Yankees Sign Mussina, Acquire Rights to Igawa
December 1, 2006 by Geoff Young
Filed under Hot Stove
The New York Yankees re-signed right-hander Mike Mussina to a 2-year, $23 million deal. The soon-to-be 38-year-old Mussina is coming off a surprisingly effective season for a Yankees team that had very little in the way of quality pitching. Although $11.5 million a year might seem like an outrageous amount, when you account for the Yankees’ spending capabilities, it’s really not all that different from what the Astros are paying Woody Williams or the Mets are paying Orlando Hernandez.
On the international front, the Yanks have acquired the rights to negotiate with Japanese left-hander Kei Igawa. Their bid for Igawa was $26 million, which I guess makes him half the pitcher that Daisuke Matsuzaka is. That should sit well with George Steinbrenner and the New York media.
Remember when I thought Igawa might be a bargain? Yeah, me neither.
Aw, What the heck, I’ll be first. This is ridiculous, 26 million just to talk to a guy. What next? Why not just buy stcok ownership in the Japanese league, then you can “talk to a guy” without paying his team 26 million to do o. Poor investment no matter how this turns out. Anyway, have the Yankees ever heard of a farm league, International League, Dominican League?