Kei Igawa -- The Lost Yankee

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/sports/baseball/kei-igawa-the-lost-yankee.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&seid=auto&smid=tw-nytimes

Solid read from Bill Pennington.

I had almost completely forgotten about Igawa. One of the biggest swings-and-misses the Yankees have ever taken, IMHO. I really wish things had worked out with him, because I know how good he was in Japan. And I really wish the Yankees had given him more time to adjust to the game in the U.S.

$40 million-plus down the drain for a guy who only made 16 appearances on the big stage. The dude is getting paid about 130 times more than your average Class AA player.

 

The amazing thing about Igawa is not that he failed, but that he never really got another shot. In any other organization, the money there were spending on the guy would force them to keep sending him out there.

 

The story talks about Cashman going to Trenton to talk about a promotion for a pitcher in the organization. The dude that got brought up was 3-6 when an ERA of over 6.00. Igawa's numbers were -- and still are -- better, but they won't give him a shot. I think I'd rather have Igawa in the rotation than Freddy Garcia or Bartolo Colon.

 

Did they mention the film Igawa made in Japan with Kaz Tadano?

NTTAWWT

 

It's a very expensive case of buyer's remorse. Boston goes out and signs Dice-K (who the Yankees were infatuated with). The Yankees freak out at the prospect of the Red Sox grabbing a potential #2 starter, give Igawa a huge contract, and then realize that his mechanics are screwed up and that he has no control. Not to mention the fact that he had an unfairly large amount of pressure placed on him from the get-go (comparisons to Dice-K, media/fan scrutiny, etc.).

Why they never gave him another shot, though, I will never understand.

 

It's almost like they don't want him up in New York because he'll remind the fans how they fucked up by signing him in '07.

And they've been desperate for a second lefty out of the pen all season with the injuries to Feliciano and Marte. Why they don't try him as a situational lefty is beyond me.

 

Fukudome [/cough] Cubs [/cough]

 

One of the great Monkey-See-What-Red-Sox-Do whiffs of the modern era.

Crack talent evaluation, there.

Just keep burying the mistakes under the rug, boys . . .

 

This really set back the Yankees.

 

I can't believe he's commuted from Manhattan all this time.

 

That it did not is precisely the point.

 

I love stories about failure. I wish more writers understood how interesting it is to read a story like this.