As if you needed more proof that the Red Sox have become the dominant major league team in the Far East, Boston appears poised to acquire another Japanese pitcher in the wake of the successful transition of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima to the United States.According to two Japanese news organizations -- Mainichi Daily News and Nikkan Sports -- Junichi Tazawa will reveal by the beginning of next week that he has chosen the Red Sox over the other Major League teams that were interested in his services.The anticipated signing of Tazawa is interesting for a couple of reasons, first and foremost because the 22-year-old right-hander circumvented the NPB, Japan's professional baseball league, entirely.
The list also included the Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers and perhaps a few others.
Tazawa, who played for a semi-pro team in Japan this year, warned NPB teams not to draft him so that he could jump directly to American baseball and avoid the costly posting system, in which NPB clubs sell their players to the highest major league bidder. The move threatens the long-standing gentlemen's agreement between the NPB and MLB, opening the door for other Japanese players to go directly to the major leagues, possibly watering down the talent pool in Japan, but also enabling Japanese teams to potentially go after the elite amateur talents on this side of the Pacific Ocean.
It's also interesting because the Red Sox continue to spread their roots in the Far East like no other team. They have plenty of scouting resources devoted to the region and Tazawa is just the latest instance of the club harvesting elite talent from there.
Tazawa is far from proven, even in Japan, and because of Boston's deep rotation he'll probably head to advanced Single-A or Double-A to start 2009, but he represents another talented arm for one of the deepest stables of pitching in baseball, an arm that might enable the Sox to move one of their other pitching prospects for the young catcher they covet.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-12-2008 @ 11:32PM
Lisa P said...
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11-30-2008 @ 10:17AM
tobrien28 said...
You are wrong in saying that the Red Sox have more influence in the East than other teams. The Yankees actually have more influence, as shown by their being the only team to legally obtain players from China. Just because Daisuke and this new guy went to the Sox doesn't mean the Red Sox have more influence than other teams over Asian players
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11-30-2008 @ 5:49PM
Mike said...
I think the Red Sox have more influence in Japan than with any other MLB team simply because of Daisuke. Even if Cashman wanted to sign Tazawa, he wouldn't have been able to because Tazawa wanted to pitch with Daisuke. Many young Japanese players have come up idolizing Daisuke and have seen him and Okajima rise to prominance with the Red Sox. Compare that with Igawa's experience with the Yankees and you get what happened with Tazawa. The only hope Cashman has to procure quality young talent in Japan is by the posting process. Then he can use the vast cash reserves from the new stadium to buy the talent away from other teams. If more young Japanese players follow Tazawa and head straight to the US, Boston will have they're pick of the litter while Cashman gets what's left from the group.
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