Hisashi Iwakuma has received a $15.8 million qualifying offer from the Seattle Mariners despite a somewhat rocky 2015 season.
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma had a relatively rough 2015 season, as he spent a large chunk of it on the disabled list with a strained lat muscle. However, he finished strongly and ended up with a 3.54 ERA and 111 strikeouts in 129 innings.
With that rebound and a solid track record, there was some anticipation that Seattle would place a qualifying offer on Iwakuma. Well, it has been confirmed on Twitter that the Mariners have extended a $15.8 million qualifying offer to their No. 2 starter.
Although Iwakuma had a strong finish, the early part of his 2015 season consisted of no quality starts. Iwakuma allowed at least four runs in each of his three April starts before being moved to the DL. His July performance was rough too, as he shook off rust with 15 runs allowed. However, he showed signs of life again and posted three quality starts during that time.
Iwakuma went on to post 10 quality starts in the final two months of the season, and he only had one bad start while throwing a no-hitter on Aug. 12 against the Baltimore Orioles.He never allowed more than three runs in a start since Aug. 29, and he re-established himself as the Mariners’ most reliable starter not named Felix Hernandez.
Iwakuma is sure to attract plenty of interest if he does not accept the qualifying offer, but his age can be seen as a concern since he is now 34 years old. However, he has been a model of consistency while healthy since he has never finished with an ERA above 3.54.