Most free agents who sign with the New York Yankees arrive in the Bronx to find a red carpet and a troupe of trumpeters awaiting them. Those who forsake their old teams in favor of pinstripes tend to be treated as royalty.
This wasn't really the case with Hiroki Kuroda. His decision to sign with the Yankees this past winter was a mere footnote compared to the trade that brought Michael Pineda over from Seattle, which went down just hours before the Kuroda signing was reported.
Between those two deals, it's safe to say that the Kuroda signing has born more fruit. Pineda hasn't pitched at all in 2012. Kuroda, meanwhile, has established himself as one of the American League's top pitchers.
Kuroda has been dancing on the edge of the top five of my weekly AL Cy Young rankings for several weeks at this point, but no longer. It's past time he got his due.
Scroll ahead to see where Kuroda and the other top candidates rank in this week's top five.
Note: All stats are current as of the start of play on Tuesday, September 4, and they come courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.
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