When the Yankees signed pitcher Kei Igawa to a 23 million dollar contract, they didn’t envision the left-hander spending the length of his contract in Triple-A Scranton. With time running out, the Yankees are taking another direction to find a use for Igawa: the bullpen.
With the idea of using Igawa as a possible left-handed specialist, he will now begin the transition from starter (where he’s arguably been very good in Scranton) to the bullpen. It’s a switch we’ve seen happen in Scranton before. It wasn’t that long ago that Joba Chamberlain made his relief debut in Scranton-Wilkes/Barre.
The transition isn’t expected to be easy for Igawa who is familiar with the starting role.
“Obviously, there’s a difference,” Igawa said through an interpreter. “It’s a lot harder to prepare as a reliever. I’m trying to adjust.”
The move is a long time coming as far as I’m concerned. It was pretty clear early on that Igawa wasn’t likely to break...
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