Naoyuki Uwasawa Offer Being Prepared?

[emmett16]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Elias has said they want a back and reliever preferably with closing experience and a top 3 starter. This has been talked about plenty on here. Are you really saying you haven’t seen that?  

Oh, I’ve seen it talked about on here.  Was just curious the quote it came from.  Would love to see it and how acquiring the pitcher referenced in the thread is the complete opposite of the referenced quote.  

[Sports Guy]

So if they sign this guy as a reliever, whose spot does he take?

Hall, Wells, Perez, Tate, Cano, DC, Irvin, Webb and Baumann.

As of now, one of those guys is not on the OD roster if you want to assume all the rest make it. 
 

So, of the 8 remaining, who would this guy replace and, if he replaces someone, does he fit what Elias is looking for and if not, who is the second reliever that gets bumped for the player they do want as the high leverage reliever?

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

Oh, I’ve seen it talked about on here.  Was just curious the quote it came from.  Would love to see it and how acquiring the pitcher referenced in the thread is the complete opposite of the referenced quote.  

Well, read the scouting reports of this guy and cross reference with that quote and I would assume you would be able to figure out why he’s the opposite of what Elias is looking for, at least in terms of what he has stated publicly.

[emmett16]

4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

So if they sign this guy as a reliever, whose spot does he take?

Hall, Wells, Perez, Tate, Cano, DC, Irvin, Webb and Baumann.

As of now, one of those guys is not on the OD roster if you want to assume all the rest make it. 
 

So, of the 8 remaining, who would this guy replace and, if he replaces someone, does he fit what Elias is looking for and if not, who is the second reliever that gets bumped for the player they do want as the high leverage reliever?

Hall, Wells, DC, Cano and Irvin are keepers.  Not that I don’t like Perez, but wouldn’t mind moving on from him.  I’m not a fan of Baumann or Webb.  IMO Tate is done.   Webb & Tate can go.  Bauman & Perez could likely be traded.  Perez k/9 Has dropped 3 years in a row & bb/9 up 1.3 over prior year.   I’m not kicking him or Batman. Off the staff, but would 100% be looking to upgrade them. 

[wildcard]

“I’m being a little more broad with that, because I think our team could just benefit from an upgrade to our rotation,” Elias said. “Somebody that projects for the front half of the rotation would be wonderful.”

“We’re looking. I can’t predict what outcome we get this winter, but we’re looking. I think having somebody who has closed before would be really nice,” Elias said. “We really want to get another back-end reliever, and maybe that guy is the closer.”

https://www.mlb.com/orioles/news/orioles-offseason-priorities-starting-pitcher-reliever

 

 

[Hallas]

8 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Well, they do but they don’t do it with pitchers with little to no upside. Whether this guy has upside or not is tbd but not many Ks or missed bats and a higher BB rate isn’t exactly screaming out as someone you turn into a valuable contributor.

 

I'm convinced that the Rays can take a pitcher with little to no apparent upside, and cast some voodoo magic on their arms to make them throw 5mph harder for the next 3 years before their UCL spontaneously combusts.

[sportsfan8703]

52 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

So if they sign this guy as a reliever, whose spot does he take?

Hall, Wells, Perez, Tate, Cano, DC, Irvin, Webb and Baumann.

As of now, one of those guys is not on the OD roster if you want to assume all the rest make it. 
 

So, of the 8 remaining, who would this guy replace and, if he replaces someone, does he fit what Elias is looking for and if not, who is the second reliever that gets bumped for the player they do want as the high leverage reliever?

One of the relievers with an option would start in the minors. We’ll rotate arms as needed. 

[RZNJ]

1.  We haven’t even signed this guy yet

2. IF he is signed perhaps we’ll find what role they have in mind

3. We’ll need to wait until the dust settles on other moves before determining where he most likely settles in.

4. It might be nice to actually see him pitch in ST to see if he looks any good.

5.  It’s way too early to be drawing conclusions on a pitcher who isn’t on the team yet when there so many unknown variables at play.

6. Carry on.

[OrangeTurtle]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

As of now, one of those guys is not on the OD roster if you want to assume all the rest make it. 
 

I don't want to assume all the rest make it because that's a dumb assumption to make this early in the offseason.

Elias must be a HUGE IDIOT to sign a pitcher when he already has ALL THOSE OTHER GUYS and HE PROMISED us he'd look into trying to get a #1-3 SP!

Guy obviously doesn't even know how many pitchers are allowed on the roster!

[jabba72]

Back in September, MLBTR contributor Dai Takegami Podziewski noted that Uwasawa’s fastball velocity on the year was averaging 90.8 mph. Paired with his pedestrian strikeout rate, that lack of velocity will give Major League teams some trepidation about how he’ll stack up against MLB opposition. The average MLB fastball among starting pitchers in 2023 was 93.8 mph — 94.2 mph if focusing in solely on right-handed starters.

 

Really? Why is Elias trying to sign this guy? Could he even get hitters out in AA?

[Roll Tide]

20 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

1.  We haven’t even signed this guy yet

2. IF he is signed perhaps we’ll find what role they have in mind

3. We’ll need to wait until the dust settles on other moves before determining where he most likely settles in.

4. It might be nice to actually see him pitch in ST to see if he looks any good.

5.  It’s way too early to be drawing conclusions on a pitcher who isn’t on the team yet when there so many unknown variables at play.

