The Curse of Igawa? Why can't the Yankees sign Asian stars?

As Yogi Shogun would say, it's deja vu sayonara , all over again. 

Once again, the Yankees have finished "also-competed" in the bidding war for a Japanese star, the kind of international player who led us to our last world championship, 16 years ago and counting. 

That golden October, 2009, Hideki Matsui won World Series MVP, and the future looked like a pipeline of Asian talent that would restore the iconic New York Yankees to their rightful status as Planet Earth's baseball team.

Well, so much for that. Yesterday - as usual -the Yankees whiffed on another Asian star, pitcher Roki Sasaki, the lone remaining free agent who could make a difference in 2025. (To counter Sasaki's announcement, the Yankees unveiled the signing of - drum roll, gasp - Dom Smith! a 29 year-old brake pad, who hit .233 with 6 HRs last year.) By whiffing on Sasaki, the Death Barge kept alive its Asian losing streak, failing again on to acquire international talent that populates the upper tier of MLB's power structure. 

The Yankees - like their NFL brothers, the Football Giants - seem to prefer a romanticized fantasy of clean-shaven suburbanites - Harrison Bader, Anthony Volpe, Cody Bellinger, Gerrit Cole - who, by way of White Plains, return to lead their boyhood idols down the Canyon of Heroes.

Over the last 10 years, the Yankees have signed one Japanese star, Masahiro Tanaka, who pitched several seasons with a partially torn ligament and never once embarrassed himself, even when the team around him fell apart. You'd think their experience with Tanaka would have convinced the Brain Trust to throw themselves at other Japanese stars. In fact, they have wined and dined a few, unsuccessfully. The players simply did not want to play in New York for the Yankees. So, as Shogun would say, What is the Fuck?

Before Tanaka, the Yankees' Japanese stars were: 

Hideki Irabu, 1997-1999. Aka the "Fat Toad," according to Old George. Sad story. Years later, guy killed himself.  

Ichiro Sazuki, 2012-2014. Came as a shadow of his former greatness. Played on lousy teams.

Hiroki Kuroda, 2012-2014. Pitched well, like Ichiro, in lean Yankee years. 

And the Babadook - Kei Igawa. 

I cannot escape a sense that we are still paying for Igawa, who pitched for the Yankees in 2007 and 2008, and whose contract made him into Hal Steinbrenner's personal whipping mule. Igawa never pitched well for the Yankees. In 2008, his last MLB season, he started one game, gave up six runs on 11 hits in three innings and was promptly banished to Scranton. Forever.  

Two things I loved about Igawa:

1. He lived in NYC and chartered a limo to and from Scranton on nights when he was scheduled to pitch in Triple A. At one point, Brian Cashman - on a scouting trip - was passed by Igawa's limo on Interstate-80. Wish I were there for that.

2. Over his career, Igawa always seemed to pitch better at night. So, his solution? During day games, he pitched with sunglasses.   

Here's what's really weird: Igawa became a Scranton mainstay. On July 27, 2009, in a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Clippers, he set the all-time Scranton franchise record for career wins. But the Yankees refused to promote him - even when they desperately needed pitching - and when Cashman twice tried to trade Igawa to a Japanese team, he used his contract to nix the deal. In the end, Igawa played out his bloated Yankee contract with the Railriders for three more years, retiring from MLB in 2011. He then pitched two more seasons in Japan, hanging it up in 2014.

You gotta wonder: When we ask why the Yankees have failed so miserably in recruiting Japanese stars - Ohtani, Yamamoto, and now Sasaki - could they be paying the price for being so petty in their treatment of Igawa?