The Yakult Swallows and Kazuhisa Ishii agreed Friday on terms that will see the left-hander return to Japanese baseball after a four-year stint in the major leagues.
Baseball sources said both sides agreed on a two-year contract for an estimated total of 600 million yen, including performance incentives, during their second round of negotiations.
On Thursday, Ishii, 32, said he had decided to pitch again for the Swallows and declined offers from the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.
"I thought about which of the teams I can fit to in the best possible fashion for the rest of my career," Ishii said after Friday's talks with Yakult officials.
"Hopefully, I'll produce results that make me say that I made a good decision."
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