Buzz: Mets Too Late for Hiroki Kuroda
In today’s New York Post, Mark Hale writes that the Mets had ‘legitimate interest’ in free-agent Japanese RHP Hiroki Kuroda, and even reached the ‘second round of bidding,’ but, ‘as it turned out,’ they are ‘not one of the four finalists.’
…the buzz around kuroda has long been that while the Royals, Mets and Cubs may have interest, he prefers to pitch on the West Coast, but not because of reasons associated with weather…no, i have no idea what that means either…i’m thinking it may have something to do with marketing, or television time in Japan…
According to the LA Daily News, the Mariners, Dodgers and D’Backs have all offered three-year contracts worth roughly $30 million to Kuroda, adding that the Dodgers and Mariners appear to be the favorites.
Yesterday, at MLB.com, Jim Molony wrote that the Mets have made a similar offer, but Kuroda is seeking a four-year deal.
Meanwhile, according to Dan Graziano in the Star-Ledger, citing ‘a person close to those discussions,’ yes, the Mets had interest in Kurudo, but they were ‘too late to that party.’
Nevertheless, in a post to his blog for the Sporting News, Gerry Fraley writes that M’s officials are ‘getting nervous about their chances,’ because ‘the Mets have entered the picture.’
According to a recent report from Yahoo! Japan, Kuroda is believed to be seeking roughly $11 million per season.
For more on Kuroda, check out ArmChair GM.
