From Nick Cafardo’s Boston Globe notebook ...
Hisashi Iwakuma, RHP, Mariners — Seattle has fielded inquiries from a few teams on the 33-year-old Iwakuma. The Red Sox have had at least internal conversations about him. The Mariners would want an impact hitter, such as Yoenis Cespedes, in return. Iwakuma has won 29 games the past two years.
The M’s are operating like a team that wants to compete -- not rebuild -- so trading a pitcher like Iwakuma wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense, even for a good bat. The 33-year-old right-hander owns a cool 3.07 ERA and 1.086 WHIP in 524 career major league innings. Maybe if they’re blown away by a trade offer or if things go south in a hurry next summer ...
