Right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma, who is reluctant to play for the Orix Buffaloes created by the merger between the Orix BlueWave and Kintetsu Buffaloes, said Tuesday he wants to be dealt to the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in a cash deal.
"I don't have any option in mind but to be dealt to Rakuten for cash," Iwakuma said. "It will annoy the player involved if it's a player-for-player deal and I don't want to see that happen."
The 23-year-old Iwakuma led the Pacific League with 15 wins with the Kintetsu Buffaloes this past season.
He is one of 25 protected players picked from Kintetsu and Orix despite his wish to be left out of the list for an opportunity to be selected by the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in the distribution draft held on Nov. 8.