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Iwakuma can't replace Greinke, but Dodgers could acquire an option that can

The Dodgers have reportedly signed Hisashi Iwakuma for three years and $45 million. Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

I had Hisashi Iwakuma as a one-year-deal guy because he now has had shoulder issues twice in five years and, at 35 years old, he isn't likely to suddenly get healthier. He's a sinker-splitter guy who throws a ton of strikes and misses bats with the splitter, a formula that we rarely see in U.S.-born pitchers but is more common in Japan, where the splitter isn't scorned as a dangerous pitch to throw (for the elbow, that is). But he's working with fringe-level velocity and has been homer-prone in the major leagues even though he has spent his career pitching in good pitchers' parks, which doesn't make me feel great about him moving to a park that suppresses offense in total but is actually favorable for home runs, especially for left-handed power.