The Japan Times published an article yesterday about how the new posting system agreement puts Rakuten (Masahiro Tanaka's team) in an unfavorable position. The Eagles were widely expected to post Tanaka this offseason, but the newly agreed upon system, complete with a $20 million cap on posting fees, seems to have the team rethinking things. “First of all, discuss it …
Guessing at the possible posting fee changes between MLB and NPB
Earlier today, we talked about the real possibility that there could soon be changes to the posting fee system. I had read this summer that the leagues, or at least one of them anyway, was trying to get the Japanese teams to take less money in the fee while the player gets more. Let's start there. The only way to …
Masahiro Tanaka Stats and Scouting Report, Why the Cubs are Interested
Masahiro Tanaka is among the leaders in who the OV crowd predicts the Cubs will sign and not too surprisingly, we've already learned they are interested. According to Phil Rogers, Tanaka will be the Cubs top priority this offseason. There's good reason for that, but I wanted to compare him to some other Japanese pitchers, as well as taking a …
Cubs sign Kyuji Fujikawa
The Cubs signed 32 year old Japanese free agent Kyuji Fujikawa to a 2-year deal worth $9.2 million. The contract includes a vesting option for 2015 depending on games finished that be worth either $5.5 million or $6 million. Word on the street is that this guy sits in the 92-94 mph range and can touch 95-97 depending on which …
Series Preview: Boston Red Sox (31-32) at Chicago Cubs (21-42)
Wait, the Red Sox have a losing record? That was a surprise to me. Pythagoras disagrees with their record, as they have a +26 run differential, second in the AL east and 4th in the whole AL. If their non-winning trend continues they might have to watch out for some sleeper cell cultists. Luckily the Red Sox are playing the …
The 45%: When Theo Epstein Is Wrong
During Theo Epstein's introductory press conference, as well as the many rounds he made to various radio and tv shows, there is one line that I remember more than any other. if you do a great job, you're right 55 percent of the time. Of the many hours Theo spent talking with people about the Cubs on that day, I …
“You better know who your ninth starter’s going to be”
I’ve been a bit confused by one of Theo’s comments since taking over as President of Baseball Operations. “We need starting pitching. You can’t take your chances very seriously as a club if you go in to the season without, not just five guys you can point to, but six, seven and eight guys. You better know who your ninth …
What about Yu Darvish?
Yu Darvish could be posted by his Japanese team this winter makng him available to all 30 MLB clubs. He turned 25 years old on August 16th so 2012 would be his age 25 season. That’s one year younger than Daisuke Matsuzaka who Darvish will often be compared to in the coming months. It’s an unfair comparison. While Matsuzaka was …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (19-23) at Boston Red Sox (23-20)
This could be interesting. Or very ugly. If you’re looking to be patronized, be sure to check out today’s column by Gordon Edes. Team Overview Team stats with respective league rankings wOBA: Sox: .331 (7th), .328 (3rd) UZR: Sox: 5.1 (5th), Cubs: -6.7 (11th)DRS: Sox: -16 (12th), Cubs: -28 (15th)SP FIP: Sox: 4.25 (12th), Cubs: 4.03 (10th)RP FIP: Sox: 3.75 …