Mariners News: Seattle Mariners Re-sign Hisashi Iwakuma

Jerry Dipoto stood at the Seattle Mariners front office holiday party and delivered one of the best gifts by announcing that Hisashi Iwakuma has re-signed with the Mariners.  The Bear will be back in town!

A few days before the winter meetings it was announced that Hisashi Iwakuma had agreed on a three year $45 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.  And as indicated, the Dodgers never actually officially announced it and eventually backed out of the deal due to concerns uncovered during the physical of Iwakuma.  The Dodgers wanted to rework the agreement and sign Iwakuma to different terms.  This opened up an opportunity for Jerry Dipoto and the Seattle Mariners to jump in and re-sign Iwakuma.

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The deal is a guaranteed one year deal with a vesting option for a second (2017) and a third year (2018).  No team knows Hisashi Iwakuma’s physical makeup better than the Mariners.  Jerry Dipoto said at the start of free agency that Hisashi Iwakuma was his top priority, and when the deal with the Dodgers fell a apart he somehow made it happen with the help of the Mariners brass.

The Mariners roster now contains Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Wade Miley, Taijuan Walker, Nathan Karns, and James Paxton along with Vidal Nuño and Mike Montgomery as starting options as well.  This may allow the Mariners to limit the innings of some of the younger starters or provide solid options as backups for the starters as Paxton and Taijuan have had injury issues.  There will also be innings limits according to Dipoto for various players according to Dipoto.

The 34 year old right handed Hisashi Iwakuma will be 35 in April when the 2016 season begins.  And while he’s had some struggles to stay healthy he has been a solid pitcher for the Seattle Mariners.  In his 4 year Major League career with the Mariners he’s had a 3.17 ERA and 1.082 WHIP while having a strikeout to walk ratio of 4.34.  His numbers have been terrific but he has been unable to stay healthy for an entire season in his last two seasons.  In 2015 he had just 20 starts and in 2014 only 28 starts.

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The true number two starter is back for the Seattle Mariners.  The Dodgers deal falling apart is a big win for the Mariners.  The Dodgers will come to regret this.  This alone is the single biggest development of the offseason for the Mariners roster.  If Iwakuma can stay healthy this will be huge for the Mariners.  With the added depth in the lineup and the new athletic outfield Iwakuma’s numbers will only get better.  Twitter lit up last night after the Mariners leaked the initial announcement.  The fan base knows this is significant.  The sky is the limit for the 2016 Seattle Mariners and Spring Training can’t come soon enough.