MLB, Nippon Professional League and the Yankees Acquiring Shohei Otani?

Good evening Yankees family. I know usually after the games we are done for the day here on the blog but there is one more bit of information that I just feel compelled to bring to you and it involves the slew of Japanese imports that Major League Baseball has seen over the years and will continue to see for the foreseeable future. Major League baseball wants to see changes in their player acquisition agreement with Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League.

Back in December of 1998 the NPBL and MLB agreed to a posting system that allowed Japanese clubs to make their players available for teams in the United States to acquire without their former Japanese League team getting basically nothing for the player in return. MLB teams would bid and/or pay a posting fee to the team just for the exclusive rights to negotiate with the player. We saw some incredible posting fees over the years under this plan including Daisuke Matsuzaka’s $51,111,111.11 posting fee and Yu Darvish’s $51,703,411 posting fee. Matsuzaka received a six-year deal worth $52 million from the Boston Red Sox after the posting fee while Darvish received a six-year deal worth $56 million from the Texas Rangers after the astronomical posting fees were paid.

MLB and NPBL changed the way they do things during the offseason before the 2014 season when they capped the fee payable to the Japanese club at $20 million while also giving some of the power back to the player allowing the player to negotiate with any of the teams willing to put up the $20 million posting fee. This helped the Yankees that season as they willingly paid the $20 million to the Rakuten Golden Eagles before signing Masahiro Tanaka to a seven-year deal worth $155 million.

Now MLB wants to change it again and make it a more uniform and straightforward process much like they are trying to do with Cuban imports right now. So specifics were released as to what these potential changes are or when they could be implemented, just that Rob Manfred and company want to see more uniform and widespread changes in the process. I guess you’ll have to stay tuned, especially since Shohei Otani is set to come to the states sooner rather than later. 

ICYMI: The Shohei Ohtani Question I'm Being Asked

One day this week I woke up to a comment on the blog being asked my opinion on likely the latest Japanese import to come to the states in Shohei Ohtani. I touched on my response a bit in the comments but I felt like I held back a little bit so I could make this post for all to read. If you don't read the comments section here I suggest that you do, it's loaded with great minds that don't all think the same and it results in a lot to think about, a lot of discussions and debate and truthfully it leads to a lot of inspiration to write posts for myself. These guys always have me thinking, much like they did on this Ohtani post. The question asked in the comments section was whether I would go after Ohtani and basically how it would affect Masahiro Tanaka on the team. Here is my response.

Ohtani is a pitcher and he's built like a pitcher at 6'4" but he has also been seen acting as a DH on the days he wasn't pitching in Japan. Ohtani offers five pitches that all have a ton of movement including a 100-MPH fastball that may be easily his best pitch in the arsenal. This is all important because we've been hearing about Ohtani for years not but we never had a true time period to expect his arrival in the states, now rumors and reports are saying that he could come to the Major Leagues as soon as the 2017 season. Just in time for the Yankees who need to get younger and may have a couple holes in their rotation. I don't believe in fate, do you?

Last season Ohtani has posted a 15-5 record with a 2.24 ERA and 196 strikeouts in 160.2 innings pitched while two years ago Ohtani posted a 11-4 record with a 2.61 ERA with 10 home runs and 31 RBI as a 20-year old. Now that he has foregone his decision to jump straight from High School to the Major Leagues and has a few seasons under his belt Ohtani can be posted from November 1st to March 1st any season and this offseason may finally be the time it happens.

If Ohtani is posted this season I expect the Yankees to go all-in on him much like they did with Tanaka. I don't see Tanaka as a reason to get Ohtani, the whole easing the transition to the Majors to have a fellow country-mate on the team, or not a reason to get Ohtani, money, too many pitchers on the staff etc. I just think all 30 MLB teams will want Ohtani and only a select few will be able to meet the $20 million posting fee plus whatever contract it will take to get Ohtani to stop playing both ways and focus as a pitcher or an outfielder only in the states. Players like Ohtani, both in age and in terms of talent, don't hit free agency every day. Or any day anymore. For this reason and for so many other reasons New York needs to go all-in on him and they don't need to make any doubts about it.

Sign him now if you can. I know you can't but that's how much I want the guy. Sign him.

The Shohei Ohtani Question I'm Being Asked

One day this week I woke up to a comment on the blog being asked my opinion on likely the latest Japanese import to come to the states in Shohei Ohtani. I touched on my response a bit in the comments but I felt like I held back a little bit so I could make this post for all to read. If you don't read the comments section here I suggest that you do, it's loaded with great minds that don't all think the same and it results in a lot to think about, a lot of discussions and debate and truthfully it leads to a lot of inspiration to write posts for myself. These guys always have me thinking, much like they did on this Ohtani post. The question asked in the comments section was whether I would go after Ohtani and basically how it would affect Masahiro Tanaka on the team. Here is my response.

Ohtani is a pitcher and he's built like a pitcher at 6'4" but he has also been seen acting as a DH on the days he wasn't pitching in Japan. Ohtani offers five pitches that all have a ton of movement including a 100-MPH fastball that may be easily his best pitch in the arsenal. This is all important because we've been hearing about Ohtani for years not but we never had a true time period to expect his arrival in the states, now rumors and reports are saying that he could come to the Major Leagues as soon as the 2017 season. Just in time for the Yankees who need to get younger and may have a couple holes in their rotation. I don't believe in fate, do you?

