Igawful

By Austin Amoroso

The Yankees keep waiting for Kei Igawa to turn it around. He is going to realize a mechanical flaw and fix it, they pray. Something is going to “click”. Unlikely.

Almost four months into the experience, Igawa has been nothing but a disappointment. He’s made nine starts and has two wins and a 7.14 ERA to show for it. It was so bad that he was demoted to the minors in May to work on his mechanics.

"There's some things he's got to fix, mechanically, we believe," GM Brian Cashman said in May. "He's got major league ability, we have no doubt about that. We've seen it in three games. But we haven't seen it consistently."

Cashman was right that there are some things that he has to fix. But the real question is, can he fix them? And does he really have major league ability?

George Steinbrenner shelled out $26 million to Igawa’s former team, the Hanshin Tigers, for the rights to negotiate. Add the five-year, $20 million contract and he’s costing the Yankees almost $50 million [$10 million per year] for a [keep your fingers crossed, Steinbrenner] major league fifth starter.

But eventually Steinbrenner, Cashman and Joe Torre are going to have to realize that this guy just can’t cut it in the big leagues. He’s not young [today is the big 2-8] and he’s shown no signs that he has the physical or mental makeup to be able to pitch in the major leagues.

The numbers don’t lie: 5.1 innings per start, 4.44 walks per nine innings, 1.44 strikeouts per walk, 2.12 homeruns per nine innings, 1.61 WHIP, .275 BAA, 7.14 ERA.

And that’s just on paper.

Throw out the spot “start” he had against the Red Sox on April 28 when Julio Lugo’s leadoff line drive broke Jeff Karstens’ leg and Igawa has shown nothing in any of his starts that gives you hope.

Japanese pitchers, even 28-year-old ones, are usually given a little leeway when it comes to immediate performance. Sometimes they need a little time to get used to the new league and the new hitters. But none of his predecessors struggled this badly when they first arrived. Not even "that fat f---ing toad", Hideki Irabu.

Irabu certainly wasn’t a success in pinstripes, but he did give the Yankees 24 wins over his first two full seasons. While he’ll be rehabilitating from Tommy John surgery, Carl Pavano is still going to get paid next year, and when it’s all over, that might be the worst contract in the history of baseball: $40 million for five wins.

It’ll be pretty hard absurdity to top the of Pavano as a Yankee, but at this rate, Igawa might give Pavano a run for his money. Igawa isn’t a serviceable major league pitcher, not even a fifth starter. He isn’t a serviceable long reliever. Right now he’s just a big disappointment and a disaster on the mound.

After a whirlwind offseason, the Daisuke Matsuzaka sweepstakes went to the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox paid $51.11 million to the Seibu Lions in the blind lottery for the rights to negotiate with Matsuzaka. It was reported that the Yankees didn’t come close to $50 million, settling on about $30 million. It’s unclear whether Steinbrenner and Cashman thought $30 million was enough, or that they weren’t going to go any higher for something that wasn’t a guarantee.

Either way, it made sense. A Japanese pitcher switching to the big leagues, even one as hyped as Dice-K, is a gamble. The fact that Matsuzaka is looking like he’s going to be worth the $100 million the Red Sox spent must be making it all that much worse for Steinbrenner when he thinks about the $50 million he spent on a guy that looks like he’s ticketed for a career in the minors.