Time to Cut Igawa
Usually I’m a believer that there are two sides to every issue. But not with Kei Igawa. Anyone who believes that this guy belongs in the big leagues is a certifiable moron. In his first major league start of the season, he threw an absolute stinker, allowing 6 earned runs in 3+ innings of work. He faced 20 batters and gave up 11 hits. And of those 11 hits, most of them were smoked. Even many of the outs were hit hard. The only upside to his outing tonight was that he didn’t walk any batters, but that’s a minor consolation. He proved once again that he cannot pitch effectively at the major league level. In 14 games last season, he posted an atrocious 6.25 ERA and a WHIP of 1.67. Those numbers are unacceptable. I don’t care how bad Ian Kennedy has been this year, at least he has upside. Igawa’s got nothing but a fat paycheck. As Bob Barker famously said in Happy Gilmore, “This guy sucks!”
Fact is, Kei Igawa has no place on any big league team, particularly a winning franchise like the New York Yankees. Even watching him pitch, he has well below-average stuff. At least when some guys struggle, you can say to yourself, “Well, he’s got good stuff, he just needs to put it all together.” Not Kei Igawa, he’s just plain bad. What in God’s name made the Yankees think this guy was worth $46 million??? (A $26 million posting fee followed by a 5-year $20 million contract.) It’s time for the Yankees to cut their losses and get rid of this guy. I know it will turn out to be an extremely costly investment for absolutely minimal return. But right now he has no trade value; they’d be lucky to get a bucket of balls in exchange for him right about now. They should have dumped him on the Padres last season when they had the chance.
His next scheduled start is for Wednesday at Tampa Bay. The Yankees can’t possibly throw this guy out there anymore. I’ve said on this blog for a long time that I never wanted to see Kei Igawa in a Yankee uniform ever again. Let’s hope I get my wish real soon.
Happy Birthday to Ed Barrow, Fred Astaire, Pat Summerall, Jim Calhoun Chris Berman, Sid Vicious, Rick Santorum, Danny Schayes, Bono, Rony Seikaly, Helio Castroneves and Keenan Thompson
Filed under: MLB - Yankees, Writer - Bill Slattery
[...] before being removed so that he will be ready to go on Thursday. He will start in place of the awful Kei Igawa, who, if there is a God, made his last appearance with the Yankees on Friday when he got shelled by [...]