Jump to content

O's and Uehara agree to deal


Os84

Recommended Posts

But really, if you're going to sign a 34 year old pitcher, you're probably a little better off signing a guy who has played ball on US soil at least.

Why? Takashi Saito made his Major League debut at 36, and he's now pitched 186 innings to a 1.95. Akinori Otsuka made his debut at 32, and he's thrown 232 innings to a 2.44. Kaz Sasaki made his debut at 32 and he threw 223 innings to a 3.14, and added in 123 saves for good measure. Shingo Takatsu was 36 when he first threw a major league pitch, and his rookie year ended up with 62 innings of a 2.31 and 19 saves.

I think good pitchers can pitch, and the transition to the majors from Japan isn't that big of a hurdle if you have the skills, no matter your age.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 249
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Why? Takashi Saito made his Major League debut at 36, and he's now pitched 186 innings to a 1.95. Akinori Otsuka made his debut at 32, and he's thrown 232 innings to a 2.44. Kaz Sasaki made his debut at 32 and he threw 223 innings to a 3.14, and added in 123 saves for good measure. Shingo Takatsu was 36 when he first threw a major league pitch, and his rookie year ended up with 62 innings of a 2.31 and 19 saves.

I think good pitchers can pitch, and the transition to the majors from Japan isn't that big of a hurdle if you have the skills, no matter your age.

Great info here. Kuroda broke in with the Dodgers at age 32 last year and had essentially the same ERA here as he had in Japan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The guy is no Trachsel.

Because he throws for strikes, and works quickly on the mound, his July 99 game against the Yokohama Bay Stars was one hour and 59 minutes. His May 2005 start against Orix resulted in a 2 hour game.

He does throw 2 kinds of forkers, one of them hard, and routinely incorporates them, which can be tough for a catcher to block when they go astray, so it's going to be interesting to see how he does with runners on board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great info here. Kuroda broke in with the Dodgers at age 32 last year and had essentially the same ERA here as he had in Japan.
There is no designated hitter in the Central League in Japan where Uehara played his entire career to date, so Uehara's corresponding ERA will probably go up in the AL East by a bit, even if he pitches similarly. Kuroda signed with an NL Team, so his major league ERA is bound to be a bit closer to his Japanese ERA.

Uehara is a decent hitter. He posted a .510 OPS as a hitter in 2006 in 57 plate appearances. Does anyone know if he has ever played shortstop too? ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is no designated hitter in the Central League in Japan where Uehara played his entire career to date, so Uehara's corresponding ERA will probably go up in the AL East by a bit, even if he pitches similarly. Kuroda signed with an NL Team, so his major league ERA is bound to be a bit closer to his Japanese ERA.

There's a lot of uncertainty in projecting ERAs from one year to the next when you're talking about major league players. It gets more fuzzy when you thrown in a jump from a foreign league.

My thought is that I'll be happy with Uehara if he give us 150 innings of a 4.75, and lives up to his reputation as someone who doesn't walk anyone. Anything on top of that is gravy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

市の魅力を歓迎する

楽しんでカニ

Wikipedia has this to say:

Japanese spider crab

The Japanese spider crab, Macrocheira kaempferi, is the largest known arthropod; fully grown it can reach a leg span of almost 4 m (13 ft), a body size of up to 37 cm (15 inches) and a weight of up to 20 kg (44 lb)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a lot of uncertainty in projecting ERAs from one year to the next when you're talking about major league players. It gets more fuzzy when you thrown in a jump from a foreign league.

My thought is that I'll be happy with Uehara if he give us 150 innings of a 4.75, and lives up to his reputation as someone who doesn't walk anyone. Anything on top of that is gravy.

That is about what I predicted for Uehara as well in the separate thread about predictions for him. http://www.forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74703

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<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>

That's great Peace. :thumbsup1:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My company has an office in Tokyo, so I asked a couple colleagues for a review of Uehara. THought you all would be interested...here are their comments:

Dear Jason-san,

Happy new year too.

It's a breaking news!

I knew Uehara got a right to sign with MLB, but it's a news to me that Baltimore made a contract.

He was one of the best pitchers in Japanese baseball (from 1999 to 2004).

Not now, unfortunately. However, he's still very good at delivering a ball to corners and does clever pitching, therefore he seldom gives a walk (not like Dice-K).

He can be used as a starter or a closer.

Since Baltimore is not a popular city to Japanese, I think this deal gives the city to make the city name much familiar to Japanese and the city will see more Japanese baseball media and fan in 2009 as Uehara is still famous in Japan.

Regards,

Ozawa

and

Hi there Jason,

Happy New Year.

Hope all is well for you.

I have been informed by Ozawa-san along with the news that the Orioles will be signing Uehara this season.

A great move on behalf of the Orioles management to acquire a player like this.

A Highly cost-effective and worthwhile investment I assume.

His season started with the Yomiuri Giants (Similar to the Yankees of Japan) in 1999 and ended last season.

10 yrs of experience with an average ERA of 3.01.

His best ERA was in 2007 marking an ERA of 1.74 (When he was a stopper) His second best ERA was his rookie year 1999 and marked an overwhelming 2.09

I think he could go both ways...as a starter or stopper.

He has one of the best controls in the Japanese league and is very precise at choosing which balls to pitch under pressure.

He has a positive attitude and mentality.

Always keeps his cool and a very clever pitcher indeed.

He also likes to joke around and have a fun time playing the sport that he loves.

He has 2 golden glove, 2 Cy young awards, 2 Most strike out awards, 2 Best ERA awards, Has the record for most wins twice and rookie of the year in 99'.

I think he will be a valuable asset to the Orioles.

That is about it from me.

Thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My company has an office in Tokyo, so I asked a couple colleagues for a review of Uehara. THought you all would be interested...here are their comments:

and

Make sure you tell them about the Hangout. We have plenty of room for our Japanese friends here at the Hangout.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...