DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Indians sign Japanese reliever

Seems like a solid signing if he pans out. It's always hit or miss on these guys with the move to the MLB. I figured something was about to happen when they left the big league roster at 39 players after picking who to protect from the Rule 5 Draft.

Link

Tribe lands Japan's Kobayashi
Reliever inks two-year contract with option for 2010

CLEVELAND -- The Indians are scouring baseball's open market for pitchers who can bolster their bullpen, and they went all the way across the Pacific to find one.

Japanese free-agent right-hander Masahide Kobayashi was signed to a two-year Major League contract with an option for 2010 on Tuesday, adding back-end depth to the Tribe's bullpen.

The Indians had the fourth-best relief ERA in the American League last season, the league's saves leader in Joe Borowski, and two of its most dominant setup men in Rafael Betancourt and Rafael Perez.

Knowing the fickle nature of big league bullpens, however, the team has sought to protect itself against injuries or ineffectiveness in the back end.

Enter the 33-year-old Kobayashi, who spent the last nine seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japanese Pacific League and is one of the more accomplished closers in his country's history. He saved at least 20 games in each of the last seven seasons, and he tallied 227 saves and a 2.79 ERA for his career in Japan.

Kobayashi was an unrestricted free agent, so the Indians did not have to pay a posting fee to Chiba Lotte to negotiate with him.

"The signing of Masa Kobayashi marks the first contract ever signed by a Japanese professional baseball player into the Cleveland Indians franchise and, more importantly, accomplishes one of our primary offseason goals of adding depth to the back end of our bullpen," said general manager Mark Shapiro. "Masa has pitched and succeeded at the highest level and on the biggest stage of the Japanese Professional Baseball League. He should be a valuable addition to our bullpen."

Some reports have speculated that Kobayashi is the third-best free-agent candidate to emerge from the Japanese pool this winter, behind the highly regarded outfielder Kosuke Fukodome and right-hander Hiroki Kuroda.

But in signing him, the Indians -- who are usually leery of granting multi-year contracts to relievers -- are taking a risk that his stuff will play out in the States.

Kobayashi's repertoire reportedly includes a fastball that maxes out in the mid-90s, a two-seam fastball that cuts in on right-handers and a mid-80s slider with a hard, downward break. He has a deceptive delivery that some have compared with that of Boston's dominant left-handed setup man, Hideki Okajima.

Only two Japanese pitchers other than Kobayashi have had 200 or more saves in their career -- Kazuhiro Sasaki and Shingo Takatsu, both of whom have pitched in the Majors.

Kobayashi was a member of the Japanese Olympic team in 2004 and of the Lotte team that won the Japan Series in 2005. But he struggled a bit in 2007, losing a career-high seven games and putting up a 3.61 ERA in 49 appearances. He spent some time down on the farm, making adjustments to his delivery, and missed time toward the end of the year with neck irritation. He did recover in time to pitch in the Japanese playoffs.

The signing of Kobayashi maxes out the Tribe's roster at 40 players.

wait a second, isn't Kobyashi the hotdog eating king?

I thought Kobayashi was the lawyer.

Though for awhile I thought Kobayashi was Keyser Söze.

That's the first thing I thought of...but he's just a broken coffee mug.

So multiple people can't have the same last name?

Someone, quick, call the Smith's and the Thomas' in the US!

Quote:

---

protect itself against injuries or ineffectiveness in the back end.

---

That sentence scares me......

Hopefully he didn't star in any gay porno's like the last RP we got from there.

Maybe our exposure in the playoff's helped land this guy. Number 3 free agent coming out of there isn't bad.

Blahhhhh remember what happened when we had that one Japanese pitcher?

I believe the pornstar was from Korea not Japan.

Kaz Tadano did come from Japan. He came over to the US after Japanese teams refused to sign him over what he did.

Hopefully this guy pans out though. Kaz is a career minor leaguer.

The Tribe can claim this is their first professional signing from Japan because Tadano was signed out of college and never played professional baseball in Japan

This guy has some great numbers and seems to have some really good stuff. I would guess he'll be good for atleast one season, just because major league hitters havn't seen him at all.

I especially like the part about his delivery. We need a guy that doesn't throw with cookie cutter mechanics. Anything to get the hitters off-balance and uncomfortable is a huge plus.

I'll be interested to see the contract figures. Okajima was signed for a total of 2 million dollars. I would guess this guys contract will probably be similar. Not a lot of risk IMO.

The contract is $9.5 million over thee years, with the third year being a club option. His stuff is good from reports, his attitude was pretty relaxed in the press conference and he's closed before. With the insane contracts that were given to relievers last year (3/18 to Danys Baez!?!?!) and will be continued this year, this was a very low risk signing. I really like the move.

Very, very little English from what I've read. The final club option is for $3.25 million. That puts the first two seasons at $6.25 million, I haven't seen a breakdown for the guaranteed seasons yet, though.

Hopefully he can turn into a good setup man like Otsuka has been for the Padres. Then we can hopefully move somebody like Betancourt to the closer role.

It sounds like the Tribe may be close to completing a Jason Bay (Pirates) for Cliff Lee & Kelly Shoppach deal. I have a link on this but it's from an ESPN.com blog.

Not really. Shoppach is a solid catcher who could probably start on most teams. We will miss his ability to step in and not miss a beat to give Victor a night off or play him at 1st. Lee is only one season removed from placing in the Cy Young top 5.

So you have Shoppach, a solid catcher and Lee, a fairly solid (a change of scenery may do him good) pitcher who had an off year for a player in Bay who also had an off year.

I still think it is a great deal, but I don't think we are necessarily robbing them. We are just lucky enough to have depth in the rotation and one of the best catchers in the game already on our team.