The Oakland Athletics leaked information damaging to Hisashi Iwakuma's credibility during the failed negotiations with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles ace, the pitcher himself has revealed in an exclusive interview with Kyodo News.
Iwakuma, who became the first posted player not to sign with a major league team two weeks ago, said Oakland manager Billy Beane as well as the San Francisco Chronicle apologized over some erroneous reporting that surfaced during the 30-day talks, which ended with the right-hander going back to Rakuten.
Iwakuma said the Athletics were downright forceful from the first day of negotiations, never showing a true willingness to enter dialogue. His agent, Don Nomura, has said Oakland only barely improved its initial offer of $15.25 million over four years in the end.