Dodgers beat M's to Kuroda

The Mariners lost out on one of their prime pitching targets, Japanese free agent Hiroki Kuroda, who agreed Saturday on a three-year contract to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The deal will be worth $35.3 million, according to mlb.com. The Dodgers will introduce Kuroda today at a news conference at Dodger Stadium.

The Mariners' pursuit of Kuroda included a trip to Japan to meet with him in early December by general manager Bill Bavasi and manager John McLaren.

"We worked hard on this and gave it our best shot," McLaren said by phone Saturday. "We would have liked to have had him, but we have to move on and try our next option."

The Mariners are thought to have offered Kuroda a similar contract as the Dodgers, perhaps for even more money. The Kansas City Royals offered a four-year deal, and the Arizona Diamondbacks were also in the running.

But Kuroda settled on the Dodgers, whose closer, Takashi Saito, is a good friend. One of Kuroda's advisers, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, the former Mariners' pitcher, also lives in Southern California.

The Mariners had hoped that their history with Japanese players, and the presence of Ichiro and especially catcher Kenji Johjima, would sway Kuroda.

However, Seattle's hopes appeared to dim earlier this week when Kuroda flew from Japan to Los Angeles, canceling plans to visit all his prospective cities. One of his agents insisted that Kuroda had yet to make up his mind and was still mulling offers, but that ended with Saturday's agreement.

"He just felt he and his family could assimilate most quickly and be most comfortable in L.A.," said Steve Hilliard, Kuroda's co-agent, in a phone interview.

"The Mariners were absolutely professional throughout the process. Their pursuit was taken extremely seriously. They did everything they could have possibly done, and did it right.

"It's not just a cliché in this case — money was not the driving force in his decision. He had more lucrative offers elsewhere."

The Mariners will now have to turn in other directions to meet their goal of a rotation upgrade. They are still pursuing a trade of Baltimore's Erik Bedard. Free agents still on the market include Kyle Lohse and Carlos Silva.

"We have other options," McLaren said of losing Kuroda. "We had another game plan if it didn't work out, and that's where we are now. We've got some coals in the fire. We'll just see where it takes us. Bill's got some things going."

Assistant general manager Lee Pelekoudas agreed the Mariners were prepared to act if Kuroda went elsewhere.

"We're not just going down one path," he said. "We're going down parallel paths, investigating multiple things."

Kuroda, 32, was 12-8 with a 3.56 earned-run average last season for Hiroshima. He led the Central League with 15 victories in 2005 and won the ERA title (1.85) in 2006.

Kuroda has a lifetime 103-89 record with a 3.69 ERA in 11 seasons, all with Hiroshima. He is a workhorse, with 74 complete games in 244 career starts. He is generally regarded by scouts as a middle-of-the-rotation pitcher, but many baseball people felt he was the best available free-agent pitcher in a weak class.

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com