Last  season Ohtani has posted a 15-5 record with a 2.24 ERA and 196 strikeouts in 160.2 innings pitched while two years ago Ohtani posted a 11-4 record with a 2.61 ERA with 10 home runs and 31 RBI as a 20-year old. Now that he has foregone his decision to jump straight from High School to the Major Leagues and has a few seasons under his belt Ohtani can be posted from November 1st to March 1st any season and this offseason may finally be the time it happens.

If Ohtani is posted this season I expect the Yankees to go all-in on him much like they did with Tanaka. I don't see Tanaka as a reason to get Ohtani, the whole easing the transition to the Majors to have a fellow country-mate on the team, or not a reason to get Ohtani, money, too many pitchers on the staff etc. I just think all 30 MLB teams will want Ohtani and only a select few will be able to meet the $20 million posting fee plus whatever contract it will take to get Ohtani to stop playing both ways and focus as a pitcher or an outfielder only in the states. Players like Ohtani, both in age and in terms of talent, don't hit free agency every day. Or any day anymore. For this reason and for so many other reasons New York needs to go all-in on him and they don't need to make any doubts about it.

Sign him now if you can. I know you can't but that's how much I want the guy. Sign him.

The Last Time the Yankees Had a "Maeda"

Last offseason many wondered if the next Masahiro Tanaka or the next Kei Igawa was on his way over from Japan in Kenta Maeda. Maeda expressed an interest in coming to the United States through the posting system only to spend another season in his native Japan. Once again Maeda is asking his team, the Hiroshima Carp, to post him so he can come to the United States and continue his professional career inside Major League Baseball. If the name “Maeda” seems familiar to some of you Yankees fans there is a very good reason for it, a reason that should scare all Yankees fans alike. The Curse of the Maeda Part II?

Back in 1996 when a familiar name called Jack Curry was writing for the New York Times he wrote about a Japanese pitcher that pitched for the New York Yankees and his name was Katsuhiro Maeda. Maeda was obtained from the Seibu Lions for roughly $350,000 plus a $1.5 million signing bonus and was immediately assigned to their Double-A affiliate at the time in Norwich, Connecticut. The Yankees fans and the team were excited about adding the “Dennis Rodman of Japanese baseball” according to Curry but the intrigue was short-lived as reality began to sink in.

Maeda was donned the Dennis Rodman of Japanese baseball because of the color scheme and the choice of how he wore his hair, usually orange. Maeda came over to the United States just a year after Hideo Nomo took over the league despite never won a game for the Yankees nor did he get a save in any of his three seasons with the Seibu Lions organization. Maeda had that blazing fastball and the personality to match it but his career 0-2 record, 4.88 ERA, 41 walks, 43 hits allowed and 42 strikeouts in 38.2 innings told a different story.

Does anyone know the rest of the story? Let’s just say this, it didn’t involve a trip to the Major Leagues or the Bronx under then GM Bob Watson or then manager Joe Torre. That Maeda threw 94-95 and got as high as 98 MPH and was scouted for months by the Yankees. This Maeda throws in the mid-80’s and relies on control and precision. From one Maeda to another I sure hope the Yankees pass on this one.

This post was meant to be funny and comical, not taken serious. Keep that in mind before emailing please. Thank you. 

Former Yankees Update: Hiroki Kuroda

Hiroki Kuroda spent a total of three seasons as a member of the New York Yankees after spending his first four professional seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kuroda came over from Japan where he started his career, and will likely end his career, with the Hiroshima Carp of the Japanese League. Kuroda always said he would like to finish his pitching career where it began back in Japan and he did just that in 2015 leaving the Yankees with a glaring hole in their starting rotation. New York has another glaring hole in their starting rotation as Ivan Nova struggles, Michael Pineda continues to be given extra rest despite his stats while pitching on extra rest and with the struggles and subsequent injuries to CC Sabathia, could Kuroda be helping right now?

Looking at his stats from the Hiroshima Carp, seen below, absolutely. If this is how Kuroda wanted to go out I am ecstatic that he's going to get his wish. Going out with the team that gave him his first shot, going out on his own terms and going out on top. Congratulations to Mr. Kuroda.

Year	Age	Tm	W	L	ERA	G	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
2015	40	Hiroshima	7	5	2.89	17	112.0	111	40	36	6	22	72	1.188	8.9	0.5	1.8	5.8

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Derek Jeter & Hideki Matsui Teammates Once Again

Former New York Yankees players and teammates Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui have both retired from the game of Major League Baseball but that doesn’t mean that they stopped being teammates. Jeter and Matsui are teaming up for a charity baseball game to support the survivors of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The game will take place at the Tokyo Dome on Sunday, March 22 and will showcase a group of student baseball players from the Tohoku region that saw over 15,000 people killed in the quake.

Proceeds from the game will go towards helping children in the region. Jeter and Matsui also plan on putting on a baseball clinic and taking part in a home run derby while in Japan this weekend helping the children affected. My money is on Matsui still having some fuel left in the tank and in that bat, just saying.

Jeter compared the events of that day to the September 11^th attacks on New York City and Washington D.C. and was quoted as saying:

"The kids will never forget what happened," Jeter said. "But if they can come out and have fun and enjoy themselves through the sport of baseball, that's what we're trying to do here."

Matsui was also ecstatic to have a big name and face like Jeter helping the cause for Japan and their people:

"Having Jeter here is a wonderful thing," Matsui said. "He had an illustrious career in Major League Baseball. I'm happy and the kids taking part in this event will be thrilled. We hope they have a great time and return to Tohoku with some great memories."