A couple tweets came out from FOX Sports’ Jon (Paul? is there still a Paul in here?) Morosi this morning. In them, he served up a reminder to us with a side dish of “thought.”

The main course:

Reminders are good! Especially this time of year when there are so many things going on. Hot Stove, et cetera.

This really is an important item to consider, as this team needs more players like Iwakuma, not less players like Iwakuma.

The Japanese native came to the Seattle Mariners extremely cheap, because pitchers who have injury histories in the arm with which they throw tend to figuratively wave red flags.

There was a ton of upside for a guy who would have cost much more had it not been for those shoulder issues. Elbow injuries are still bad for pitchers, but advances in medical treatment have made them far-less career threatening, whereas bum shoulders lead to guys becoming bad pitchers. Or chefs.

Dammit, I should have known this food theme would lead to you, Ryan Anderson.

Okay, give us our fries, Jon:

Per Cot’s Contracts, Iwakuma’s option for 2015 is $7 million. The only way that option isn’t getting exercised is if Iwakuma gets seriously hurt. If he’s not hurt, those seven million smackers are going to be seen as a massive bargain — one of the best in baseball for a front-of-the-rotation arm in his prime. If he were to be hurt for a prolonged period, the option might not vest. But then, we might not want it to vest, because he’s hurt.

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Really, the only bad outcome for the M’s here would be if Iwakuma is just downright terrible, but healthy, and the option vests and then he’s terrible again. However, one year of a bad starting pitcher at $7 million is something that other teams voluntarily seek every off-season. So, really, is there any bad outcome? Optimism reigns supreme!

Jon Morosi wants you to remember that Hisashi Iwakuma might be a free agent relatively soon. But then, cosmically speaking, Seattle is relatively close to Shanghai and that bastard Clay Bennett’s deeds are relatively close to being forgotten.

I don’t know what the point of this reminder was. Maybe Morosi is bored on a quiet news and rumor day. But, there hasn’t been any talk of Iwakuma being traded. There’s no talk about him being hurt. And if you start those talks, I’ll literally slap you in the mouth.

Jason A. Churchill

Churchill founded Prospect Insider in 2006 after getting his start at InsidethePark.com. He spent several years covering prep, college and pro sports for various newspapers, including The News Tribune and Seattle PI.

Jason spent 4 1/2 years at ESPN and two years at CBS Radio prior to joining HERO Sports in July, 2016.

Find Jason's Mariners podcast, Baseball Things, right here and follow him on Twitter @ProspectInsider.

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