Tazawa Signs with Red Sox

by slurve on Dec 5, 2008 12:35 PM EST Comment 20 comments

Not sure how this slipped by so quietly yesterday. No surprise as Boston seemed to never be in question, but it is now official. What I am surprised at is how little it took to sign him : 3 years for 3.3 million. Theo thinks he'll start in AA and his stay in the minors should be short. Not a lot of room in the rotation right now, so if he does come soon, it will most likely be in the pen.

What does everyone think - a solid starter long term or will he be more of a Okijima?

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081130&content_id=3695971&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos

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Other?

I just read an article I found on NPBtracker.com. Basically takes all of the pitchers Tazawa’s age who were first round picks or free agents signings and looks at how they did in the NPB. Their success rate is not good. And then to look at putting that pitcher in the majors in short order? Doesn’t seem like it will work out to me.

To me the bigger story with Tazawa will always be whether this loophole gets closed or not. I’m skeptical that he will amount to much in the MLB…

Here is the article:
http://www.npbtracker.com/2008/12/jim-allen-on-tazawa-round-2/

by benzalman on Dec 5, 2008 1:23 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

There is no "loophole"

Players coming from Tazawa’s league were never off limits. MLB teams have signed over 50 players this way in the past. There has just never been a talent like Tazawa come from there.

by alskor on Dec 5, 2008 2:12 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Sounds like a loophole

by aCone419 on Dec 5, 2008 2:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Its never been considered as such

and never been an issue in the past and is unlikely to be an issue in the future. The top talents in Japan come from high school ball 99.9% of the time. This was a freak case.

by alskor on Dec 5, 2008 2:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Freak case sounds like loop hole

by aCone419 on Dec 5, 2008 2:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Loophole for sure

There’s certainly an unwritten rule as well as some written rules about poaching talent. To be clear, what Tazawa did was legal. Far be it from me to tell someone where to work. That said, multiple teams did not really pursue Tazawa because of these written/unwritten rules.

For the sake of NPB’s future, there should be some rules that allow them to keep their talent. My personal opinion is that 8 years for Japanese Players is too long for free agency. Player movement there is a lot different anyway.

If there are other cases of where a Japanese player that age chose to jump to the states and avoid the NPB draft, please point them out. Players have flirted with MLB teams prior to being drafted (Uehara, Terahara, Nakata) but never signed. I’d also point out that to me there would be a difference between an undrafted player before and after the draft.

by benzalman on Dec 5, 2008 5:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ok,

but it sure doesnt need to be “closed” because its not gonna happen again

by alskor on Dec 5, 2008 10:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Sure it will

According to you, this has happened 50 times before.

by aCone419 on Dec 6, 2008 12:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Not to say that

it is or isn’t a loophole… but he did ask for the Japanese league to not draft him and they obliged. If that becomes a trend, I think the Japanese leagues would have to do something. Maybe MLB should just buy the Japanese leagues and be done with it. I don’t think they system is at all fair to players over there when they are forced to play in Japan for the better part of a decade just to prevent them from playing over here.

by slurve on Dec 6, 2008 3:12 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Not with players NPA cared about

that’s the whole friggin point.

by alskor on Dec 6, 2008 11:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Who???

The only player I know of who made it to the majors this way was Mac Suzuki, and he wasn’t even eligible to be drafted in Japan because he dropped out of high school. I’d like to know what over 50 players have been signed out of Japan as amateurs, because I only know of two. Also, if there are 50 others, the fact that only one of them made it to the majors or anywhere near the majors is a pretty good testement that it’s not the same quality of player and thus isn’t good for drawing a comparison.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Dec 5, 2008 5:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Others

I know the Braves have signed at least a couple Japanese amateurs over the years, who were exempt for whatever reason. I don’t think much has ever come of them though.

by aCone419 on Dec 5, 2008 6:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Few players have gone directly from the amateur ranks in Japan to the major leagues. Epstein cited more than 50 amateur players who have signed with major league clubs, though according to the Associated Press, just two have made it to the majors – Kazuhito Tadano, who pitched for the Indians, and Mac Suzuki, who played for six seasons.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2008/12/05/with_a_little_help_sox_land_tazawa/

by alskor on Dec 5, 2008 10:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It was surprising to me as well, though, which is why it stuck in my memory.

by alskor on Dec 5, 2008 10:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

tadano

the fact that he was in gay porn stuck with me, i get sick when i see his name mentioned

by IHateMitchMustain on Dec 6, 2008 7:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Which might explain

Why he was undrafted and, ergo, got to sign that way.

"That is like saying my ‘upside’ is Brad Pitts face, with Einstein’s brain, and Ron Jeremy’s unit. It is nice to dream, but that ceiling isn’t going to happen." (King Billy Royal)

by drjayphd on Dec 7, 2008 12:13 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

This doesn't take the scouting report into account

From a “stuff” perspective, I’d guess that Tazawa is better off than most first round picks around his age.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Dec 5, 2008 2:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Video? Counting report?

Has anyone seen this guy pitch or know what he throws?
Is there any reason to be interested other than his unusual way of getting to MLB?

Go Jays

by providence bruins on Dec 5, 2008 3:35 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

$

The bonus/contract Tazawa got is pretty unique. He got high first round money and a major-league deal.

The Dodgers won't win a playoff series until the Cool-a-Coo returns.

by mckeeno on Dec 5, 2008 4:46 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Scouting report

Though this is based off of video:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/76353-junichi-tazawa-scouting-report

The report above links to some of his video. His fastball has been reported as high as 97, but it’s pretty obvious that he sits in the low-90’s. Either way, he’s young enough and has little enough professional training that he can probably learn to pitch “American” (i.e. 3 or 4 pitches well instead of 5 or 6 pitches pretty good, throw for strikes instead of nibbles, less hitchy delivery, etc.) rather than like a NPB player. That in itself makes him pretty different from most of the Japanese talent who signs here. He probably would have been a top-20 pick in the draft had he been eligible.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Dec 5, 2008 5:59 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs