The Seattle Mariners have made their pitch to Japanese right-hander Hiroki Kuroda, but unless the club has improved their apparent initial offer of 3/$24m, the 33-year-old will not be reporting to Spring Training in an M’s uniform.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have the best known offer on the table, a pact believed to be three years in length at $9 million per season.

But PI has been told that both the Mariners and Dodgers have been prepared to better that offer, in both years and dollars. From what I can gather, Seattle has likely offered Kuroda a very similar contract that they handed Jarrod Washburn two winters ago, and it’s not impossible that the total dollars exceeds the $37. 5 million that Washburn received.

Kuroda could make his decision as early as Monday evening, but the process could drag on beyond the winter meetings as long as teams continue to up the ante.