The Yankees’ greatest ally to keeping Hiroki Kuroda might be the righty’s desire to play in Japan again while he still is a good pitcher.
That is because, The Post has learned, the Yankees are only willing to offer Kuroda a one-year contract at present. Two other teams that seemingly would be attractive to Kuroda, the Dodgers and Angels, probably would be willing to offer at least a two-year pact.
Japan also is a legitimate consideration for Kuroda right now. But if he decides he wants to pitch in the States further, he might be attracted to a one-year contract so he does not grow ineffective during the life of the deal and return to Japan unable to pitch at a high level. That would assist the Yankees, who only want to go one year, but badly need Kuroda to strengthen the top of their rotation.
The Yankees do not want to go more than one year with Kuroda for two reasons:
1) They remain determined to get under the $189 million luxury tax threshold in 2014, so they are hesitant to add dollars beyond 2013.
2) They are comfortable giving older players one-year contracts so if they falter they are not committed beyond just that season. Kuroda turns 38 in February, and as well as he pitched in 2012 — he was the Yankees’ most consistently good/durable starter throughout the year — the organization is concerned about how long he will sustain that excellence.
Kuroda rejected the Yankees’ $13.3 million tender offer for 2013, which means the Yankees likely would have to pay more than that just to keep Kuroda for one season. And they probably would be willing to go to $15 million-$16 million. Because the Yankees made the tender, they would receive a draft pick between the first and second rounds if Kuroda left, and the Dodgers or Angels would lose their first-round pick if they signed Kuroda.
But the Angels recently did not pick up the options on Dan Haren and Ervin Santana and badly need to add high-end starting pitching behind Jered Weaver, with free agent Zack Greinke their No. 1 target. The Dodgers also want to land Greinke, but have shown no hesitation to spend huge money over multiple years since they were bought by new ownership.
ESPN-Los Angeles, in fact, reported that Kuroda has told friends his first preference is to pitch in Southern California, where his two daughters are attending elementary school. Kuroda had pitched for the Dodgers from 2008-11 and is comfortable there.
Kuroda was 16-11 with a 3.32 ERA for the Yankees.