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Wada's Return May Be Sooner than Expected: Showalter


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I didn't say he was a free agent in 2011. What I said was that the money spent (and wasted) on Wada - $4M in 2011 and $4M in 2012 - could have been used to sign Koji when he became a free agent.....in 2012.

You said Koji could have made an impact on this team last year and this year. So you are saying we should have acquired him for the 2012 season.

Wada was signed for 2012 and 2013.

You seem to be confused on some of the key aspects of your ill-fated argument.

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I didn't say he was a free agent in 2011. What I said was that the money spent (and wasted) on Wada - $4M in 2011 and $4M in 2012 - could have been used to sign Koji when he became a free agent.....in 2012.
Reading comprehension skills seem to be lacking here today. Just as I made no mention of 2011, where did I say I was "upset" with the Wada signing? I didn't!! I said the signing turned out to be a boondoggle, which it did.

What I was upset about is that we didn't resign Koji Uehara when he became a FA. And so were a lot of other people on OH. I simply made the point the money paid to Wada "could" have been used to resign Uehara when he did become an FA (in 2012). The same could be said of the money wasted on Nolan Reimold.

So the $1M wasted on Reimold could have signed Uehara?

If the Orioles wanted to sign Uehara, they could have.

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High performing or not I still didn't like the signing. Just not enough raw "stuff".

Not enough raw "stuff" or not, I still liked the signing. The guy was an excellent pitcher in Japan.

What was your opinion of Koji before he came to the States? He's a guy who has never had a fastball in MLB that averaged 90 mph. Does he have enough raw stuff?

Reading comprehension skills seem to be lacking here today. Just as I made no mention of 2011, where did I say I was "upset" with the Wada signing? I didn't!! I said the signing turned out to be a boondoggle, which it did.

How does bad luck make something a boondoggle? Maybe your definition of the term is different than mine, but I tend to think of a boondoggle as foolishly going down a path that you had no business even considering. Wada's lack of production was because he happened to get injured. Unless you're in the camp that thinks he was doomed from day one, without having ever thrown a MLB pitch.

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So the $1M wasted on Reimold could have signed Uehara?

If the Orioles wanted to sign Uehara, they could have.

I know I'm kind of shouting into empty space here, but I just don't get the case for signing Koji. Maybe... maybe if they had a much larger budget. But the number of relievers the O's had coming off good 2012 seasons was about equal to the number of major holes they had elsewhere, and people are up in arms they didn't spend $5M on a 38-year-old guy who pitched 35 innings last year?

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Not enough raw "stuff" or not, I still liked the signing. The guy was an excellent pitcher in Japan.

What was your opinion of Koji before he came to the States? He's a guy who has never had a fastball in MLB that averaged 90 mph. Does he have enough raw stuff?

How does bad luck make something a boondoggle? Maybe your definition of the term is different than mine, but I tend to think of a boondoggle as foolishly going down a path that you had no business even considering. Wada's lack of production was because he happened to get injured. Unless you're in the camp that thinks he was doomed from day one, without having ever thrown a MLB pitch.

Same as Wada, that he could be a useful tool out of the pen but that I didn't think he could make it as a starter.

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I know I'm kind of shouting into empty space here, but I just don't get the case for signing Koji. Maybe... maybe if they had a much larger budget. But the number of relievers the O's had coming off good 2012 seasons was about equal to the number of major holes they had elsewhere, and people are up in arms they didn't spend $5M on a 38-year-old guy who pitched 35 innings last year?

I agree.

And how would he have fit in to the bullpen? You can say oh well we knew Strop wasn't going to be good, but that still leaves you O'Day to set-up.

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I know I'm kind of shouting into empty space here, but I just don't get the case for signing Koji. Maybe... maybe if they had a much larger budget. But the number of relievers the O's had coming off good 2012 seasons was about equal to the number of major holes they had elsewhere, and people are up in arms they didn't spend $5M on a 38-year-old guy who pitched 35 innings last year?

And to add to this, Uehara is Boston's 4th attempt at a closer this year. He was obviously not signed to be the closer. Injuries to the two closers ahead of him and the ineffectiveness of Tazawa led to him closing.

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I know I'm kind of shouting into empty space here, but I just don't get the case for signing Koji. Maybe... maybe if they had a much larger budget. But the number of relievers the O's had coming off good 2012 seasons was about equal to the number of major holes they had elsewhere, and people are up in arms they didn't spend $5M on a 38-year-old guy who pitched 35 innings last year?

Not to argue definitions but I consider a boondoggle to be anything that proves to be a wasted or futile effort. Wada was definitely that.

As for resigning Koji, I was confused on the year he became a free agent, which ultimately made my Wada argument irrelative to Koji.

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