Mets Interested In Japanese Pitching Prospect Yusei Kikuchi

That Omar Minaya quotation seems to coherent to be real. Anyway, 18-year-old pitcher who throws 94, but is undecided about whether to come to America. He would probably sign for less than Tazawa did with the Sox (3MM over 3).

over 2 years ago Sam Page 26 comments 0 recs |

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I say we pass

I’m sick of these overhyped japanese players.

by Chickendirt on Aug 23, 2009 3:06 PM EDT reply actions

yea damn these overhyped japanese players

Kawakami, Kuroda, and Tazawa have only been very good signings for their respective teams!

King of the bling come to lay down the evidence//Not George Bush, L-Millz be da president

by Sam Page on Aug 23, 2009 3:08 PM EDT up reply actions

uehara

was doing well before he went down.

by firejerrymanuel on Aug 23, 2009 3:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Dice K, Nomo,

Who was that Japanese pitcher the Yankees signed years ago?

These guys seem to do well in the league for a year or two then fizzle out.

by Chickendirt on Aug 23, 2009 3:10 PM EDT up reply actions

What?

Nomo pitched for 10 years, eight of them pretty well. Dice-K has had one bad season and Kei Igawa was never good. Generalizations about all Japanese pitchers are stupid.

King of the bling come to lay down the evidence//Not George Bush, L-Millz be da president

by Sam Page on Aug 23, 2009 3:14 PM EDT up reply actions 3 recs

+1

It’s a country. What in the name of Tsuyoshi Shinjo would it mean to say that all of its players were overhyped?

by anonymous on Aug 23, 2009 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Thank you

Being part Japanese, I’m always offended by these stupid stereotypes that follow Japanese players even the “good ones” like that all Japanese players have good fundamentals and play team based baseball, it’s like all of fans/MSM opinions were formed by watching Tom Selleck’s seminal film Mr. Baseball.

by Sokojoe on Aug 23, 2009 4:12 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Oh, I'm not trying to advance a stereotype

I’m more trying to talk about the absurd bidding wars that start for these players that just are not worth it. Like Dice K.

Why can’t I remember the name of the guy the Yankees signed that just never came close to matching his billing?

I don’t think Nomo was a crappy pitcher for his entire career. I think his first two years he was really excellent and then became just average after that. Don’t think he was worth the money thrown at him at that point.

by Chickendirt on Aug 23, 2009 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Irabu

And we’re not bidding 100 million on this guy so what’s the problem?

"We must win and we must know how to win rather than win because we have statistical people."

by Evan_S on Aug 23, 2009 4:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Ok, so what do you think is "worth it" for this guy

Keep in mind that his “indecision” about playing here is only meant to up the ante.

by Chickendirt on Aug 23, 2009 4:32 PM EDT up reply actions

He's young, cheap, and talented.

He won’t need a major league contract to sign, and he’d add depth to our farm system (which you apparently think is a bad idea).

Going by your logic, it’s good that we didn’t have a first round pick since we would have had to waste money signing him.

"We're just as bad as the old Mets, but this time nobody's laughing"
-Dallas Green

by Stephen Schmidt on Aug 23, 2009 5:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Straw Man alert

Thanks for playing.

by Chickendirt on Aug 23, 2009 5:35 PM EDT up reply actions

All you had to do was click the link to find out that this kid is a high school lefty who won't require a posting fee.

Yet you compare him to guys like Hideki Irabu, Dice K, and Kei Igawa anyway. The only close comparison to this kid’s situation is Junicni Tazawa, who owned the Yankees yesterday. He was cheap (3yrs/3 mill), the team has 6 years of control, and he’d be the number 3 starter for the Mets right now at a fraction of the cost of the guy we trotted out today.

"We're just as bad as the old Mets, but this time nobody's laughing"
-Dallas Green

by Stephen Schmidt on Aug 23, 2009 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions

In Irabu's case, who Steinbrenner called a "fat toad,"

he was actually signed by the Padres who then traded him a couple of months later to the Yanks, so the argument can be made that his signing was even for the Padres as they got cash and two prospects that didn’t pan out for him and Homer Bush et al.

As for Nomo, his first two seasons were very good but he also was good from 99-03, right after his season with the Mets, accumulating WARs of 2.2 to 3.9 over that span.

In Matsuzaka’s case, he was worth 3.9 WAR ($16 mil) and 3.3 WAR ($14.9 Mil) in his first two years, this year he has been hurt. If the Red Sox didn’t over bid in the Mets by nearly 30 million, it could be argued that Matsuzaka will be worth his contract if healthy by the end, so it’s really the Red Sox’ fault more than the bidding war since they assumed that they would be able to find a loophole out of the bid.

by Sokojoe on Aug 23, 2009 4:35 PM EDT up reply actions