The Chiba Lotte Marines announced the signing of veteran free agent starting pitcher Shuta Ishikawa, agreeing to a 3-year deal worth 600 million yen (3.9 million USD).
This was a logical follow-up to Roki Sasaki officially being posted to MLB teams earlier in the week. Sasaki will not only leave a huge hole in the Marines rotation but they will also not be properly compensated for losing Sasaki’s talent due to how the posting system works. If Sasaki waited until his age 25 season, he would have been in line for a nine-figure contract, which would have netted the Marines a substantial payout, much like when the Orix Buffaloes got $50,625,000 from the Dodgers for the signing of Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Instead, the Marines will get a pittance, and they have allocated what little they got into their new acquisition, Shuta Ishikawa.
Newest Marines SP Shuta Ishikawa nasty curveball šµāš« pic.twitter.com/UCqh0D3V87
— Lucas Borja (ć«ćć«ć¹ ćć«ćøć£) (@lucasborjaNPB) December 12, 2024
Ishikawa is not a 1-for-1 replacement for Sasaki, no one is, but the 32-year old right-hander brings in experience and was a part of the Softbank Hawks 4-peat title run from 2017 to 2020. Originally drafted as a developmental player in the 2013 NPB Draft, Ishikawa grinded his way to the top team and established himself as a familiar presence of the Hawks rotation. Over his career, Ishikawa has a 56-41 W/L record, 3.32 ERA and a 7.8 K/9.
Ishikawa will be turn 33 at the end of this year, but his 2024 season showed the Tokyo native still has enough gas in the tank. Ishikawa’s fastball averaged 91mph, his best mark since his rookie year in 2017, and his three other offerings (cutter, curveball, forkball) experienced similar jumps. Even though it was just 63 innings with the top team, Ishikawa put up a 2.56 ERA and had a 2.99 FIP as a starter. He nearly cut his walk rate in half (4.6BB% in 2024, career 9.2BB%) but was still able to miss enough bats to be effective. His best stretch came in September, where he went 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA in 4 starts, including six shutout innings against his new ballclub.
The Marines, who made the playoffs for the second year in a row, finishing 3rd in the Pacific League with a 71-66-6 record, but losing to the Fighters in the first stage of the Climax Series. The team now faces the challenge of remaining competitive after losing what probably was the most gifted player in Marines history. But Sasaki only took the ball every 6 days (when healthy) so it would be incorrect to disregard their competitive chances in 2025, even though it was obviously a big blow.
Here is how the 2025 Marines rotation is projected with Ishikawa in the mix:
That’s 4 proven starters at the top, with Taneichi actually having the third highest WAR of any pitcher in NPB (4.8) and the highest of any PL pitcher, even ahead of Sasaki. Still, it’s clear the team needs at least one more starting option on the backend, since the team let go of LHP C.C Mercedes after he postedĀ a 2.71 ERA in 21 starts, so I expect them to try to find another foreigner, probably with MLB experience.
