New York Yankees re-sign Hiroki Kuroda for 2013 season – MLB News
New York Yankees took a major step toward improving their pitching rotation as they re-signed free agent right hander Hiroki Kuroda to a one year $15 million contract, reports msn.foxsports.com. A Major League Baseball source confirmed the news on Tuesday.
According to sources, Kuroda wanted to move back to Japan as that is where he wanted to finish his career but the offer made by the Yankees was too good to refuse.
A number of teams showed interest in him as soon as the regular season ended but Kuroda decided to stay in Bronx. He played four seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers before moving to New York in 2012. Kuroda made $10 million base salary plus $1 million performance
based bonus.
Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodger and Boston Red Sox all reported to have interest. Yankees’ pitching rotation was unable to live up to the expectations last season. General Manager Brian Cashman and Manager Joe Girardi also wanted to re-sign free agent
left hander Andy Pettitte and closer Mariano Rivera for the next season.
Pettitte missed most part of 2012 season due to injuries and it is unclear if he will be able to come back next year. Yankees retained Kuroda to fill the Number two starting spot behind lefty ace C.C. Sabathia.
"I am very happy and excited to re-sign with the Yankees," Kuroda said in a statement. "I am very grateful for all of the interest and all of the offers that I received from the various teams that courted me. It was a tough decision for me to make, but at
the end of the day, I wanted to try to win a championship with the teammates that I went to battle with last season."
The Japanese born starting pitcher had a decent time on the mound last season as he went 16-11, tying for the team lead in wins. He also led New York with 33 starts and 219 plus innings. It will be interesting to see if he can continue the good work in 2013
to help the Yankees win the American League East Division title.
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