Reports: Kuroda chooses Dodgers over Mariners

The Mariners could get the news as early as Wednesday that free agent right-handed pitcher Hiroki Kuroda has spurned them to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Mariners made a strong pitch for Kuroda. General manager Bill Bavasi and manager John McLaren flew to Japan in late November to meet with him.

They had the most money on the table -- about $33 million over three years -- while the Dodgers were offering about $30 million for three years.

But reports out of Japan say he has picked the Dodgers after spending 11 years in Japan with the Hiroshima Carp. He was scheduled to make a recruiting trip to Los Angeles, Seattle and Arizona this week, but canceled over the weekend and narrowed down the finalists to the Dodgers and the Mariners.

Los Angeles general manager Ned Colletti told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, a Los Angeles-area paper, that he had no knowledge of Kuroda having reached a decision.

It appears the Mariners' history of success with Japanese players -- Ichiro Suzuki, Kazuhiro Sasaki, Shigetoshi Hasegawa and Kenji Johjima -- wasn't enough to draw Kuroda.

Kuroda reportedly is good friends with Takashi Saito, the Dodgers closer.

The Mariners never thought bringing in Kuroda would be easy -- McLaren said last week at the winter meetings that he didn't necessarily believe Seattle was the front-runner in the bidding. But the Mariners have a stronger need for a starting pitcher than the Dodgers, who have Brad Penny, Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley and Esteban Loaiza and hope last year's free agent pickup, Jason Schmidt, will be healthy next season.

It was the Dodgers who landed Schmidt last year when the Mariners appeared to be the front-runner for his services -- the Washington native said during the 2006 season he would like to pitch close to home.

The Mariners remain in the running for Baltimore lefty Erik Bedard, but the Orioles could try to extort extra talent out of the Seattle minor league system with the realization of just how badly the Mariners need to upgrade their starting rotation.

CONTRACT DECISIONS: The Mariners have until Wednesday night to offer contracts to four members of their 40-man roster -- left-handed pitcher Horacio Ramirez, first baseman Ben Broussard, lefty reliever George Sherrill and right-handed reliever John Parrish. The only one back without question is Sherrill, who has done a nice job in setup relief. Broussard is likely to be retained, too.