Junichi Tazawa rumors
by Kyle S on Nov 5, 2008 11:11 AM EST
25 comments
via multimedia.heraldinteractive.com
He's mysterious, he's Japanese, he hits 97 on the gun. Junichi Tazawa, the 5'10" pitcher from the Japanese Industrial Leagues, is in play. He asked not to be drafted by any NPB teams so that he could come straight to America (ESPN) and so far that looks to be on track. The Braves offered him a major league deal (DOB via Talking Chop) rumored to be in the mid-to-high seven figures. The Red Sox and Mariners want him too (Herald), but will have to pony up big dollars.
Who signs him, and for how much?
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regardless
i like the braves getting into the asian markets more fervently….i haven’t seen numbers to back it up, but i was told by one of those “friend of a friend” type folks that the braves heavily increased their investment in asian scouting already under wren….that could be from 0 scouts to 2 for all i know, but that was what i heard….definitely something that they should be doing much more of as their schools in latin america aren’t quite churning out the way they used to….
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
Yu Darvish
I don’t want to create a separate thread about it, but does anyone have any recent news about him coming to the majors? He seemed like the best SP that could make the jump to teh majors a year ago.
Go Pirates!!!
by cool hand Charlie on Nov 5, 2008 12:05 PM EST reply actions
Last I recall
He said he didn’t want to be posted, and won’t be after this past season. I think he made that decleration during the middle of the year
thats disappointing
I was really looking forward to seeing what he could do in the majors…
thanks for the info dude
Go Pirates!!!
by cool hand Charlie on Nov 5, 2008 12:12 PM EST up reply actions
I believe players usually wait about 7 years before being posted. If so then Darvish isn't coming over any time soon.
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-Jonathan Swift
by King Billy Royal on Nov 5, 2008 12:13 PM EST up reply actions
He wanted to
He originally did say that he wanted to be posted last season, or at least their were rumors that he did and wanted to come to the states. If it occured at such a young age, it would have been because of the ownership that it very good to the players, and the commitment they have towards accepting requests that players make if they want to be posted
He may have wanted to....
But the Japanese team owns his rights for 8 years (it could be nine but I’m fairly sure its eight). Japanese teams do not want to be seen as feeder systems and you haven’t really seen anybody be posted in their first 5 years in Japan baseball.
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-Jonathan Swift
by King Billy Royal on Nov 5, 2008 1:31 PM EST up reply actions
8 years...
is correct, I believe. IT used to be 9 years, but I think they changed the rule this past year.
by rhd on Nov 5, 2008 9:12 PM EST up reply actions
I like the idea
of my Braves adding a potential impact arm, but pricy MLB deal seems steep for a 5-10 teenager and Japanese imports tend to cost far more than they are worth.
Japanese imports tend to cost far LESS than they are worth
There was a recent blog about this at fangraphs, check it out.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
if i remember correctly
that article was talking about japanese hitters, not pitchers…….certainly there has been less value there
Irabu, and Igawa agree with you.
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-Jonathan Swift
by King Billy Royal on Nov 5, 2008 5:49 PM EST up reply actions
No, you're right
I apologize, I just misremembered what the article said.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
No worries Mr. Clemens
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-Jonathan Swift
by King Billy Royal on Nov 5, 2008 7:22 PM EST up reply actions
When it comes to Clemens and me, never the Twain shall meet
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
Think of him as a college senior, except instead of getting drafted, he's a FA
I think spending first-round plus money on this kid is fine. From the scouting reports, etc., he sounds like a stud.
And while I forgot to mention this above, the reason I made the analogy is because players drafted almost universally get far less than what they’d get on the FA market. Since Tazawa is a FA rather than a draftee (or someone posted, either way, with limit bargaining power), he should be expected to get a good deal more than a comparable player would in the draft.
And again, I think this would be a good investment for the Braves to make.
Koshien?
Anyone know if he was used/abused as Koshien cannon fodder, like Matsuzaka?
http://www.chop-n-change.com
by alexwithclass on Nov 5, 2008 10:18 PM EST up reply actions
I believe he played in the league he was in
because he didnt play high school ball – which koshien is the national championship for…
Atlanta Braves
seem to be the frontrunners. Currently they’re are 5 Japanese minor leaguers under the age of 25. Braves control the rights to 4 of them, obviously they’ve stepped up they’re Pacific Rim game.
Ryohei Shimabukuro C/1B – 18 years old (Braves). 6’0 205 lbs. lefthander hit 253/307/313 in 150 AB in 43 games for GCL Braves. Signed out of highschool at 16 due to a technicality (b/c his Japanese HS didn’t have a baseball team) in 2005.
Shohei Sekiguchi LHP – 19 years old (Braves). 6’6 225 lbs. signed as an 18 year old after failing to be selected in the Japanese amateur draft. Tops out at 86 mph. Don’t think he played stateside this year, could be wrong.
Takumi Hamaoka OF – 23 years old (Braves). 6’0 185 lefthander signed out of highschool as an 18 year old in 2004. Repeated third year in the GCL and had an unimpressive year at 212/236/247 in 85 AB in 41 games.
Masayoshi Tokuda RHP – 25 years old (BRaves). 6’0 205 lbs. Signed as a 21 year old in 2005 after showing a low-90’s fast ball that hit 94. Had elbow surgey in 2006.
Kenta Suda RHP – 19 years old. (Mariners). 6’0 176 lbs. Signed as an 18 year old in 2007 out of HS after hitting 95. Lives in the low-90’s with a ton of projection. 3.15 ERA in 54.1 innings for AZL Mariners.
So out of 5 minor leaguers under 25, the Braves control 4. They’ve already made a major-league contract offer that apparently rivals what Pedro Alvarez got from the Pirates.
Churchill says that Mariners interests are mild to moderate, but when was the last time he got a rumor right. He also said that the Braves and Red Sox have moved out as the front-runners.
not exactly
stellar returns yet, though….
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
I like that
the Braves are at least trying (I think Dayton Moore was the guy in the front office who was especially keen on scouting Japan), especially since they aren’t exactly the first team people think of when they think of organizations that mine Asia for talent, but there is generally a bad reason the Japanese players that wind up stateside aren’t gobbled up by Japanese teams… they aren’t any good.
by nms on Nov 9, 2008 1:49 AM EST up reply actions
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