Hiroshima Carp owner Hajime Matsuda said today that his club is not yet sure whether it will make top pitcher Kenta Maeda available through the posting system, as the Japan Times reports. “We have the right,” said Matsuda. “We would like to let him go, but based on his production this year it will be difficult.”
For his part, Maeda said that he has not decided his own preference at this point. He is reported to have informed the Carp last year of his desire to be posted, however.
Maeda did put up a rather pedestrian 11-8 record. But by most measures valued in today’s MLB, he was far from unproductive: the 26-year-old worked to a 2.56 ERA with 7.7 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9, stats that are largely in line with his career figures. To be sure, he did not return to the stellar 1.53 earned run mark he put up in 2012, but a brief glance at his stat line shows that Maeda allowed half the number of home runs that year that he did this year and last, which alone probably accounts for much of the discrepancy.
Ben Badler of Baseball America recently published a scouting report suggesting that Maeda’s stuff remains as intriguing as ever. Though he is not viewed as a top-of-the-rotation starter, Maeda is seen as a good bet to be a valuable rotation piece at the MLB level. His solid repertoire is matched, it should be noted, by a track record of durability (at least 175 innings a year since 2009).
Remember that Maeda will be posted, if at all, under new rules agreed to in the midst of last year’s Masahiro Tanaka drama. Among other things, the release fee can be set no higher than $20MM, and any major league team willing to pay the established release fee is permitted to negotiate with the posted player.
In large part, those rule changes tend to discredit the notion that Maeda will not be posted because the Carp could always make him available for the maximum fee and then pull him back if no deal is struck. Though the above-cited story suggests a posting is “unlikely,” the only quote from Matsuda hardly implies that the club has made any decision against posting.
Didn’t we go through this same song and dance on Tanaka with rumors he wasn’t going to be posted?
Sure did!
This is standard posturing by Japanese teams to appease their fan base and make it them look less interested in the money. Not even they believe it.
Agreed 110%.
This is certainly quite possible. But it’s the first we’ve heard on this topic, really, and came from the actual people who matter, so I decided to run with it.
I hope to try to avoid the Tanaka situation this year, which should be eased by the fact that a) we don’t have the whole rule change scenario to gum things up and b) Maeda is not that level of pitcher (though that’s what we were saying about Tanaka vis-a-vis Darvish).
Who do you think Kenta Maeda most compares to at the Major League level?
Maybe someone like Dillon Gee?
I seem to remember a report that teams see him as a middle of the rotation starter, a number 3 arm.
He could be a good replacement for Kuroda if he retires or goes back to Japan to pitch.
Maeda should have many suitors with money. I know LAD said they aren’t adding a starter but I don’t buy it with the retirement of Beckett. I’m thinking CHC, BOS, TEX, NYY, LAD, CHW, and PHI are all teams with money that can join the fray. Despite not being an ace, the lack of draft pick combined with any number of larger markets in need of pitching could drive his price way up. What is the predicted contract on this guy?
The deal Yu Darvish got wouldn’t be a bad start.
This is a perfect target for the Angels.
I think I read somewhere that we wants to sign with either NYY or Boston. Could it be a Japanese teammate thing?
Maeda told reporters that he’s giving up to be posted this year according to sports nippon.
When are we going to stop looking at W-L records? They have no relevance as to a pitcher’s value whatsoever.
I’m with you.
Usually.
If you don’t have access to league-wide data in order to compare a guy against his peers and you don’t know much about the league, sometimes a W-L record can be a small helpful piece of information. Or it can identify guys who don’t go deep into games and end up with a bunch of no-decisions.
That’s the strongest argument I can make about something that I don’t really believe in. I did my best.