Report: Sox front runner for Tazawa Options

[Corsi Combover]

Boston reportedly is the front runner to sign right-hander Junichi Tazawa, 22, from Japan. Tazawa, one of Japan's top amateur pitchers, told the Japanese pro teams not to draft him because he wants to play in the big leagues.

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2...seballs_gm.html

[Corsi Combover]

Tazawa’s fastball has been clocked in the mid 90s and he also throws a forkball and slider. He recorded four wins in five games as he led the Nippon Oil to their first title in 13 years at the national corporate baseball tournament that ended Tuesday.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=txta...t&type=lgns

[templeUsox]

Cool. He's going to be very good.

[Corsi Combover]

Info on this kid seems kind of scant. Would he jump right into the rotation or would they put him in the minors first? At 22, I'd guess he needs more seasoning, especially against minor/major league hitters.

[Tokyo Sox]

Info on this kid seems kind of scant. Would he jump right into the rotation or would they put him in the minors first? At 22, I'd guess he needs more seasoning, especially against minor/major league hitters.

Good question. As I said in the other Tazawa thread, he has been dominant vs Industrial League pitching and probably would have been starting in an NPB-team rotation already if he had wanted to play there. But the average competition he has been facing is so vastly inferior, I can't imagine just throwing him straight into MLB. It's just too much. Start him somewhere in the minors (AA?) and hey, if he's killing it, move him up quickly.

I think a lot of this will come down to who gives him the best shot at the Majors right away. If the Sox are only willing to give him a minor league contract but the Mariners are willing to let him start the season in the bigs, maybe he goes Mariners. Who knows. A Mariners scout named Yamamoto has met with Tazawa's current manager and said outright that they want to sign him. He also met directly with Tazawa, the first MLB scout to do so since the Japanese draft last Thursday.

[Corsi Combover]

The Tazawa thread on npbtracker.com has a lot of insightful comments. The posters seem to know quite a bit about him. A sampling:

Lot of people talking about Tazawa to the Sox making sense and him possibly making the Sox out of camp. While I agree he’s a good fit for the Red Sox, it is mainly for the opposite reason: they have no need to rush him. Sure he’s a first-round talent by most accounts, a 22-year old 3-pitch (fast/curve/shuuto) pitcher with very good major league potential. But because of the ability for the Sox to develop him using, what has been recently, one of the better developmental systems in the minor leagues, I would look for the Red Sox to sign Tazawa and start him out in the minors. Specifically, I would look for him to start in Portland, move him up to Pawtucket if he experiences success, and then depending on his development at the minor league level promote him to a bullpen role with Boston.

I agree he would be a great fit for the Sox. But, there is no way he’d play in the bigs in the ‘09 season…. not enough experience. He’ll certainly need some seasoning in the minors first. I’ve also heard there are some issues beyond lack of experience that would keep him out of the bigs for the entire season…. no word on what they are… likely “political” issues.

The thing to keep in mind, guys, is that Tazawa is probably most equivalent to an MLB 1st-round college pitcher. I don’t think he’ll get a major league deal from a team that is going to compete in 2009. A more realistic expectation is for a minor league deal with a big league spring training invite. He’d probably start off at AA and work his way up from there.

Remember that this is a guy who, at least since I’ve followed him, hasn’t had to face guys that could hit his best stuff on a regular basis. He’s a good prospect and the story is interesting, but he is still a prospect.

Source: http://www.npbtracker.com/2008/11/tazawa-rumor-mongering/

[Corsi Combover]

Baseball sources in Japan contend that the Sox are the perceived front-runner to sign free agent Junichi Tazawa, a hard-throwing 22-year-old right-hander. Unlike Daisuke Matsuzaka [stats], who had to go through a costly posting process in November 2006, Tazawa is free to sign with any Major League Baseball team without compensation.

The Sox have been the most aggressive team with regard to Tazawa, who is also being courted by the Atlanta Braves, Florida Marlins and Chicago Cubs, among others. Tazawa throws a mid-90s fastball, a 12-6 overhand curveball and a split-finger fastball as part of his repertoire.

A source with knowledge of Tazawa’s plans hinted that he might be searching for a major league contract. The Sox do have a history of occasionally granting such deals to amateur players (reliever Craig Hanson, 2005). It’s unclear whether the Sox would consider such a perk for Tazawa, or even whether they believe he’s ready to pitch at the major league level.

Source: http://news.bostonherald.com/sports/column...p;position=also

[Snodgrass'Muff]

This is certainly good news. There's nothing to lose by signing this kid and with the success of Matsuzaka and Okajima in the last two seasons, I'd imaging that the Red Sox name is pretty solid over there right now, which might give them a slight advantage when negotiating with him. I'm surprised the Yankees aren't being mentioned as suitors for him, though. They need pitching and adding a prospect like him to their system would soften the blow if they decide to ship out some of their young pitching for Peavy.

