New York Yankees sign Hiroki Kuroda for one year – MLB Update
The New York Yankees finally made a lucrative offer to free agent Japanese national Hiroki Kuroda of around $15 million and are looking to start the 2013 Major League Baseball season on a high note.
"I am very happy and excited to re-sign with the Yankees, 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,” Kuroda said in a statement and explained in the media regarding his resigning with the Yankees.
"It something that I think fits how we've operated here in the last number of years, to do short-term circumstances on high-end players," Yankees' general manager Brian Cashman said.
His last season’s performance made the Yankees’ management agree to sign him for next season. A leading sports website has also reported that the Yankees had different agenda when they initiated this deal with Kuroda’s agent.
Yankees were not sure over their veteran starter Andy Pettitte which led them to negotiate with Kuroda. The Yankees, who also wanted to fill the number two spot in starting line-up, took a bold decision to sign Japanese star.
Earlier news came out in the media that Kuroda was not interested to play again in the Major League instead as he was looking to finish his career back home.
However, as soon as he gets this lucrative offer by the Yankees, he could not resist and made his mind to play again in the big league for one more year.
In the recent season with the Yankees, Kuroda played tremendously and impressed many. He not only played well but his consistent performances won many games for the Yankees.
He remained consistent throughout the season and finished with 3.32 ERA along with 16-11 win-loss, 167 strike-outs, 1.17 WHIP.
Overall he also stands consistent with his career 3.42 ERA along with 57-57 win-loss, 690 strike-outs and 1.18 WHIP.
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