Chances Of Kuroda Coming Back Improving?

(Courtesy of the AP)

The last time we heard about Hiroki Kuroda, reports had him leaning towards returning to Japan next season rather than coming back for another year in MLB.  At the time, only the Yankees and Dodgers stood out as realistic MLB options if Kuroda decided to stick around for 1 more season and the Yankees, at least based on their early lack of communication with Kuroda, didn't seem to have Hirok high on their priority list.

In the last few weeks, that landscape may have changed to shift back towards Kuroda returning to the Yanks in 2014.  The Dodgers recently signed Dan Haren to a 1-year/$10 million deal, making Kuroda much less of a priority for them.  And in a story for The Post a week ago, Joel Sherman reported that the Yankees were "more upbeat" about the possibility of Kuroda coming back than they were earlier in the offseason.  Cash's stated need for 400 innings still hasn't been addressed and the continued delays in the new NPB posting agreement is keeping the Yankees from making their push for Masahiro Tanaka, so the match is very clearly there.

Cano Lowers His Asking Price

Don't get too excited because it's not by much.  But after tabling talks until Monday, a report is out on the latest offer from Robinson Cano's side.  According to Ken Davidoff of The Post, Cano's agents turned in a new proposal for a 9-year deal worth between $250-260 million during the last meeting this past week.  This is down slightly from the initial 10/$310 mil figures that were submitted in May.

To their credit, the Yankees reportedly stood firm to their 7-year/$160-175 million offer and they have no reason to budge from that without another team getting involved.  This new counter offer from the Cano camp signals them coming to terms with the reality of his market, although their new proposed offer would still put him in the high 20s per year in terms of AAV and that's still a very high price for a player already in his 30s.  If the Yankees stand pat on their side when talks start up again tomorrow, chances are we'll be reading about Cano's team lowering their figures again at some point.