This is a terrific account. If Igawa were one bit more open, it could have been a true classic. Igawa is basically mysterious, and the writer can't get us that close to the mystery, but even from far away it's compelling and strange.

Why don't the Yanks release him? IF that was in the article, I missed it.

Ownership comes off pretty poorly. The Padres would have given him a shot, but ownership refused. They tried to trade him to japan, but only to teams of their choosing in order to get some cash. Just release the poor guy from purgatory already.

It has to do with the luxury tax for the most part. At triple-A, Igawa's contract doesn't count against the tax, but if the Yanks release him or trade him to another team and he makes the majors, it would suddenly count again against the Yankees.

At triple-A, Igawa's contract doesn't count against the tax, but if the Yanks release him or trade him to another team and he makes the majors, it would suddenly count again against the Yankees.

So, in effect, calling him up to the majors would cost the team as well? Then it makes sense why the Yankees don't give really give him a shot if they think his ceiling is second or third lefty in the pen.

If the luxury tax rules are seriously somehow keeping him from being traded to somewhere that wants to let him play, or from being called up by the Yankees, those rules seem like something that the union should address.

Igawa has a major league contract. I don't think the Yankees get to evade luxury tax on it by putting him in the minors. I assume the reason they haven't released him is simply that they don't want to see him succeed somewhere else while they're still having to pay him, and he has no leverage to force them to release or trade him.

“Yeah, he’s passed me on the drive down to Trenton,” Cashman said. “He drives faster than his fastball.”

FTR, I drive faster than anybodys fastball.

Late last night in one of his classic Heard This tweets, Buster Olney said that one reason why the Yanks have yet to deal Igawa is because doing so would cost them big time against the luxury tax. Ben and I couldn’t exactly figure out how that would work (neither could Maury Brown), but Jayson Stark explained the situation back in May:

At least now, you see, Igawa doesn’t count against their luxury-tax payroll because they were able to dump him off the 40-man roster. But if somebody actually wanted him (not that there’s any indication of that), the Yankees would have to pay virtually his entire salary. And that would pull all those dollars back onto their luxury-tax bill, to the tune of a 40 percent tax on whatever they’re paying.

In other words, one GM said, “They have huge incentive not to trade him, even if they could. So he’s one of the all-time stuck-in-purgatory cases.”

http://riveraveblues.com/2010/07/why-kei-igawa-is-still-a-scranton-yankee-32818/

So does Daisuke Matsuzaka not count against the Red Sox luxury tax cap? He's not on the 40 man roster, since he's on the 60 day DL.

So does Daisuke Matsuzaka not count against the Red Sox luxury tax cap? He's not on the 40 man roster, since he's on the 60 day DL.

I believe that actually he technically is on the 40 man roster. It just becomes a 40+ man roster when guys hit the 60 day DL. Once he comes off the DL he is immediately added to the 40 man and if they want him off would have to go through the normal procedures to do so.

That was a terrific article.

I don't get the luxury tax thing. If that were true, why wouldn't the Red Sox have bumped Cameron off their 40-man and sent him down? Or have done the same with Lugo?

If Kei wants to get out he can always tear up his contract. If he is in purgatory it is of his own making.

If Kei wants to get out he can always tear up his contract. If he is in purgatory it is of his own making.

Could he even do that? I've got to think the Players' Association would strongly object. It's kind of too bad that there's such an adversarial relationship between labor and ownership in MLB, because this is the kind of situation where some kind of compromise would be best for everyone.

I've got to think the Players' Association would strongly object.

Who cares? Why should Kei take a bullet for the union? The union can't actually stop Kei from tearing up his own contract.

It's kind of too bad that there's such an adversarial relationship between labor and ownership in MLB, because this is the kind of situation where some kind of compromise would be best for everyone.

Compared to all the other major sports, the MLB and MLBPA's relationship is anything but adversarial.

I don't get the luxury tax thing. If that were true, why wouldn't the Red Sox have bumped Cameron off their 40-man and sent him down? Or have done the same with Lugo?

Perhaps because they were out of options, and they could only DFA them, which leaves them on the hook for salary? Just guessing.

If Kei wants to get out he can always tear up his contract. If he is in purgatory it is of his own making.

We are calling it purgatory. My guess, again, is that he is well-paid enough that it is an unusually comfortable purgatory.

