W L W% ERA WHIP QS SO OBP SLG BB/9 K/9 HR/9
Sugiuchi 16 7 .696 3.55 1.25 17 5 .310 .356 2.96 10.74 0.59
Darvish 12 8 .600 1.78 1.01 21 2 .268 .273 2.09 9.89 0.22
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However, not all was well on the SoftBank front. Toshiya Sugiuchi, who has opposed the new salary procedures at every turn, revealed that chief of player development Itaru Kobayashi, who is the head negotiator, pulled out an audio recorder at Sugiuchi's negotiations, which made an already-miffed Sugiuchi even more angry.
In addition, Hiroshi Shibahara was quoted as saying, "He [Kobayashi] was leafing through a player directory during our negotiations. I even asked what he was doing and whether or not he had to do that now. This isn't the type of environment negotiations should take place in." It didn't help that Shibahara was offered a large reduction in his salary (down 78 million to 42 million yen). Needless to say, both players but their respective offers on hold.
Sugiuchi has been stewing on the new contract proposals for quite a while, and the audio recorder incident has only proven to make things worse. No terms of deals have been disclosed on the Hawks' lefty ace, but he has said before that he's looking for Darvish money. He won't (and shouldn't) get that much, not after he continually choked in big games this year, especially in the playoffs. Still, he is the ace of this team, and they need him.