New York Yankees Re-Sign Pitcher Kuroda to One-Year MLB Contract

Right-handed pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, who tied for the New York Yankees’ lead with 16 wins last season, signed a new one-year contract with the Major League Baseball team.

The club did not release details in announcing the deal yesterday. Kuroda’s contract is worth $15 million salary plus incentives worth less than $1 million, ESPN reported, citing people familiar with the agreement it didn’t identify.

Kuroda, 37, went 16-11 with a 3.32 earned run average in a team-high 33 starts in 2012, his first season with the Yankees. Phil Hughes also had 16 wins for the team last season.

“I am very happy and excited to re-sign with the Yankees,” Kuroda said in a team release. “At the end of the day, I wanted to try to win a championship with the teammates that I went to battle with last season.”

Kuroda recorded career bests in wins, starts, innings pitched (219 2/3) and strikeouts (167) last season. He went 13-5 in his final 24 starts.

A native of Osaka, Japan, Kuroda spent four seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers before joining the Yankees as a free agent in January. He has a 57-57 career MLB record.

The Yankees also said yesterday that they had claimed right-handed relief pitcher Mickey Storey off waivers from the Houston Astros. Storey, 26, made his major league debut with the Astros in August 2012, going 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 26 appearances.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Gloster in San Francisco at rgloster@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net