I don't get the luxury tax thing. If that were true, why wouldn't the Red Sox have bumped Cameron off their 40-man and sent him down? Or have done the same with Lugo?

Once a player has a certain amount of MLB service time (something like 3-4 years, I think), you can't send him down voluntarily - he can refuse the assignment, become a free agent, and still get paid.

So you're saying it was a good guess.

We are calling it purgatory. My guess, again, is that he is well-paid enough that it is an unusually comfortable purgatory.

I have no idea what Kei wants or how he views his current situation. I am merely stating my opinion on an "if".

Who cares? Why should Kei take a bullet for the union? The union can't actually stop Kei from tearing up his own contract.

Correct, he can "retire" any time he wants, releasing the Yankees from the contract.

He could then go play in Japan, or try to catch on somewhere else next year. The Yankees certainly wouldn't object to his "un-retirement" if he was off their books.

Who cares? Why should Kei take a bullet for the union? The union can't actually stop Kei from tearing up his own contract.

Can't they?

Can't they?

No. He can retire.

If Kei wants to get out he can always tear up his contract. If he is in purgatory it is of his own making.

This is an excellent point, and very revealing of his motivation. Clearly Kei doesn't want to take the risk of losing the remainder of his current contract just to be able to play MLB baseball or for the Japanese team of his choice.

If I were his agent, I'd suggest a buyout to the Yankees so that they save money after luxury tax. If they get hit for a 40% surcharge on the buyout, you would think that anything below 70% would be an interesting number to them.

If Kei wants to g

et out he can always tear up his contract. If he is in purgatory it is of his own making.

That's right. No matter how bad a job situation is, you can always quit. That's what I tell any of my friends who have any kind of problem at work. Even if they're not complaining about it but simply answering my questions. "Just quit," I always say.

This is a great article. One of the best parts, is that 4 years after he spent $46M to acquire Kei, Cashman has determined that he is a flyball pitcher unsuited to their ballpark.

Acc to BBRef, it looks like Igawa's contract is up after this season. Problem solved, no?

If he retires there's no guarantee any other MLB club will sign him again -- that's all he wants, a chance to play in the MLB. He already had the option to go back to Japan and declined. Just RTFA.

And none of that actually disputes what I and several other people have said. Kei had no shot at being a major leaguer this year as a Yankee and hasn't had a shot at doing that since the Yankees took him off the 40 man roster back in 2008. If Kei had wanted a shot at being a major leaguer he could have at any time between then and now gone to the Yankees and worked out a deal to get out of his contract. It appears he did not do that.

Is "mysterious" the new "inscrutable"?

From the sound of the article, I'd hazard that Igawa's emulating Nomo, who was always willing to play in the minors if it meant a shot at a Major League team, and never returned to NPB once he left. Nomo's stoicism was lauded quite a bit over here when he retired.

As usual, McCoy is, I believe, correct. If Igawa doesn't like his lot in life, he can simply ask the Yankees to release him from the contract, or negotiate with them to do that. The MLBPA will try to convince him not to do so, but ultimately I don't think they could stop him.

Snapper, as you note, the potential problem with "retiring" in the typical case is that a player who doesn't like his current deal or situation can't simply "retire" and get a do-over. Although in this case, as you say, I doubt the Yankees would object.

Something Other is correct as well: According to Cot's, Igawa's deal is up after this year. The Yankees "only" paid $20 million over four years to him -- but they paid another $26 million for the right to negotiate for him. Just brutal. Where did they go wrong in their scouting of him? Was Cashman on board with this? Was their decision to sign him reasonable? I don't recall people calling them idiots at the time, although perhaps people were deferring to their scouting of him.

What's odd is that he's pitched ok in the minors, from the looks of things; one might think the Yankees would call him up either to try him out again as a 5th starter or just to pitch as the last man out of the pen, even if it's just as a LOOGY. It's not like the Yankees are awash with pitching. Although just eyeballing his major and minor league numbers, the home run ball seems like it's a problem.

Based on the article I get the impression that his attitude is that he was given a contract and he has to "do his best" and honor that. He's not complaining and doesn't want to quit. At the risk of sounding like I'm using a Japanese stereotype, I get the impression that he wouldn't find it ethical/honorable/whatever to quit or tear up his contract. Just my impression.

Does he find it ethical/honorable/whatever to suck and cost his corporation $46 million?