Hopefully the Sox can close this out quickly and move on to other targets.

[JimD]

Sign him - it's only money.

[maufman]

If the only obstacle to signing this kid is giving him Craig Hansen money, then it's a no-brainer. I suspect there's a catch we don't know about.

[Quintanariffic]

If the only obstacle to signing this kid is giving him Craig Hansen money, then it's a no-brainer. I suspect there's a catch we don't know about.

Agreed, and I suspect that the catch will be the possibility that no NPB teams ever want to work with the Sox again. From what we've read, the Tazawa situation is extremely sensitive for them, as it could mark the beginning of an era when amateur Japanese talent skips the NPB altogether in favor or MLB, effectively rendering the NPB just another developmental league. This is the very antithesis of what they're about, so I could see some hard feelings towards the Sox and MLB if they get aggressive.

[Soxfan in Fla]

If they are going to give a major league contract to Hansen they might as well do it with this kid. Get him signed up, sounds like a promising pitcher then move him along slowly in the minors.

[sonofgodcf]

Agreed, and I suspect that the catch will be the possibility that no NPB teams ever want to work with the Sox again. From what we've read, the Tazawa situation is extremely sensitive for them, as it could mark the beginning of an era when amateur Japanese talent skips the NPB altogether in favor or MLB, effectively rendering the NPB just another developmental league. This is the very antithesis of what they're about, so I could see some hard feelings towards the Sox and MLB if they get aggressive.

With the way that the posting system works though, can the Sox really burn any bridges by signing him? I thought it was all blind, and just came down to the highest bid (or in the other cases, the Sox deal with the Japanese free agents directly). Either way, as long as the Sox want to be the high spender in those scenarios, I don't see how signing Tazawa hurt their dealings with the NPB.

This post has been edited by sonofgodcf: Nov 4 2008, 09:45 AM

[MannysDestinatio...]

With the way that the posting system works though, can the Sox really burn any bridges by signing him? I thought it was all blind, and just came down to the highest bid (or in the other cases, the Sox deal with the Japanese free agents directly). Either way, as long as the Sox want to be the high spender in those scenarios, I don't see how signing Tazawa hurt their dealings with the NPB.

I'd have to agree. The posting process is blind and eliminating the Sox from NPB dealings is the equivalent of an agent saying they won't deal with the Yankees, especially given how the Sox have shown they're willing to pony up for premium talent. If NPB teams can get over the Millar episode, they'll be able to deal with us signing Tazawa.

[Omar's Wacky...]

Mentioned in the ml forum that one of the issues could involve what kind of access MLB scouts would have (or would have revoked).

From the sound of things, this is way bigger than the Millar issue.......

[Quintanariffic]

I'd have to agree. The posting process is blind and eliminating the Sox from NPB dealings is the equivalent of an agent saying they won't deal with the Yankees, especially given how the Sox have shown they're willing to pony up for premium talent. If NPB teams can get over the Millar episode, they'll be able to deal with us signing Tazawa.

This is bigger than just the Red Sox, but it will impact them in some ways. This has implications for Japanese participation in the World Championships, a key issue for Selig. The Sox have scouting and development relationships with one NPB team whose name escapes me, and I would imagine that would be impacted. There are likely a myriad of other ways in which MLB and NPB work together on marketing deals etc... It's not just about the posting process.

[Snodgrass'Muff]

From the sound of things, this is way bigger than the Millar issue.......

This is an entirely different animal. Millar was a foreign player and who had a history tying him to the United States. This kid is Japanese and hasn't set foot in the States yet as a baseball player. If he gets his way and walks without ever talking to a Japanese team, he could break the entire system over there. They have a lot more to lose than they did with Millar.

[Captaincoop]

Info on this kid seems kind of scant. Would he jump right into the rotation or would they put him in the minors first? At 22, I'd guess he needs more seasoning, especially against minor/major league hitters.

I don't know much about Tazawa specifically, but all political issues aside, if he is in a position to demand significant money and jump directly to the US, is he going to be willing to spend a year in Portland or Pawtucket? I'm not referring to the level of competition so much as I am to the prestige and the lifestyle factors. I can't imagine that living in those places and playing in front of a few thousand people is going to be very appealing if he has other options on the table.

[MannysDestinatio...]

