There has not been a ton of many rumors coming out of Seattle in recent days, but there has been a few murmurings. In the past week, it has been noted by John Hickey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that the Mariners will be looking to upgrade their starting rotation this offseason. Like most clubs, they are not at all enamored with signing guys like Kyle Loshe or Carlos Silva to multi-year deals at $10M+ a year. And who can blame them?! These two are gonna be handing some GM’s a beautiful warm fleece for the holidays! However, the Mariners are interested in the 32-year old Japanese FA pitcher Hiroki Kuroda. He only had a record of 103-89 in 11 seasons playing in Japan, but he has a long list of suitors in the States. These include the Cubs, Dodgers, Phillies and Royals as well. As noted in Hickey’s article, the M’s have a serious advantage, with Kuroda preferring the West Coast and because they have a Japanese catcher in Kenji Jojima. They certainly has to make Kuroda feel all warm-and-fuzzy inside. Kuroda is apparently seeking between $7-9M/year.
It seems the Mariners may also focus on Bartolo Colon as a possible starter, maybe as a Plan B is the Kuroda signing falls through? Colon has been oft-injured in the past few seasons, and will come at a discount. Maybe the Mariners can get him cheaply on a 1-2 year deal, which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
Other than pitching, the Mariners don’t seem to be pursuing many free agents or possible trades for position players. They seem set on putting their star prospect Adam Jones in RF next season, with Ichiro of course in CF, Raul Ibanez in right, and Jose Vidro at DH.
Filed under: Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners
