Kei Igawa

[Callahan]

I am putting this in here, rather than Leftovers, but I definitely believe Igawa could have value for some teams in deeper leagues, or AL-only.

Yankees signed him to a 5-year, 20-mil deal today. With the posting fee it's about 45 mil overall I believe. Canyon of Heroes has a pretty good (if optimistic) writeup of Igawa here, and another good writeup from a site I've never heard of here.

Basically, he projects out as a #3/#4 starter, but obviously he could be much better, or much worse. Above-average fastball, with a nice slider and very good change. I've also read somewhere that he fixed the control issue that led him to give up a bunch of home runs previously. He's only 27, which means the Yankees have him right through the time he's 32. Maybe it's homer bias, but I can't help but feel a little bit optimistic that he could be a nice surprise. Pettitte, Moose, Wang, and now Igawa as the fourth starter. Not a bad rotation heading into 2007.

So what do y'all think?

[Steelers Rule]

If he makes the rotation he should be good for wins

[cobbs87]

Naturally damn near any Yankee is good for wins.

Igawa could be pretty solid. Hopefully he hasn't pitched his way out of the rotation in ST. They are considering giving the 5th spot to Karstens.

I think Torre realizes though that he is only wild/overthrowing because of nerves.

I would put him down for 15 wins though.