Hiroki Kuroda and the Yankees agreed to a one-year $15M contract today.

From Jeff Quagliata, YES’s research guru: Kuroda had career highs in wins (16), IP (219.2), Ks (167) and starts (33). His 3.32 ERA led NYY and was 8th in AL. He had a 5.2 WAR, an ERA+ 126 and a 1.165 WHIP.

To say he was valuable would be an understatement considering how close the AL playoff teams all were at the end of the season. Those five wins (WAR) are huge.

Next up, Andrew Eugene Pettitte.