Comments on: Has The Japanese Baseball Market Run Its Course?

By: madbull34

madbull34 — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:39:46 +0000

The main issue is that you cannot be an unrestricted free agent in Japan for 10 years, unless your club posts you like Dice-K or Igawa. The only other option is to retire in Japan like Nomo. That is why the earliest you can come over here is 28. So most Japanese players who make the trek over here are usually in their early 30s. Which translates to about 3~4 years of MLB playing time (Ishii, Yoshii, Iguchi). Relievers have a little longer careers. So it’s usually players in their last few years to try a crack the the big leagues.

Also, the Japanese talent pool has been depleted with the recent exodus. The biggest stars were Ichiro, Nomo, Hideki Matsui and Dice-K. You can say those four have panned out pretty well. The only busts I can think of is Irabu, Shinjo and Nakamura. All the other guys coming over more recently are so-so players (Yabuta, Kawakami, Fukumori), which result in so-so careers.

I saw Darvish during the WBC and he does have some explosive stuff. But I bet the Japanese clubs will do whatever it takes to keep him over there. Although I was more impressed by the pitcher Iwakuma.

By: Jon

Jon — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:12:58 +0000

Darvish is under NPB control until the conclusion of the 2012 season so will not be heading to MLB any time soon.

By: RNCoyote

RNCoyote — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:40:41 +0000

Finding talent elsewhere is tricky. It’s not just Japan but Korea and Taiwan as well. You can have your Hideo Nomo (tell me who didn’t love Nomo when he first came over) and Ichiro then there’s complete flameouts with Shinjo, Irabu, Tadano, and Igawa. MLB will always attempt to find the next “big spot” of untapped talent in countries. Remember short-lived Australian experiment (Dave Nilson) or Cuban defectors? The Caribbean is the only place where teams can get more for less.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:13:40 +0000

I have no interest in their cards once they hit MLB though I do have fun looking through my Japanese baseball cards from the early-to-mid 90s. My sister lived and attended school for three years in Japan and would mail me packs of baseball cards for Christmas and my B-Days.

Though I can’t read the backs of the cards, there’s no problem translating statistics! ‘HR’ is homerun no matter where you play.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:04:24 +0000

Takahashi is a free agent, so there's no posting fee to worry about. You're right, though. At age 35 next season, he's not likely to be an impact player. And I haven't seen any indication that Darvish will try to come to America for 2010. He will probably be more expensive then Daisuke Matsuzaka when he does, though.