I like where Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star starts out in this article, but he ends up driving off the road and into the same pile of blue jay dung that this guy ended up in. He’s questioning the Red Sox signing of Junichi Tazawa, suggesting the team is just looking to sign every high profile Japanese prospect it can get its hands on.
Well, not quite. Actually a three year deal at $3 million, which is what Griffin reports, is fairly low risk considering Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro was saying he expected the bidding to get as high as $7 million per.
Others lose out, but should the Jays ever have been involved in negotiations for this guy? The answer is no. It’s almost as if the Sox are looking to find their own Peter Principle of Asian scouting wherein they keep signing highly touted Japanese prospects until one fails. This could be the one. Tazawa has many doubters among scouts. He was originally reported to throw 97 m.p.h. but it turns out he’s only low 90s. There is a long-standing pre-judgment against short right-handers. This guy is 5-foot-10.
Clearly, in this day and age, an average of $1 million per season for a major-league relief pitcher – Tazawa is projected as a seventh- or eighth-inning guy – is not outrageous, but even as a North American pro novice his contract does not seem right. Reports in the Boston Globe are that without any time in the minor leagues, Tazawa will be eligible in three calendar years for arbitration under terms of his contract and for free agency after six, even if those seasons haven’t all been in the majors.
He makes a good point with the arbitration/free agency comment as well, although I think three years ought to be long enough to decide if Tawaza a major leaguer or not. But this is where he starts to lose me.
Jays fans should not be jealous of this signing. When Pat Gillick was GM of the Mariners, at a time when they already had three Japanese players on board, including all-star Ichiro Suzuki, he predicted that there were only eight or nine potential major-leaguers in Japan. Gillick’s a smart man.
Japan to MLB is not like former Soviet Union hockey was to the NHL when it came to untapped resources. They don’t throw as hard or hit baseballs as hard as on this side of the Pacific. The only thing Japanese players do better is come prepared and stay prepared.
I wasn’t aware Pat Gillick ever said that. I’ve always thought Gillick was a smart man as well, but he appears to be misinformed on that one. Two paragraphs later Griffin himself goes on to mention that there were 28 Japanese players in pro baseball during 2008, so he’s almost refuting his own point. It’s not as though 50% of the best baseball players from Japan get over to MLB. Not even 10%. This year there are decent ones — one who is probably a Top 20 player and the other who I’d say is in the 40-50 range.
When I was at the Asia Series a few weeks ago I had a discussion with two NPB scouts about how many Korean players we thought had the talent to play in MLB right now. The consensus was about 10-15. These aren’t all every day starters mind you. Some might be, but others would be reserves, extra arms in the bullpen, what have you. If you’re talking about KBO players, had they been signed out of high school and had the benefit of starting in the minor leagues, that number gets considerably higher…maybe 30 or 40.
Japanese baseball is played at a higher level than Korean baseball. As I’m always quick to say, the gap has shrunk and is still shrinking, but the quality of play is still generally higher. Off the top of my head, I’m going to guess there are at least 30 players in NPB that could play in MLB right now, with that number jumping considerably in the second scenario. Maybe 100.
Obviously Griffin doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but no worries…I’ve never heard a single rumor of the Blue Jays being in on or signing a single player from Asia. Am I missing someone?
9 responses so far ↓
1 Pat Ma Groin // Dec 4, 2008 at 6:24 am
I see you say Mr Griffin “doesen’t know what he is talking about”
Mr Griffin is in the Baseball Hall of Fame as a writer.
Do you know even where the Hall of Fame is??
2 Chris // Dec 4, 2008 at 7:05 am
Griffin is a blow-hard know-nothing, as are you. Griffin is NOT in the Hall of Fame as a writer, but for his publicity work with the Expos. The Robert O. Fishel Award is given to the person who best exemplifies public relations excellence. Who doesn’t know that?
3 SoxAcumen // Dec 4, 2008 at 7:41 am
Tazawa is a prospect, nothing more, and 3 million/year for 3 years is a little pricey for a draft pick or fa signing who goes directly to the minors, but such is the business of baseball. White Sox just signed a Cuban player, are they insane to make that deal after their success with Cuban born players?
How many 1st rounders have MLB teams wasted signing bonuses on who turned out to be nothing…errr Homer Bailey.
Youk was a 9th round pick, players come from everywhere and signing Tazawa, especially when you look at the fantastic results the Red Sox have had with Japanese pitchers, make a lot of sense for the Red Sox over other MLB teams.
Red Sox have been developing fantastic arms recently, they have already been through the Dice-K craziness, they have people in the organization familiar with Japanese players. He wanted to play for the Red Sox, sounds good to me.
4 Shinsano // Dec 4, 2008 at 10:33 am
I don’t want to roundly discredit anyone whose had a long career at anything…be it a sports writer or a garbage man. I’m sure Griffin has had his smart moments.
Problem is with Griffin and a number of long time sportswriters is that the days of just hauling off and saying whatever you want because no one knows what you’re talking about are long over. You can’t just say a team is better off not scouting an entire country (really, he means all of Asia) because the prospects aren’t good, because there are people here who know better and will call you on your shit.
And if you are going to say that, you should probably have more to back it up than one example you nicked from a blog (this blog, in fact) and a ten year old quote from Pat Gillick.
5 Patrick // Dec 4, 2008 at 3:53 pm
The bidding did reach $7m (Texas’s offer). Boston offered what they considered to be fair, and Tazawa accepted it.
Pat Gillick had two players on his World Series-winning Phillies team (though only one was on the playoff roster, and barely played).
How tall is Tom Gordon?
6 Matt // Dec 4, 2008 at 4:54 pm
As an avid Toronto baseball fan and someone quite interested in the intellectual side of baseball, I have to say that Richard Griffin is one of the worst sportswriters in the city. The only people who actually take Richard Griffin seriously in this city are casual fans who really don’t know anything about baseball. Of any of the people I know or read who take a serious interest in baseball no one considers Griffin anything but a fool.
7 jackson // Dec 4, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Pat
How about addressing the topic at hand and adding to the discourse? We try to keep discussions constructive.
thanks
8 Ken // Dec 5, 2008 at 7:58 am
How many 1st rounders have MLB teams wasted signing bonuses on who turned out to be nothing…errr Homer Bailey
There are dozens and dozens of better examples than Bailey. Even a pitching rich team like Boston would find him useful in some capacity.
As to the article, it’s possible that Gillick was being coy and trying to deter other clubs from exploring the Japanese market. It seems like an odd statement coming from a GM who acquired as many Japanese players as he did.
9 Shinsano // Dec 5, 2008 at 11:55 am
That’s actually a good point Ken. I should know better than to just take what Gillick said at face value.
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