90 MPH fastball, decent changeup, a decent slider and a comparison with Jarrod Washburn doesn’t sound too promising to me. He seems like he COULD be a decent 3/4 starter, but I get the feeling his transition is going to be a bit more rocky. He walks far fewer than the 2 big Japanese failures, Ishii and Irabu, but the claim that he had “very low BB rates” in Japan is very questionable; he averaged about 60 walks a season, which I estimate is about average, maybe a little better than average (that’s about what Washburn does in the states). Looking at mlb.com’s stats, 60 would put him at right about #50 for the most walks in the majors, which isn’t bad, but not David Wells-like control. The comparison to Jarrod Washburn is also worrying because Washburn pitches in the AL West, not the AL East.

As for the posting system, even though it sucks for the American team and (to some extent) the player, it, or something like it, is definitely necessary. Most teams in the NPB are already supposedly heavily subsidized by their parent companies. While some of the problems they face can be taken care of internally, like the idiotic clustering of teams around 2 cities (which they already seem to be trying to fix with the Nippon-Ham Fighters moving to Hokkaido), taking away their top players without any compensation is a problem that could potentially devastate them, and would create a problem that they could NOT solve internally (other than by reinstating a posting system). People who hate the posting system have to look at the big picture. The promotion of baseball worldwide is key in advancing the game, and completely ignoring the needs of baseball abroad, and being unwilling to make some sacrifices to advance the game, is somewhat selfish in my opinion.

And having a system where Japan freely traded with American teams is probably not feasible because I imagine a lot of American players would be unwilling to make the large culture shift to Japan. While I think I would welcome a stint in the NPB if I were a player (sounds like a nice little adventure), I can understand why a lot of players probably wouldn’t want to go across the entire globe to a totally foreign country to live half the year.

I think a better comp is Eric Milton, only with all those miles on his arm already, perhaps a 30-year old Milton, rather than a 27-year old version. I’d expect the Yankees to end up disappointed for all that money that could have bought other options.

Spend the money on more consistently performing talent (offense) and have a value biased rotation.

Heck since Washburn has more value as the market explodes, deal him for prospects or offense.

Washburn to Houston for Chris Burke and some low level pitchers.

Sign JD Drew (4/44), Sign Nomar (2/20)

#22 Spot on Willmore. The problem with the football (soccer) transfer system though is that it reduces meaningful competition to 3 or 4 clubs. It is true that in the EPL any club can beat another on a given day – but it’s also true that there have only 3 different winners in the last 11 years, 4 in the last 14

This system is probably the fairest towards the clubs and players. As not only does it reward teams for not holding down their players, it also allows players to be paid what they are worth. I bet T.O. wishes he was a footballer right about now.

The Matsuzaka bid only seems unfair in that it was closed and in that it seems abnormal in the MLB environment, but in the wide scheme of things, it’s just a big trade, nothing more. If the trade was Matsuzaka for Sexson, no one would bat an eyebrow, yet Sexson is probably close to a 50 mil value to the club.

Of course, they’re gonna cost a fortune. The TNT had an article just telling us to do the math – that 28 of the 30 teams want starting pitching, most of them more than 1 starting pitcher. And they’re just not out there, so the ones that are will be extremely pricey. (It also reported the Dodgers are the current frontrunners for Schmidt).

And in the saddest news I saw today: Pat Gillick signed scout Charley Kerfield to a 2 year deal in Philly. I hated when that guy left our organization, and sure would have loved to seen him back here.