6. Carry on.

1 True 

2 I’m guessing he’ll want a starting gig or stay in Japan. He will probably leverage that. His K per 9 doesn’t scream high leverage reliever imo

3 see #2 

4 Well that will cost money for his contract and posting right?

5 True 

6 indeed 

[Roll Tide]

9 minutes ago, jabba72 said:

Back in September, MLBTR contributor Dai Takegami Podziewski noted that Uwasawa’s fastball velocity on the year was averaging 90.8 mph. Paired with his pedestrian strikeout rate, that lack of velocity will give Major League teams some trepidation about how he’ll stack up against MLB opposition. The average MLB fastball among starting pitchers in 2023 was 93.8 mph — 94.2 mph if focusing in solely on right-handed starters.

 

Really? Why is Elias trying to sign this guy? Could he even get hitters out in AA?

Spin rates and stuff like that are very good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eno Sarris

 

@enosarris

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I'm hearing that Naoyuki Uwasawa will be posted soon by his NPB team. His K rates haven't been amazing in Japan, but he has some interesting characteristics to his stuff. His fastball vertical movement (19 IVB) and spin (2650 RPM) would be top 5-10% percent in the league.

12:30 PM · Nov 22, 2023

 

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Edited November 29, 2023 by Roll Tide

[Roll Tide]

11 minutes ago, OrangeTurtle said:

I don't want to assume all the rest make it because that's a dumb assumption to make this early in the offseason.

Elias must be a HUGE IDIOT to sign a pitcher when he already has ALL THOSE OTHER GUYS and HE PROMISED us he'd look into trying to get a #1-3 SP!

Guy obviously doesn't even know how many pitchers are allowed on the roster!

Perhaps he looked and doesn’t have the dough to spend or wants to part with the asking price for Cease or 1 year of the other guys rumored available. 

[emmett16]

7 hours ago, jabba72 said:

Back in September, MLBTR contributor Dai Takegami Podziewski noted that Uwasawa’s fastball velocity on the year was averaging 90.8 mph. Paired with his pedestrian strikeout rate, that lack of velocity will give Major League teams some trepidation about how he’ll stack up against MLB opposition. The average MLB fastball among starting pitchers in 2023 was 93.8 mph — 94.2 mph if focusing in solely on right-handed starters.

 

Really? Why is Elias trying to sign this guy? Could he even get hitters out in AA?

He can spin it.  See Danny Coloumbe.  

[Sports Guy]

10 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

So if they sign this guy as a reliever, whose spot does he take?

Hall, Wells, Perez, Tate, Cano, DC, Irvin, Webb and Baumann.

As of now, one of those guys is not on the OD roster if you want to assume all the rest make it. 
 

So, of the 8 remaining, who would this guy replace and, if he replaces someone, does he fit what Elias is looking for and if not, who is the second reliever that gets bumped for the player they do want as the high leverage reliever?

Barring an injury, trade or some unforeseen awful ST performance/loss of velo/look like complete garbage, it’s basically a guarantee that Perez, Cano and DC are in the pen.

Wells is basically a guarantee to make the roster, with reliever being the most likely spot for him. It’s not definite he will be a reliever but that seems to be the way this is headed.

Maybe Hall is sent back to the minors to start. Agree that’s possible. Is it probable? We don’t know that yet.

Not really sure why Irvin would go back to the minors but again, I guess it’s possible. 
 

Webb? I wouldn’t have him on the team but they tendered him a contract and pitched him a lot last year. I think it’s fair to say that they like him enough that we should assume he is part of the pen as of today.

Obviously Tate isn’t some sure thing but they felt good enough about him to say we will give you gtd money, so odds are in favor of him making the team.

The acknowledgment by the FO is that they essentially need to replace Bautista (or if you want to look at it as replacing Cano, that’s fine too).

Where is the spot for this guy unless you feel he is that replacement?  Again, guys will be moved around but let’s face it, if these guys stay healthy, these aren’t guys they move down. Last year, for example, Perez was a guy who looked to verge of DFA but they stayed with him and he righted the ship. Cano, DC and Wells are not going to be guys you just shuffle back and forth.

So, while it’s easy to talk about adding depth and the importance of that, blah blah blah, the reality is that depth isn’t the issue for this team.

We talk about how they can just find guys, like they have done so often in recent years. So, to be worried about back end depth seems foolish to me. I feel quite comfortable that Elias will be able to get those players and we will be fine filling in those last 2-5 spots on the roster.

The concern, which is clearly shared by Elias considering what he has publicly stated (unless people want to say he’s lying) is he wants/feels the team needs legit go to guys in the rotation and pen. 

Let’s say this Japanese pitcher will have options. Are we really paying 2-4M for him in part because he can go to AAA? Is that how we want them spending the limited amounts of money they have to spend?

It’s just a very head scratching thought imo. A low strikeout guy who doesn’t likely miss bats and doesn’t possess great command…it’s just not the profile of a player that the Os are saying they are looking for yet, here they are, allegedly involved in discussions with him for gtd money and likely a gtd roster spot.

Maybe he ends up being good. I’m not really trying to judge the player outside of the scouting reports of him not being overly favorable but there are at least some things that could give you hope. It’s more about the process of this and the idea of why.

So far, Elias has done an excellent job in finding scrap heap guys. His actual trades and FA signings for the ML team have been a mixed bag at best. The scrap heap guys haven’t really been much different than the guys he has signed or traded for. I would rather see him continue to go the non gtd deal/roster spot route with these guys and save the money and gtd roster spots for the difference making guys.