NPB Tracker

Lots of people saw Jim Allen’s ESPN piece on Junichi Tazawa, but I don’t think as many will happen across his work in the Daily Yomiuri. So I’m posting it in hoping a few extra eyes might see it.

The whole entire is worth a read, but I find this passage interesting:

Tazawa was expected to be a top draft pick in Japan, causing one to question how other top-round pitchers his age have done here. The answer, surprisingly enough, is not very well.

Since 1983, 13 pitchers his age were signed as either first-round picks or amateur free agents. Seven failed to win 20 games in their entire careers, three have won 50 or more games, and only one can be considered a star. The lone success story belongs to the man who had a chance to go Tazawa’s way in 1999, Koji Uehara. Instead, Uehara joined the Yomiuri Giants and won 112 games.

Now that the 33-year-old Uehara is likely joining Tazawa in the States for next season, it will be interesting to see which of the two ends up with the better major league career.

That is surprising. Tsuyoshi Wada (70-42 in seven seasons) would be one of the other 22 year-old draftees to win 50+ games. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of who the other might be. 

Some time in the next week or so I’ll take a look at how other recent high draft picks out of the industrial leagues regardless of age have fared in NPB. I haven’t looked at the big picture yet, but anecdotely there seems to be a pattern of needing a year or two to ramp up.

A couple of very minor but interesting notes on the Braves and Twins (but mostly Braves) to share today…

• I wrote a little bit about Yoshinori Yamarin, a high school pitcher who went undrafted, back in October. This Sports Hochi article from Nov 11 says that the Twins had met with him and Braves were planning to. According to Hochi, Yamarin worked out for Lotte and others, and despite his strong desires to play professionally in Japan, went undrafted. He’s reportedly hit 92 mph on the gun as an 18 year-old, and might be an interesting project. This is the kind of guy that stands to lose the most from the Tazawa ban. 
• Sofbank cut pitcher Kazuhiro Takeoka earlier in the week, which never would have caught my attention except the Sponichi article said that he “might return to the Braves“. I had never heard of him. Turns out that Takeoka played in the Braves system between 2000-2003, reaching AAA in ’02 and ’03. At 33 he’s not an MLB prospect, but an interesting organizational arm. He’s hoping to talk to the Braves and get a decision made by year’s end.

Update, Dec 1: Sanspo has a brief article on Tazawa’s departure to Boston. This is really non-news, but you can get a sense of the media attention he’s getting in these shots: 1, 2, 3. 

Nikkan Sports is reporting Junichi Tazawa is shipping up to Boston (before anyone asks, no. neither a Bostonian nor a Red Sox fan, do like the song though). Tazawa will take a physical negotiate the final terms of his contract with Boston. Nikkan Sports is calling it a 3 year, $4M contract, but that’s the third number I’ve seen reported for the Boston offer, so let’s not assume it’s correct yet. 

Nikkan Sports has a different set of numbers than had previously been reported for the contracts that had been offered to Tazawa:

• Texas: 4 years, $7M
• Atlanta: 4 years, $6M
• Seattle: 3 years, $4.5M

Daily Sports is reporting that Hanshin is set to boost it’s efforts to acquire Kenshin Kawakami after failing to entice Daisuke Miura to leave Yokohama. The figure thrown out in this article is 4 years/ ï¿¥2bn ($20m), but I don’t know how seriously I take that number.

Hanshin, if you’re listening, the time to act is now. As of this weekend, Kawakami didn’t have any offers in hand, and he’s unlikely to get much MLB until the frontline guys sign. Go in and offer him $6.5-7m/year and give him something to think about.

Kenshin Kawakami: Word has it that the Rangers are interested.

Koji Uehara: Training with a Major League ball. Expected to see some movement on him at the Winter Meetings.

Ken Takahashi: Reportedly has offers from multiple MLB teams. The Cubs, Mets, Padres and Brewers are noted as interested.

Ryoji Aikawa: Worked out for a couple of MLB teams earlier in the month, still waiting to hear back. Aikawa will meet with Yakult again in December and wants to make a decision by the end of the year.

Norihiro Nakamura: Moving to Rakuten. 

