Braves serious about Japanese pitcher Junichi Tazawa

Braves beat writer David O'Brien has been told that the Braves have already offered a major league contract to Junichi Tazawa, the Japanese right-hander who’s drawn serious interest from Boston, Seattle and possibly the Cubs and Marlins.

We are the first reported team to offer Tazawa a guaranteed major league contract. This leads O'Brien to think that we have a serious shot at landing the right-hander.

about 1 year ago gondeee 13 comments 0 recs |

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Some Video on Tazawa

http://draftrepo.blog47.fc2.com/blog-entry-31.html

Not the greatest but you can see some of the stuff he throws. Also it glances up multiple at the scoreboard to show what i assume to be radar gun readings. I would imagine in KM/H, he is hitting 150 which converts to about 93-94

by gopherbroke on Nov 4, 2008 6:46 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

thanks for the video

by SayHeyWerd on Nov 4, 2008 9:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Great move

Good job by the Braves offering him a contract. He can work on some stuff in the minors for a year and (hopefully) be ready in 2010 along with Hanson. He’s got some good looking stuff, supposedly a plus/plus-plus curveball and decent sinking fastball.
Not to mention the fact that this could open up the Japanese market for the Braves, hopefully they continue the international scouting and signing to keep up with the Red Sox and Yankees of the world.

by drdonkeypunch on Nov 4, 2008 7:09 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

"offered a major league contract "

Does that mean he goes to ATL, not the minors? I ask because I don’t know….

by secondbass on Nov 4, 2008 8:56 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i’m pretty sure that it means that they have to put him on the 40-man immediately, and usually he has to be in the majors within a certain amount of time or he becomes a free agent. it wouldn’t put him on the major league club immediately, a lot of high draft picks sign major league contracts too.

by drdonkeypunch on Nov 4, 2008 9:47 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ah….thanks!

by secondbass on Nov 5, 2008 5:21 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Found this at the AJC....

‘"We think he has the potential to be a major league starter," said Wren, adding that Tazawa would need some minor-league seasoning. "We’re looking at him being with us for a long time [if he signs]."
The Braves’ offer reportedly included a major league contract, which would give Tazawa a spot on the 40-man roster and major league spring training camp.’

by secondbass on Nov 5, 2008 5:33 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Cool

Like everyone else said, this is a good move. Makes me excited to see the Braves expanding over to the talent pool in Japan.

I don’t know if this is the guy, but isn’t there a controversy about the MLB signing Japanese players before they’re drafted by Japan? Something like an unwritten agreement between the MLB and the Japanese league?

by VictorW on Nov 4, 2008 8:43 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

True but...

he asked not to be drafted by any of the Japanese teams so that he could go straight to MLB

by BamaVon on Nov 4, 2008 9:55 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Rules

If a player is drafted by a NPB team, they are required to stay for NINE seasons, before they are eligible for free agency. Hideo Nomo exploited a loophole in 1994 by retiring after five seasons, and then jumping to the US.

This link makes reference to the unwritten agreement. (And the snubbings.) And because it’s unwritten, NPB can’t really seem to do anything about it.

But in Tazawa’s case, he pretty much told NPB squads to not draft him, for no other blatant reason than that he wanted to come to the US immediately. And the NPB teams were more than willing to oblige in not signing a guy who wouldn’t want to play for them anyway.

Lots of NPB fans feel kind of snubbed by his actions, because 1) they take great pride in NPB, and the ability of their players, and none of them ever want to think that they are second-fiddle to MLB. Tazawa passing over NPB for MLB speaks unwanted volumes. And 2) many feel that Tazawa has paid no true dues to be entitled to the likely fortune he’ll get state-side. It’s a risk, to some degree he’s taking, because if he fizzles out in the United States, there’s no saying that he’ll be welcomed back to Japan with open arms. They’ll take him back sure, because potential cannot be ignored, but nobody in Japan’s going to forget about this.

No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.

by royhobbs on Nov 5, 2008 9:11 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Even if he has to return..

…to Japan he wouldn’t be able to play for 3 years. The NPB passed a rule that if you’re a high school level player who goes overseas to play, you can’t play in the NPB for 3 years – if you’re a college level player and do the same and want to come back you have to sit out 2 years.

Been covering Tazawa over a BDD for some time now.

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by RainDelay on Nov 5, 2008 11:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs