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 KBO Posting System Is About to Change

This would normally be the Yankees spring training Grapefruit League post but the Yankees are off today as they prepare to play host to the New York Mets tomorrow. With that said we will cover something that could not only affect the Yankees and the Mets but the entire league, the Korean Baseball Organization posting rules are about to change.

Currently the way Korean-born ballplayers make their way to the United States and the Major Leagues is through the blind posting system much like the Japanese League and Nippon Professional Baseball Organization had until recently. Major League Baseball wants the KBO to adopt a similar or identical policy as well after an influx of talent including Jung-Ho Kang and Byung-Ho Park have made their way over to the states in recent years.

When a Japanese league player is posted a MLB team has to basically post up $20 million to be in the pool of teams that the player picks from and the same will likely come from the KBO players as well. The posting fee will not be as high, the rumor right now is just $8 million, but the basic premise of the policy will be the same.

Former Yankee Update: Hiroki Kuroda

Hiroki Kuroda re-signed with the Hiroshima Carp for ~$4.9 million, which makes him the highest-paid player in Japan. https://t.co/NVl8OtBCii

— Dylan Hernandez (@dylanohernandez) December 18, 2015

The New York Yankees have enjoyed some of the best starting pitchers in the history of the game over the franchise's storied history. The team has seen the first ever perfect game being thrown in the postseason with Don Larsen, great pitching performances from Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens, Cuban-defected stars come over and make an impact like Orlando Hernandez and they may have had the best pitcher to ever come over from Japan wear the pinstripes during his career. That man is Hiroki Kuroda and he just made the next decision in his playing career.

Hiroki Kuroda, a Yankee as recently as 2014, decided to head back to the place where his career started. Japan. Last season Kuroda signed a deal with the Hiroshima Carp to presumably finish his career in the Nippon Professional Baseball League. It was thought to be a one-and-done for Kuroda but the crafty right-hander has at least one more season in him apparently.

Kuroda signed another one-year deal with the Carp worth $4.9 million making him the highest paid player in Japanese League history. Kuroda posted impressive numbers in 2015 with the Carp putting up an 11-8 record with a 2.55 ERA. Kuroda struck out 106 batters in 169.2 innings pitched which was good for 1.102 WHIP in 26 starts.

Japanese Betting Scandal hits Japanese World Series

The Pete Rose of the Japanese baseball league and the Shoeless Joe Jackson of the Japanese World Series is about to be exposed. I am exaggerating a bit to set the tone but a gambling scandal has hit Japanese professional baseball, and probably at the worst possible time. Japan’s version of the World Series is set to begin but it will not begin before Nippon Professional Baseball can announce that two more pitchers from the Yomiuri Giants bet on professional baseball games.

This is the worst possible time not only for the NPB but for baseball as a whole as the sport is still actively trying to get back into the Olympics. Two weeks ago, and this hasn’t been talked about much for whatever reason, Yomiuri Giants pitcher Satoshi Fukuda was caught betting on games involving his team as well as Major League Baseball games. Betting on games and fixing games are two different stories, and there is no evidence that Fukuda fixed games whatsoever, but neither scenario is going to help the NPB or baseball as a whole.

Shoki Kasahar and Ryuya Matsumoto have admitted to betting on baseball but deny any fixing of games, both are also members of the Yomiuri Giants. All three men, who have bet on anything from NPB games to High School games to MLB games, have given the sport the black eye and will now carry the weight of the sport if baseball, which has been out of the Olympics since 2008, does not return to the Olympic Games in 2020 when they head out to Tokyo. 

Yankees OF Ichiro Wants to Pitch

Before playing for the Mariners from 2001 to the middle of 2012, Yankees OF Ichiro Suzuki was a star in Japan.

The 40-year-old, now just a bench player for the Bombers, appeared in 7 Japanese All Star Games from 1994-2000, even pitching to a single hitter in 1996.

That hitter, facing Ichiro's pitch trio of fastball, slider, and splitter (his "bread and butter"), eventually grounded out, leaving a permanent mark on #31's baseball career.

Today, apparently, the veteran actually wants to try that whole thing again, something Manager Joe Girardi doesn't seem to disagree with.

“I’ll definitely ask him if he can do it,” Girardi recently told David Waldstein of the New York Times. “It looks like he has pretty good stuff.”

That pretty good stuff, remember, got an NBP All Star out, so it's not like #31's just throwing decent bullpen sessions. 

No, he may actually be legitimate. That doesn't mean that the Pinstripes should immediately find him a spot in the bullpen (getting rid of somebody else in the process), although in a 10-0 game, I don't see why not. Give the guy a chance. It's not like he doesn't deserve it, being a future Hall of Famer and all.

Masahiro Tanaka Bringing Impressive Resume To Yankees

Masahiro Tanaka has had a really good career to date, if you can say that for a 25 year old, and brings a very impressive resume to the Yankees and to the states. Let's take a look at his career stats while he was pitching in Japan.

Tanaka had a very impressive 2013 season including a 24-0 record with a 1.27 ERA throwing 212.0 IP with 30 earned runs allowed in 28 games, 27 of them as a starter. Tanaka allowed 168 hits and allowed 32 walks while striking out 183 batters. Tanaka threw eight complete games and two shut outs and a save in 2013. Tanaka led the Nippon Professional Baseball league in wins and ERA and led his team to the Japan Series title, the first title in Rakuten franchise history.

Tanaka for his career in Japan, all with the Rakuten Golden Eagles, posted a 99-35 record with a 2.30 ERA pitching 1,315.0 IP. Tanaka gave up a total of 336 earned runs, 1,182 hits, gave up 275 walks, and struck out 1,238 batters in 175 games, 172 as a starter. Tanaka has some mileage on his arm as he has thrown 53 complete games in his seven professional seasons, 18 of them shutouts, and allowed 0.899 H/9 in his career.

MLB & NPB To Ratify New Posting Policy On Monday

Does this mean Masahiro Tanaka will be posted on Tuesday? Obviously that is severely jumping the gun as I wouldn't expect him to be posted the very next day but that definitely opens the door for the posting.

The Japanese team posting the player will be able to publicly "name their price" on the posting fee as long as it does not exceed the $20 million cap.  All teams that meet that asking price will be allowed to negotiate with the player and the player, in this case Tanaka, will get to choose who to exclusively negotiate with from that pool of teams. This new deal absolutely gives the power back to the player and cuts down the cost of the posting fee significantly.

I like the new deal now let's get this show on the road.

Masahiro Tanaka WILL Be Posted, Rejoice!

The speculation of whether Masahiro Tanaka would be posted or not has come to an end now that his former team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles, have announced that they would honor his wishes to be posted this offseason. This is all off the heels of Major League Baseball and the NPB agreeing on a posting max of $20 million and the power going to the player if multiple teams bid the max on the player, which is expected with Tanaka.

Some more news to come out of the new agreement is the team can actually name the posting limit themselves as long as it is reaches or is under $20 million. If the Golden Eagles wanted to put the bid at $10 million max for Tanaka they could although I cannot see a team not asking for the maximum for their player. Either way the Tanaka sweepstakes is set to begin as early as this week.

Oh Seung-hwan Will Play In Japan

Relief pitcher Oh Seung-hwan, formally of the Samsung Lions of the Korean Baseball Organization, has decided to play for the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball (Japan). Seung-hwan was on the Yankees' radar for a bullpen role, but they will have to look elsewhere now.

Seung-hwan finished his career in the Korean Baseball Organization with a record of 28-13, incuding 277 saves, and a 1.69 ERA in 444 games. In the Korean Series this past season, he struck out 8 of the 12 batters he faced in Game 2 (from the 9th to 12th innings), but eventually took the loss after giving up a home run in the 13th inning. Oh went on to save games 3, 5, and 6, as the Lions won the championship.

Seeing as how the KBO is a step below the Japanese pro league, which equates to something like AA ball, I'm not really disappointed. There are many good bullpen options around the league, and even in the Yankees organization, so there's nothing to worry about. That's not to say the Yankees don't need bullpen help, though.

New Posting System Set For Approval

There has been a lot of talk about the posting system from Nippon Professional Baseball, and for good reason. Until the new posting system is approved, Masahiro Tanaka... a giant target for the Yankees... is stuck.  Well, an agreement is about ready.

It was believed that players posted from NPB would be able to choose from the top three bidding teams, but that is no longer the case. The only change the system will have is that instead of the top bidder paying how much they bid, the top bidder will instead pay the average of the top two bids.

This is to prevent what we saw happen to the Texas Rangers when they won the bidding for Yu Darvish. The Rangers had apparently bid about $20 million higher than the second team, but they still had to pay nearly $60 million for the rights to negotiate with Darvish (who eventually signed a $60 million contract). If the new system was in place at the time, the Rangers would have instead had to pay roughly $50 million to negotiate.

The new system is set to be approved on Monday, and bidding for players such as Tanaka could start next Wednesday. I know the Yankees and their fans will be relieved, as we tend not to be the most patient people.

Changes Coming To The Japanese Posting System

Just in time for the Masahiro Tanaka posting sweepstakes comes an announcement that the Nippon Professional Baseball league and Major League Baseball are close to a new deal that would bring significant changes to the posting system. The new system is set to be fialized and in place before November 1st so the new changes will be implemented this season, just in time for Yankees fans.

Under the old rules teams would submit a silent bid and the team would choose which bid they wanted to accept, which was obviously always the highest. Now the player, and this is still speculation and what is being reported but not finalized, will be able to choose one team from the top two or three bidding teams to negotiate with exclusively. This now gives some of the power back to the player and also means that if the Yankees want Tanaka they only have to get in the top three to have a chance.

I think this is one of the few changes in the new systems we have seen lately that the Yankees and their brand, not to mention their cash, will give them the step up above other teams in the process. Hell you never know it may even save the Yankees a few bucks in the long run.