By: Joey Segur
The Seattle Mariners have re-signed Hisashi Iwakuma to a one-year deal after the Dodgers backed out of their three-year $45 million deal after Iwakuma failed his physical. Iwakuma’s deal comes with vesting options for 2017 and 2018. Jerry Dipoto ended up releasing the news to his front office staff during their holiday Christmas party and told them to keep it quiet until he could release a formal announcement that Iwakuma would play in a Mariners uniform for the 2016 season.
Iwakuma, 34, had a historic season last year. The reason it was historic was not due to his season stats, but he added his name to the few pitchers in Mariners history to pitch a no-hitter. Iwakuma was one of Jerry Dipoto’s highest priority players to have on the roster for the 2016 season. Iwakuma rejected the One-year $15.8 million deal the Mariners offered him in October and agreed to a deal with the Dodgers in December which obviously fell through. This brings a question to the Mariners as to who will be the five starters when the season opens up. Will Iwakuma return as the pitcher to follow King Felix or will Dipoto have a different plan for Iwakuma?
