TOKYO -- Japanese left-hander Kazuhisa Ishii looks forward
to closing a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers as soon as possible.
"I'm really enthusiastic," Ishii said Wednesday after
returning to Japan from a Yakult Swallows training camp in Hawaii.
"The team I want to join the most made the highest bid for me, so
of course I'm pleased."
The Dodgers reportedly made a formal contract offer late Monday
in an attempt to sign the 28-year-old Ishii.
Los Angeles won the right to negotiate with Ishii last week,
when their bid of $11.26 million was accepted by the Swallows.
Under an agreement between the commissioner's offices in Tokyo
and New York, the Dodgers have until midnight ET on Feb. 8 to work
out a contract with Ishii.
Ishii was 12-6 with a 3.39 ERA and 173 strikeouts in 175 innings
for Yakult last season. He went 78-45 with a 3.38 ERA and 1,266
strikeouts in 1,173 innings over 242 games in 10 years with the
Swallows.
If he signs with the Dodgers, Ishii would join fellow Japanese
pitcher Hideo Nomo, signed as a free agent by the Dodgers last
month, in a rotation that includes Kevin Brown, Andy Ashby and Omar Daal.
The Dodgers also acquired 23-year-old left-hander Odalis Perez from the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday as part of the Gary Sheffield trade.
Ishii would also become the second Japanese player to get to the
major leagues via the "posting" system, after Ichiro Suzuki, last
season's American League MVP and Rookie of the Year.
The Seattle Mariners paid $13,125,000 to the Orix BlueWave of
Japan's Pacific League after the 2000 season for the rights to
negotiate with Suzuki, who then agreed to a three-year contract
worth a little more than $14 million.
Suzuki had 242 hits, the most in the major leagues since Bill Terry's 254 in 1930, hit .350 and stole 56 bases.
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