http://0rz.tw/6FiAr
SUNDAY, 10:00pm: Iwakuma's agent Don Nomura tweeted about the Athletics
winning the bidding, it appears.
SUNDAY, 8:55am: NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman passes on a pair of Japanese
reports suggesting that Rakuten will accept the top bid for Iwakuma, which
could be higher than $16MM (Twitter links).
SATURDAY, 1:48pm: Rosenthal writes that the A's "are believed to have made a
strong push" for Iwakuma. He speculates that if the Brewers are willing to
part with Casey McGehee, they could potentially match up for a trade with
Oakland given their need for pitching.
1:07pm: Rosenthal says that the Athletics also bid on Iwakuma (Twitter link)
with the idea trading one of the excess starters for a bat if they landed
him. The FoxSports.com scribe adds that the Rangers may have bid too low.
12:11pm: FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal tweets that the Rangers may be the
high bidder for Japanese righty Hisashi Iwakuma. Last night we heard that the
Mariners were the favorite to land him. In a second tweet, Rosenthal says
that Texas definitely submitted a bid, but there's no guarantee that the
Rakuten Golden Eagles will accept the high bid. They were seeking $16MM-17MM
in the posting process.
The Rangers had tremendous success bringing Colby Lewis over from Japan last
year, so it makes sense that they'd explore that avenue again. Iwakuma is
widely considered to be the second best starting pitcher in Japan behind Yu
Darvish.
The bidding closed last night, and reports out of Japan indicated that
Seattle submitted a bid of $13MM. Iwakuma was also said to prefer the West
Coast.