Daisuke Miura: Staying with Yokohama.

Toshihiro Noguchi: Having a second round of negotiations with the BayStars on December 1. Looks set to replace Aikawa in Yokohama.

Update, Nov 28: More confirmation: Sponichi is reporting that Tazawa has agreed to Boston’s offer, and the Red Sox are looking into introducing him at a press conferencing at Fenway Park.

Update, Nov 27: More news about Tazawa today, but the only report offering any new information is this one from Sanspo. According Eneos manager Hideaki Ohkubo, Tazawa has formally turned down Texas’s and Atlanta’s offers. Jiji Press says that he’s turned down Seattle’s too. Looks like we can expect an official announcement on December 1.

Multiple Japanese media sources (Nikkan Sports, Mainichi, Sponichi) are reporting that Junichi Tazawa is set to sign with the Red Sox as early as December 1. Eneos manager Ohkubo is quoted as saying, “It felt like Tazawa is done negotiating with other teams”. 

Some details have leaked out on all the deals offered to Tazawa. All were apparently major league deals:

• Boston: 3 years, $3M
• Seattle: 3 years, $3M
• Atlanta: 4 years, $4-5M
• Texas: 4 years, $7M

We interupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you non-Tazawa news.

Kenshin Kawakami and Koji Uehara are slowly beginning to make news. I expect to hear a lot more about them after CC Sabathia, Derek Lowe, Ben Sheets, AJ Burnett, and Junichi Tazawa sign. There are a few items to pass along though.

Kawakami: Has reportedly changed agents from Tony Attanasio to former Dodgers GM Dan Evans, the agent that got Kosuke Fukudome signed with the Cubs. Initially it was reported that Evans would only handle Kawakami’s negotiations with Japanese teams, but that doesn’t seem to be the case any longer.

Hanshin seems to be the only NPB team interested in signing Kawakami. It was previously reported they would offer 4 years, $18M, but it’s since been reported that they are prepared to offer a deal in excess of 3 years, $18M. An average salary of $6M+ seems a lot more likely to get a deal done, but I still think he’s headed to the Majors. 

On the MLB side of the Pacific, the Giants, Mets, and Red Sox have been mentioned as possible suitors. Being a Bay Area resident I know which one I’d go for.

Uehara: Uehara is looking for a multi-year deal that will let him remain a starter. Nikkan Sports suggests that eight teams might be interested: the Orioles, Giants, Yankees, Mets, Angels, Rangers, Indians, and Twins. Any team that needs rotational depth and isn’t afraid to commit to two years could be a fit for Uehara.

I’ve also updated my free agent list, with resolutions for all but the seven guys that filed. And let’s squeeze in a link to EWC’s MLB projections for Uehara and Kawakami.

Update, Nov 24 Evening: I found a little more on these guys in this Indian publication. Kind of gives you a sense of what kind of background they’re coming from. Aaron and Jackson from EWC have posted scouting reports of the two as well.

Found on Yahoo! Japan: the Pirates have signed Indian pitchers Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh. EastWindupChronicle had a detailed report on Patel and Singh earlier in the month. The two signed minor league contracts and will participate in the Pirates’ minor league camp next year.

Sure, this is outside of the normal scope of NPB Tracker, but it was reported in the Japanese media and I couldn’t pass up reporting on it. I really like seeing baseball expand in this kind of way.

Just when it looked like the bidding war for Junichi Tazawa was going to end before it started, the Rangers stepped in and made things interesting. Texas director of Asia-Pacific scouting Jim Colborn met with Tazawa for nearly two hours, and reportedly made the best offer yet received. No details have been disclosed so far.

We now have reports on official offers from:

• Atlanta
• Boston
• Seattle
• Texas

Sponichi has published a detailed account of the contract Boston offered to Junichi Tazawa. The article also quotes  “They want me to come over, and I understand how I can develop. I feel like it’s a good team”. Nikkan Sports is reporting that Tazawa has already decided on the Red Sox, and says that he’ll be able to officially sign at the beginning of December.

Some highlights:

• 3 year, $3M contract (that’s $1M/year)
• Major League contract
• start off at class AA
• remain a starter
• personal translator