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Igawa turning into Contreras
posted: Saturday, July 28, 2007 | Feedback | Print Entry

Five years ago, the Yankees won an enormous bidding war with a $32 million bid and signed Jose Contreras. But by the middle of his second season with the team, the Yankees had determined that Contreras couldn't cut it in New York, couldn't handle the pressure. And, some 15 months later, Contreras was the ace of the staff of a team that won the World Series.

Now it appears the Yankees are prepared to cut ties with another international free agent, Kei Igawa. Talent evaluators with six different teams indicated Friday that he is very much available in a trade, and while some have serious reservations about what they saw in his performance this year -- the erratic command, the tendency to leave pitches in the middle of the plate -- you do wonder if this is going to turn out a little like the Contreras departure.


Sure, he has been absolutely awful this season, but many scouts from multiple teams saw enough in Igawa in Japan to generate significant posting bids last fall; the Yankees won the process with a $26 million tender, but other teams, like the Mets placed major bids. I remember talking to a veteran scout last fall about Igawa, and while he thought the lefty wasn't going to be nearly as good as Daisuke Matsuzaka, he thought the lefty had the ability to miss bats, and had the stuff that would translate well to the big leagues.

But his first days with the Yankees could not have gone worse, and he was sent to the minors to have his mechanics altered. Some talent evaluators with other teams said privately at the time that they thought that this was a mistake, that it might do serious damage to Igawa's confidence. But with the Yankees, each day is a crisis and the crisis management was to get a better starter ASAP in Igawa's spot in the rotation.

Igawa is owed a total of about $18 million for this season and for the next four, and if some team believes he is a pitcher who can be fixed, he could be an incredible bargain, at a time when most free agent starters are getting $10 million a year. "Put him in the NL, in a bigger ballpark, and you might have something," said a rival executive.

The Yankees can't wait for Igawa to find himself, the same way they couldn't wait for Contreras.

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