: Pitcher Bats: Left • Throws: Left 6-1, 210lb (185cm, 95kg) Born: July 13, 1979 in Oarai, Japan jp. W-L. Howard signed his massive extension in April 2010, then tore his Achilles tendon in October 2011. The Yankees can overcome colossal wastes of money better than most other clubs. Player News. So with apologies to Wayne Garland, here are six of the worst contracts from a team perspective of the past 25 years. High School: Mito Shogyo (Mito Shogyo, Japan) Debut: April 7, 2007 (Age 27-268d, … Still, on an absolute production-per-dollar basis, it doesn't get much worse than this. Wow-what a mistake this was. W-L. 0-0. 0.00. Register Pitching. Igawa made his return start against the San Francisco Giants on June 22, 2007, allowing two earned runs in 4.2 innings. Sports Illustrated 6,523 views The New York Yankees, who spent $46 million to negotiate with and sign pitcher Kei Igawa, said on Thursday Japan's system for making talent available to Major League Baseball needs review. We haven’t heard a story this sad since the Kei Igawa saga unfolded in the Bronx. Kei Igawa was a miserable pitcher. July 4, 2011: LHP Kei Igawa assigned to Trenton Thunder from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Sandoval and Ramirez seem like bad deals now, but are they among the worst ever? 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