O's and Uehara agree to deal

[DrungoHazewood]

Very happy with the move. 2/10 is nothing. $5M a year out of a free agent would be fair value for a guy who gives you one marginal win. I think there's a legitimate chance he gives us double or triple that. And the incentives only kick in if he's doing well and deserves it.

Plus he signals that the O's are serious about Japan, and this might lead to more signings like Kawakami or others. Hopefully higher-profile, better players in the future. Maybe it'll be the tip of the iceberg, with more scouting and development in Korea, China, and other places.

Kudos to MacPhail and the rest of the staff that got the deal finished. :clap3:

[The Rick]

new official import beer of the Baltimore Orioles

watch sushi sales increase in Charm City as well

Asahi is better, but Sapporo aint bad either.

Welcome to BMore & the U.S.A. Uehara!

Hats off to AM for taking the O's to unchartered territory, truly an impressive accomplishment in a relatively short amount of time.

[bigbird]

Wonder how many homes in Japan we can get MASN too?

[Aberdeener]

Asahi is better, but Sapporo aint bad either.

Welcome to BMore & the U.S.A. Uehara!

Hats off to AM for taking the O's to unchartered territory, truly an impressive accomplishment in a relatively short amount of time.

Sorry, let me just retierate what I said two posts earlier: what does time have to do with it? A certain number of Japanese players hit the market every year and we can sign them or not. This isn't a scouting issue. This is a 34 year old with a track record that you choose to pursue or not pursue. I just don't get why this signals the beginning of anything, just because we finally got around to picking up the phone and calling an agent for a Japanese player..

[The Rick]

Sorry, let me just retierate what I said two posts earlier: what does time have to do with it? A certain number of Japanese players hit the market every year and we can sign them or not. This isn't a scouting issue. This is a 34 year old with a track record that you choose to pursue or not pursue. I just don't get why this signals the beginning of anything, just because we finally got around to picking up the phone and calling an agent for a Japanese player..

I hear what your saying, but if you've been paying attention to the front office "pre AM" and "with AM" it's easy to see a big difference in top to bottom organizational competence.

Yes, we didn't pay a posting fee here or go crazy on a top-notch Japanese player, but we've been investing more money than ever before in Japan and other markets & have clearly made it a priority to put ourselves on Japanese player's radars. This is very important, IMO.

By the way, the important part of my post is that Asahi is better than Saporro.

[weams]

市の魅力を歓迎する

楽しんでカニ

[DrungoHazewood]

Sorry, let me just retierate what I said two posts earlier: what does time have to do with it? A certain number of Japanese players hit the market every year and we can sign them or not. This isn't a scouting issue. This is a 34 year old with a track record that you choose to pursue or not pursue. I just don't get why this signals the beginning of anything, just because we finally got around to picking up the phone and calling an agent for a Japanese player..

Sure it's the beginning of something. Before 2008 the O's simply didn't scout Asia. They didn't put any resources into looking at Japanese or Korea or Taiwanese players. They decided to devote all of their developmental budget to, I don't know, unearthing gems like Chris Smith and Beau Hale.

This signals the beginning of the era where the O's are no longer ignoring a part of the world that has at least tens of thousands of baseball players and three high-level professional leagues.

[Peace21]

市の魅力を歓迎する

楽しんでカニ

<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/1701/chrisfarleyimsorryidontuz3.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a><br/><a href="http://g.imageshack.us/img383/chrisfarleyimsorryidontuz3.jpg/1/"><img src="http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/chrisfarleyimsorryidontuz3.jpg/1/w300.png" border="0"></a>

[SilentJames]

Koji Uehara is 34 and was a closer in 2007 and had a mediocre 2008.

I'm not excited about this being the Orioles number 2 starter.

Need to dig deeper grasshopper.

The reason he got pushed to the pen was punishment for going public with his desire to play for the US. Even there he never walked anyone and got plenty of Ks.

I mean his ERA was low and he recorded 32 saves in 07. He did fine.

[Peace21]

Need to dig deeper grasshopper.

The reason he got pushed to the pen was punishment for going public with his desire to play for the US. Even there he never walked anyone and got plenty of Ks.

I mean his ERA was low and he recorded 32 saves in 07. He did fine.

Thats what we should have done with Daniel.

[weams]

Need to dig deeper grasshopper.

The reason he got pushed to the pen was punishment for going public with his desire to play for the US. Even there he never walked anyone and got plenty of Ks.

I mean his ERA was low and he recorded 32 saves in 07. He did fine.

He may be a major league pitcher...who does not walk batters. For 5 Million. Good deal.

[O's are Legends]

:

Asahi is better, but Sapporo aint bad either.

Welcome to BMore & the U.S.A. Uehara!

Hats off to AM for taking the O's to unchartered territory, truly an impressive accomplishment in a relatively short amount of time.

Here you go Rick, cheers :beerchug1:

[JTrea81]

And I'm not saying it will happen, but the O's have scouted Yu Darvish as well, so this could pave the way eventually to Darvish coming to Baltimore. The Orioles would just have to be willing to pay the posting fee and he's theirs...

[SilentJames]

Thats what we should have done with Daniel.

Because we want another pitcher in the pen that walks a ton of people and can't find control?

[SilentJames]

And I'm not saying it will happen, but the O's have scouted Yu Darvish as well, so this could pave the way eventually to Darvish coming to Baltimore. The Orioles would just have to be willing to pay the posting fee and he's theirs...

Darvish has said he has no real desire to play in America anytime soon. He could have left this year I believe but stayed in Japan for 2.7 million dollars.