I understand that NPB is unhappy, but to think they'd retaliate against whoever signs Tazawa is pure speculation. There have been no reports that say this. From NPB Tracker:


Sept. 15:

Tazawa’s announcement has predictably send a shock wave through Japanese baseball. Meetings are underway — so far the 12 NPB have met amongst themselves and with three amateur baseball bodies; and NPB commissioner Ryozo Kato is meeting with Bud Selig on September 16 in New York (correction 9/16: representatives from the two commissioners offices are meeting today, a meeting between the actual commissioners is on the cards for later). My impression is that the Japanese baseball institution is more intent on preventing this development from setting a precedent than it is blocking this individual player’s move to the US.

Much of the discussion seems to be around the uneven playing field between NPB and MLB teams in pursuit of Tazawa. Tazawa is subject to the NPB draft, while he’s eligible to sign as a free agent with MLB teams. This puts NPB at a considerable disadvantage: NPB teams can only offer draft picks a maximum bonus of about $1M, while MLB teams aren’t bound to a limit; NPB scouts are limited in when they can talk to amateur players while MLB scouts don’t have to comply to such limits. Like MLB, NPB has a draft system to try and fairly distribute talent among the teams. It would be a shame to see that effort undermined, and it seems worthwhile to revisit the rules for teams scouting players subject to the NPB draft.

It’s important to note that the news here is not necessarily the MLB interest, but that Tazawa has chosen to forgo the NPB draft. NPB and MLB have had an unwritten agreement in place since 1962 that prohibits MLB teams from signing Japanese NPB draft candidates, but that hasn’t stopped MLB teams from trying to sign top Japanese amateurs in the past. Tazawa is the first to accept the overtures. So while MLB teams have mostly honored the letter of the gentleman’s agreement, they haven’t entirely honored the spirit of it. It’s only now that a top talent has been lured away that the NPB institution is getting upset.

http://www.npbtracker.com/2008/09/the-tazawa-problem/

Oct. 22:

So, to get caught up, “the Tazawa penalty” is a new rule banning Japanese players who have opted out of the NPB draft to sign internationally from joining an NPB team for up to three years after leaving their international organization. The idea is make top Japanese amateurs think twice about bypassing NPB for MLB by eliminating the assumption that they have an easy path back.

Though I haven’t found anything concrete on this, I’m guessing the rule will be in effect from Tazawa forward, so Robert Boothe shouldn’t have anything to worry about if he wants to pitch in Japan in the future.

Tazawa has commented on the situation: “Personally I only thought about going to America. I wasn’t thinking about the next person, so this is something I have to apologize for”.

My gut feeling is that this is kind of a sour grapes move by the NPB establishment and they’ll get over it. There is some historic precedence to suggest that they will: the cases of Hideki Irabu, Kazuhito Tadano, Hideo Nomo and Mac Suzuki.

Irabu is perhaps the most informative example. Prior to being a bust with the Yankees, Irabu was under contract with the San Diego Padres, whom he refused to play for. At the time, the NPB establishment felt that they had been embarrassed by Irabu’s antics and said that he wouldn’t be allowed back in, but Hanshin signed him for the 2003 season. He won the fans over with a strong start.

http://www.npbtracker.com/2008/10/the-tazawa-penalty/


Oct 30:

Junichi Tazawa: NPB teams respected his wishes not to be drafted. I thought someone might take a flier on him with a late-round pick, but it didn’t happen.

http://www.npbtracker.com/2008/10/draft-storylines-results/

Nov 1:

As you no doubt know by now, Junichi Tazawa went unselected in the recent NPB draft, clearing the way for him to sign with an MLB organization. While official negotiations reportedly won’t start until Nov 24 or so, Tazawa is meeting with representatives from the Mariners and Braves on Tuesday. I’ve picked up on about six teams interested in Tazawa, with the most recent addition to the mix being the Phillies.

http://www.npbtracker.com/2008/11/tazawa-rumor-mongering/

So signing Tazawa would be completely in accordance with all rules, the NPB clubs could have pseudo-blocked him by selecting him in the draft but didn't, and the commissioners of the two leagues are meeting to discuss the precedent of Tazawa's actions. It's quite possible, if not likely, that they'll introduce new rules to prevent this in the future, but to think NPB would act punitvely towards whatever club ultimately signs him is unfounded from what I've seen.

[Snodgrass'Muff]

So signing Tazawa would be completely in accordance with all rules, the NPB clubs could have pseudo-blocked him by selecting him in the draft but didn't, and the commissioners of the two leagues are meeting to discuss the precedent of Tazawa's actions. It's quite possible, if not likely, that they'll introduce new rules to prevent this in the future, but to think NPB would act punitvely towards whatever club ultimately signs him is unfounded from what I've seen.

I don't think there's anything wrong with speculating about it. In fact, I think it's worth discussing and could certainly be a real issue. We know there are reports that something is slowing this up. This could very well be it.