Hiroki Kuroda

Hiroki Kuroda to return to Japan

The 40 year old Japanese pitcher will return to the Hiroshima Carp, who he pitched for from 1997-2007, ending his MLB career.

Fantasy Impact

Kuroda was a free agent after pitching three years for the Yankees and there was a very little chance he would return, so this was not a huge surprise. Kuroda was not a superstar, actually was the very definition of mediocre with a 79-79 record and a 115 ERA+, but he had 30 or more starts in six of his seven MLB seasons and had great control with a 2.0 BB/9. The Yankees will have a very different rotation in 2015, adding Nathan Eovaldi and looking for a full season from Masahiro Tanaka, and losing a pitcher that averaged 207 innings pitched in his three seasons in New York will hurt.