Sox sign Japanese pitcher - Shunsuke Watanbe

Harry Hooper

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WEEI has it:

 
The Red Sox announced Tuesday that they have signed 37-year-old, righty pitcher Shunsuke Watanbe to a minor league contract.
The submarine-style hurler has spent his entire 13-year career with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League. He has compiled a record of 87-82 with a  career ERA of 3.65, performing primarily as a starter.
 
 
 

Harry Hooper

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Fine. Despite the minor league contract, I doubt he was signed to shore up the AAA bullpen.
 
You can blame Bradford for the mis-spelling at least.
 

Blue Monkey

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Is this the same guy Ortiz hit that mammoth shot off of in Japan a while back?
 
edit... yes other thread confirms it.
 

JakeRae

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Harry Hooper said:
Fine. Despite the minor league contract, I doubt he was signed to shore up the AAA bullpen.
 
You can blame Bradford for the mis-spelling at least.
Why? He's old, has never been all that great, and throws like 20 MPH. He threw 25 innings last year, striking out 3.2 batters per 9 and walking the same, in Japan. He hasn't had an ERA below 3.5 since 2007. It's hard to imagine this as anything more than a AAA depth signing.
 

cardiacs

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I just found this out today. I've seen him pitch in person several times, and he's not that great. He'll fool batters with his delivery but people should figure him out after seeing him a few times. Best-case scenario is he does good in AAA and gets promoted when the rosters expand to be used in potentially important situations at the end of the season. 
 

Eddie Jurak

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I suppose the best case scenario (a longshot) would be Shingo Takatsu, who actually had a good year with the White Sox before the league figured him out.