Based on the article I get the impression that his attitude is that he was given a contract and he has to "do his best" and honor that. He's not complaining and doesn't want to quit. At the risk of sounding like I'm using a Japanese stereotype, I get the impression that he wouldn't find it ethical/honorable/whatever to quit or tear up his contract. Just my impression.

None of that has anything to do with the fact that he could ask the Yankees to tear up his contract.

If he wanted to.

Ownership comes off pretty poorly. The Padres would have given him a shot, but ownership refused. They tried to trade him to japan, but only to teams of their choosing in order to get some cash.

The San Diego interest was way back in 2007, and apparently there was some reluctance to give up on the Yanks investment that quickly. It's not like the Yankees have turned down any offers lately, and what's the problem with the trades to Japan? Igawa didn't suggest that there was any concern about the teams involved, just that he preferred (beats me why) to pitch in the United States. He's only 32, so someone will probably give him a shot next season, although almost certainly that will be in Japan if he wants anything more than a make-good contract.

None of that has anything to do with the fact that he could ask the Yankees to tear up his contract.

If he wanted to.

Fine.

So, what is your point?

I thought I made it.

Anyway, your #33 seems internally contradictory. He "was given a contract and has to do his best to honor that," even when his employer would rather he not honor the contract?

Why don't you just call it for what it likely is: He doesn't want to give up the money. Now, I don't blame him in the slightest for that -- I'd do the same thing myself -- but there's no sense cloaking this in "honor." (It's not dishonorable either.)

Both he and the Yankees are acting in their own best interests. That is entirely normal.

Indeed it is.

“He doesn’t want to be here,” Romine said. “He’s doing what he’s told. It’s hard when someone owns you.”

Sets a good example for the bushies... don't f with ownership.

One of the best parts, is that 4 years after he spent $46M to acquire Kei, Cashman has determined that he is a flyball pitcher unsuited to their ballpark.

Didn't they sign him before NYS was built/opened?

Didn't they sign him before NYS was built/opened?

I was just thinking this as well. If they just build like two or three new ballparks, they might get one at which Kei could pitch.

I wonder how often he's been to NYS?

Trying to completely change his delivery in his first year here probably wasn't a great idea. Though his minor league performance since going back to his old delivery doesn't seem to suggest he'd have made it anyway.

why wouldn't the Red Sox have bumped Cameron off their 40-man and sent him down? Or have done the same with Lugo?

In addition to what was already said about veterans being able to refuse minor league assignments, you have to clear waivers to be outrighted to the minors. The Yankees got to take Igawa off their 40-man roster because the other 29 teams passed on taking his contract off their hands.

Does he find it ethical/honorable/whatever to suck and cost his corporation $46 million?

So you're no doubt getting ready to make the point that "his corporation", if he had turned out the be a 6 win pitcher, would of course have tipped Igawa $50m or so for the good work. As the only honorable thing to do, of course.

Given that Igawa's put up respectable numbers in AAA, and may well think of himself as a winning pitcher with good enough peripherals, why wouldn't he think of himself as a guy who's being screwed by The Man--who has given him exactly NO innings in the majors in the last three years, not even as a lousy September callup--and as a pitcher whom the organization has unaccountably taken a dislike to and who would probably succeed, given any kind of fair shot to make it in the majors?

How many of you, if you'd been bad in a mere 72 innings three-four years back, got sent down and pitched 530 innings with an ERA of 3.83, a record of 36 and 25 and a 2.5 to 1 K/BB ratio at AAA, would think to yourself, "Gee, I really suck, I should give the money back. I can't blame the Yankees for giving me no chance at all to prove myself"? I'd guess the number is, oh, zero.

I wasn't the one who brought up the stereotype of a Japanese man caring about the honor of doing his part for his corporation.

Does he find it ethical/honorable/whatever to suck and cost his corporation $46 million?

It's not up to him to make these decisions. The Yankees are paying him to play ball. If he's doing it at the best of his abilities then the Yankees must make the decision on the next steps.

It's not up to him to make these decisions. The Yankees are paying him to play ball. If he's doing it at the best of his abilities then the Yankees must make the decision on the next steps.

It's like people aren't even following the discussion.

None of that has anything to do with the fact that he could ask the Yankees to tear up his contract.

If he wanted to.

Why would anyone do this?