Exactly 3 years ago to the day (and to the hour and minute), Kei Igawa was awarded to the San Diego Padres in a waiver claim. The Yankees had still not given up on Igawa at the time but this seemed like a great opportunity to dump a mistake and move on. Igawa had fallen out of favor in the Bronx after a 2-3 season with a 6.79 ERA in 12 appearances and looked like he would be a much better option in the National League. But the Yankees decided to keep him four days later and hope for the best in 2008. It ends up that was too much to hope for. From
Buster Olney on that day:
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| Kei Igawa has been a huge failure for the Yankees (NYT) |
The Yankees withdrew Kei Igawa from trade waivers before Tuesday's 2 p.m. ET deadline, ending conversations between the teams about a deal involving the left-handed pitcher
The Padres were awarded the waiver claim to Igawa on Friday, and at that point, there were three possible resolutions -- the Yankees could have simply handed the pitcher (and what is left of his five-year, $20 million contract) to the Padres; the Padres and Yankees could have worked out a trade, which they talked about in July and continued to discuss over the weekend; or the Yankees had the option of withdrawing Igawa from waivers. The Yankees chose the latter option, in the hopes of rebuilding Igawa for the 2008 season.
Sigh. Even
MLBTradeRumors' Tim Dierkes was "disappointed" at the time. And he had the foresight to see the Yankees had no room for Igawa at the Major League level anyways. Igawa pitched a little better in his last two appearances of 2007 and got into two games in 2008, giving up 6 earned runs in the process. He was then sent to the minors where he's stayed to this date. Igawa is still signed through 2011, but even after being setting the record for most wins in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre history, Igawa was bumped from the Triple A rotation until recently.
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