Yusei Kikuchi nearing an agreement with the Seattle Mariners

[kevinb]

8 minutes ago, nate said:

Did I stutter?

Not sure? I can't tell by your typing.... Why do we not have enough to offer him? Would you have rather had Matt Harvey or Kikuchi?  How about Cahill or Kikuchi? The Angels have plenty of payroll if they choose to use it. Maybe they weren't that interested? We still don't have the terms of the deal yet... So I don't know why you just assume it's because we don't have the cash to offer him a deal 

[Vlad27Trout27]

Perfect! Now we can hit Jacks of Kikuchi!

[eligrba4ever]

Kikuchi never seemed to be a close friend of Ohtani's. The aura he presented in articles about their relationship was more of rivalry between teammates. Seattle remains popular in Japan largely because of Suzuki's long career there. Seattle also offers direct flights home. SoCal has no monopoly on that on the West Coast. And maybe Seattle made a better offer. 

But I also remember the weekend when the Dodgers had Vladdy all sewn up a few years ago.

[gurn67]

When Ohtani gave the interview in Japan a couple of weeks ago saying how much he looked forward to facing Kikuchi, I figured he knew they weren't going to be teammates.

[JAHV76]

Doesn’t Kikuchi have a history of injuries? Maybe the Angels weren’t willing to commit to a long term deal because of that?

[arch stanton]

29 minutes ago, Sean-Regan said:

Either the money was better than everyone was offering or "Snake Oil Jerry" Dipooto managed to con Kikuchi into believing Seattle is a desirable place to play.

Honestly, I can't think of any team *less* appealing to sign unless the compensation makes up for all the downsides.

He's a Bora$ client. He took the most money

[jessecrall]

Okay then.

[Inside Pitch]

Good for them..  and good for us in that we don't have to worry if his shoulder is an issue or not .    Ohtani/Kikuchi should be fun as divisional rivals.

[floplag]

The money will tell the tale at this point.  odd deal but not bad if it works out and the money is right. 

[Erstad Grit]

Has jedi traded him yet? 

[DMVol]

1 hour ago, arch stanton said:

He's a Bora$ client. He took the most money

Always.....

[Blarg]

2 hours ago, jessecrall said:

Okay then.

It doesn't matter, Jerry will trade him away two years from now. 

[Second Base]

2 hours ago, Kevinb said:

Not sure? I can't tell by your typing.... Why do we not have enough to offer him? Would you have rather had Matt Harvey or Kikuchi?  How about Cahill or Kikuchi? The Angels have plenty of payroll if they choose to use it. Maybe they weren't that interested? We still don't have the terms of the deal yet... So I don't know why you just assume it's because we don't have the cash to offer him a deal 

If I had to guess, I think it came down to years. There is no way Billy Eppler is going to offer seven years to an unproven entity. The M's we t bod. I know the Angels were interested, but the extent of which that interest went, I don't know. At the end of the day, they were outbid.

[Rico]

How long before Jerry can trade him for prospects?

[popo85]

Ah yes go to a team that just traded most of there best players 

[Docwaukee]

baldokuchi

[Inside Pitch]

2 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

baldokuchi

I'm really hoping that Jerry does his usual blustery sell job and talks up how he personally scouted him so that this nickname sticks.....  Also curious what the terms of the deal will look like beyond the years...

[WeatherWonk]

3 hours ago, arch stanton said:

He's a Bora$ client. He took the most money

Also signed in a state with no income tax.

Dont know if his salary would have qualified, but the highest tax rate in CA is 13.3%. Fack, that's a lot.

[Docwaukee]

2 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

I'm really hoping that Jerry does his usual blustery sell job and talks up how he personally scouted him so that this nickname sticks.....  Also curious what the terms of the deal will look like beyond the years...

same here but sadly I think we missed out on this one.  time will tell.  

[Inside Pitch]

21 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

same here but sadly I think we missed out on this one.  time will tell.  

Yeah I wouldn't have complained if the Halos had signed him, neither am I gonna lose sleep over it.   It was an either or thing for me, if not getting him means they add a couple arms to the pen I'll be happy...  Still wouldn't mind them taking a flyer on Pomeranz, too (bet Oakland chases him). 

I think Kikuchi ends up delivering on his middle of rotation billing, but I'm curious to see at the dollars end up.   Again if nothing else it will make for some fun matchups.

Edited January 1, 2019 by Inside Pitch

[m0nkey]

F*ck Kikuchi, we got Ohtani!

[arch stanton]

6 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

F*ck Kikuchi, we got Ohtani!

You screwed that up. It's F Yu(sei)   we got Ohtani

[NJHalo]

Yea that’s great Seattle, but can he hit??

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

11 hours ago, eligrba4ever said:

Kikuchi never seemed to be a close friend of Ohtani's. The aura he presented in articles about their relationship was more of rivalry between teammates. Seattle remains popular in Japan largely because of Suzuki's long career there. Seattle also offers direct flights home. SoCal has no monopoly on that on the West Coast. And maybe Seattle made a better offer. 

But I also remember the weekend when the Dodgers had Vladdy all sewn up a few years ago.

Were they ever teammates? They attended the same high school but Kikuchi is 4 tears older than Ohtani. So I doubt they ever were playing on the same team at the same time.

[eligrba]

Now that Kikuchi is a Mariner, I still wonder what team he will finally end up playing for?