Hiroki Kuroda

Hiroki Kuroda pitched three seasons for the New York Yankees from 2012 to 2014, going 38-33 with a 3.44 ERA over 620 innings on three straight one-year contracts. He came over from the Dodgers at 36, took the ball every fifth day for three years, and then went home to Hiroshima while big-league teams were still waving money at him. I'd argue he's the most underrated starter the club had in the 2010s.

The Guy Who Only Signed for a Year

Kuroda spent 11 seasons with the Hiroshima Carp (103-89, 3.69 ERA) before the Dodgers signed him for three years and $35.3 million in December 2007. He won his first big-league start in San Diego and settled in as a quietly excellent starter in L.A. In July 2011, with the Yankees reportedly among the teams calling, he refused to waive his no-trade clause. He liked it out west, thanks.

That winter he hit free agency, and New York suddenly looked a lot better. On January 13, 2012, the same night Brian Cashman traded for Michael Pineda, the Yanks agreed to a one-year, $10 million deal with Kuroda. Pineda's shoulder blew out before he threw a pitch in pinstripes. The 36-year-old on the one-year deal didn't miss a start.

Three Years, Zero Drama

2012 was the best of it: 16-11, a 3.32 ERA, 219.2 innings, 167 strikeouts, all career highs in wins, starts, innings and Ks. He led the staff in ERA and innings and threw two shutouts, the first Yankee to throw two in a season since Mike Mussina in 2005. The second was a two-hitter against a Texas lineup that came in leading the majors in runs. The Rangers didn't get a hit until Elvis Andrus beat out an infield single to open the seventh.

He turned down a $13.3 million qualifying offer that November, then re-signed for one year and $15 million, reportedly passing on longer deals from other teams. The 2013 season was a tale of two Kurodas. Through 24 starts he was 11-7 with a 2.33 ERA, close enough to the top of the AL ERA leaderboard that people were writing up his Cy Young case. Then he went 0-6 with a 6.56 ERA over his last eight starts and finished at 3.31. (Turns out 38-year-old arms get tired in August. Who knew.)

He came back for one more year at $16 million, and in 2014 he was the only member of the Opening Day rotation who never went on the disabled list. CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, Pineda and Ivan Nova all broke down. The oldest guy in the group made 32 starts anyway. He was 39.

October 2012, on Three Days' Rest

Kuroda's only Yankees postseason was also his best stretch in pinstripes. In ALDS Game 3 against Baltimore he went 8.1 innings, and the only damage came on solo homers by Ryan Flaherty and Manny Machado. He left with one out in the ninth, trailing 2-1, a few minutes before Raul Ibanez took over the night. (Quick, who started that game? Exactly.)

Four days later, on three days' rest for the first time in his big-league career, he started ALCS Game 2 against Detroit. That was the day after Derek Jeter broke his ankle. Kuroda retired the first 15 Tigers he faced and didn't give up a hit until Jhonny Peralta singled to lead off the sixth. He finished with 7.2 innings, 11 strikeouts, no walks and a loss. Anibal Sanchez shut the Yankees out, and two of Detroit's three runs came in the eighth inning, after umpire Jeff Nelson called Omar Infante safe at second even though Robinson Cano had clearly tagged him out.

That was Kuroda's whole Yankees career in one game. He pitched great, the help didn't show up, and he didn't complain about it.

Home, on Purpose

Kuroda's last big-league start came on September 25, 2014, the night of Jeter's walk-off in his final at-bat at the Stadium. Nick Markakis and Alejandro De Aza homered back-to-back to start the game. Kuroda then went eight innings with nine strikeouts and got a no-decision when the bullpen blew the lead. Almost nobody remembers his part of that night (to be fair, the Captain was busy).

That winter, the Padres reportedly offered as much as $18 million. Kuroda signed with Hiroshima for $3.3 million and took back his old No. 15. (Somewhere an agent is still lying down in a dark room.) I can't think of a cleaner exit. He didn't hang on for a sad 41-year-old season in somebody else's rotation. He just went home.

He signed for one year at a time, three straight times, and every year he gave the Yankees exactly what they paid for. Then he went home and won a pennant.