Through the end of the 2014 season and the start of the offseason, there's been quite a bit of speculation about whether the Cubs would pick up an option that was reported to exist on the contract of Japanese lefthander Tsuyoshi Wada.
It's still not 100 percent clear what that option was, but we do have Wada news:
#Cubs agree to terms on the 2015 contract of LHP Tsuyoshi Wada. pic.twitter.com/is1fXm4J6i
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) November 3, 2014
It sounds as if they threw out the option year (if there was one) and agreed to terms on a new contract. The Cubs' press release, as is traditional, did not mention terms of the deal other than to note that it was a one-year contract. Here are the dollar figures, via Carrie Muskat:
Tsuyoshi Wada signed for $4 million, and has chance to make $2 million in incentives. #Cubs
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) November 3, 2014
2014 was Wada's first full year back after Tommy John surgery while he was still in the Orioles organization. Baltimore had signed him to a two-year deal before 2012 after he had nine good-to-excellent years in Japan.
In his first major-league action, Wada made 13 starts for the Cubs and posted a 3.25 ERA, 3.75 FIP and 1.24 WHIP, walking 19 and striking out 57 in 69⅓ innings. His best start was against his old organization, the Orioles, August 24, where he threw six no-hit innings before allowing a leadoff homer to Steve Pearce in the seventh.
Wada turns 34 in February. He should be back to full strength after TJS, and as a lefthander, has an advantage, since rotations can always use more lefthanders. He's certainly a perfectly good fifth-starter option and at the money figures tweeted by Carrie, he's not expensive.
Good signing, and I'd expect him to start the year in that fifth rotation spot.