Little is known about Shohei Otani’s preferred destination if he makes the jump to Major League Baseball this offseason, though in a profile of the two-way star, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times wonders if Otani’s reputation as a “yakyu shonen” (as Hernandez puts it, “basically, a kid who lives, eats and breathes baseball”) could provide some hints. Otani is believed to be intent on coming to MLB for competitive reasons given his outward lack of interest in money. For this same reason, Otani may not necessarily be swayed by a wealthy team like the Dodgers or Yankees, according to Hiroshi Sasaki, Otani’s former high school coach. When choosing schools, Otani chose to play for a lower-profile high school closer to home rather than accept offers from larger programs.
Here’s more from around baseball as we head into the postseason…
- The Rangers seem like one of the four or five teams most likely to sign Otani, and possibly the favorite “if it comes down to the dollars available and a college-recruiting like pitch,” Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes as part of a reader chat. Still, Grant doesn’t believe any team has more than a 15-18% chance of signing Otani, since any number of factors could influence his choice.
- Perhaps with this in mind, the Rays are also “sincere” about their interest in Otani, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. The Rays usually don’t have the financial resources to compete for blue-chip international talent, though Otani’s situation presents a unique opportunity. The Rays can offer Otani a chance to both pitch and hit, and they can point to their willingness to let fourth overall pick Brendan McKay be a two-way player as an example of their flexibility.
- The Nationals have shown interest in Zack Cozart in the past and could be a fit for the free agent shortstop this winter, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe opines. It may hinge on whether or not the Reds issue Cozart a qualifying offer, though if the Nats did make a move, Cozart would take over at short and Trea Turner could shift to center field. (This would also move Adam Eaton to left field to replace free agent Jayson Werth.) Defensive metrics indicate that Turner’s glovework is better as a shortstop than as a center fielder, though it may still be too early in Turner’s young career to make that call one way or the other. Cozart, of course, is one of the game’s better defenders and is coming off an outstanding season at the plate.
- Astros righty David Paulino recently underwent surgery to remove bone spurs from his throwing elbow but is expected to be ready for Spring Training, the team announced (MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart has the details). Paulino was placed on the 60-day DL just as he was eligible to be activated following an 80-game PED suspension. The 23-year-old was cited on top-100 prospect lists from Baseball America (51st), MLB.com (54th) and Baseball Prospectus (83rd) prior to the season and he has gotten cups of coffee in each of Houston’s last two seasons, with a 6.25 ERA over 36 big-league innings.
A game that is moving toward extreme specialization and we have 2 guys who are going to be pitcher/hitters. Funny timing. More power to them if they can do it, but I don’t see how A guy can do both at the highest level.
If the stros wanted Britton I’d take paulino in any package. Seems like now would be the time to buy into him while his value is really low.
The Astros have no chance to get Britton. They refused to give up any of their top 5 prospects. Screw Houson.
They had a deal in place before Angelos vetoed it
Well, they have a good system so I wouldn’t turn down a good offer. I read the last offer included Colin Moran which should tell O’s fans that Machado isn’t coming back. Houston has some interesting pitching prospects that I’d like for us to look at. That’s what we need. if Machado doesn’t come back I’d rather move schoop to 3rd.
Screw Houston? (Houson)
Wow. Deep insight there buddy. 2 years ago, Houston would have overpaid for Britton, like they did with Kazmir deal and the Fiers/Gomez deal. I think Luhnow learned a valuable lesson from those 2 moves and flat out refused to move certain guys unless he was getting exactly what he wanted. And Britton wasn’t worth any of our top 5.
Baltimore would have been very smart, ( Angelos specifically since it was reported a trade was agreed upon before he personally nixed it) to take a deal that likely would have netted them 2 from Houston’s top 30 prospects. And possibly a 3rd fringe top 30. Britton has little value with injury history and closers in general have a horrible history of maintaining top performance.
If I’m a Baltimore fan, I say screw Angelos for passing on a move that could have made my team much better in the next couple of years.
Top 30 prospects? How many guys play on a major league team? 25. 2 top 30 prospects for Britton at the deadline would’ve been a slap in the face. Maybe two of the top 10-12. You gave up your #7 prospect for fransisco liriano. The offer was certainly better than 2 top 30 guys it was at least Moran + another somewhere in top 10.
Otani to NYY
No way. The guy doesn’t seem interested in the big market as noted by the story above and his track record. He doesn’t seem to be interested in money as he could wait 2 years and be in line for 200 million dollars or more. The most he can get now is 10 million. To me, that shows he wants an opportunity to pitch and play in the field/DH regularly. So, in theory only 15 teams are in play. A smaller market team will probably offer him as much as they can, 10 million….. and give him what he wants. So, Seattle…. Houston, Texas, Kansas City, Minnesota are all in play.
“Little is known about Shohei Otani’s preferred destination”
Yet everyone agrees that it won’t be the Phillies. Has nothing to do with Otani, it’s just that the Phillies are the only MLB team that has ZERO interest in Otani and the corrupt MLB writers all pretend they don’t see this.
These same writers will be churning out crap about the Phillies pursuing pitching and their big need for starting pitching talent, yet somehow they will never notice that the Phillies were the only MLB team that pretended Otani did not exist while most of the others devoted a major part of their planning to craft a pitch to Otani, the most talented Japanese player ever.
Watch the movie “42” and see if you can figure it out.
Ever think a lot of teams would rather get 6-7 years of a pitcher cheap, rather than go into crazy money in his second year?
John Middleton looking for cheap talent? Free players?
Why would the Phillies post? He wants to pitch and hit and therefore seems likely to go to the AL. Also I’ve seen you bring race into the equation multiple times in regard to the Phillies, which is simply ignorant.
The Phillies dont hate Asian players. I saw it brought up twice but do you remember Chan Ho Park, So taguchi or Tadahiti Iguci? Hyun-Soo Kim was just on the team as well. There’s absolutely no reason to cite a movie (taking place over 50 years ago) as a reason to believe the organization is racist.
Other teams have signed Latino teenagers for big bucks for decades. John Middleton and Bill Giles – especially Bill Giles – look at those teens and see then wielding leaf blowers or wearing baggy pants with a Glock in the waist band and refuse to write a check with the required amount of zeros.
John Middleton is certainly willing to exploit “those people” but he won’t pay them for their perceived talent.
As for Asian players, Middleton’s opinion has filtered out and it is “Asian players are too expensive”. Then there is the interpreter and the Japanese media and the negotiations with Japanese media over money.
For one of “those people”?
Just ignore this dude. Numerous people have tried to use logic with him, it’s futile.
“Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
-Alfred Pennyworth (Dark Knight, 2008)
Other than Ichiro, the “most talented players” from Japan have all been mostly disappointing or straight up busts. Phillies might be doing themselves a favor.
Hideki Matsui, Kaz Matsui, Darvish, iwakuma…. plenty of others have come over and done quite well.
Godzilla killed the Phillies in the 2009 World Series.
Yu Darvish is a bust? Tanaka? The only player who sticks out to me as a bust is the 2B Kazuo Matsui.
Kei Igawa. That guy was a bum. His posting fee was $26MM, and $20MM contract. 16 games. That’s how many games he pitched in the big leagues for the Yanks during his five years. Inexcusable, even if a $46M investment means a lot less today, than it did back then. But here’s the kicker.
In 2008 and in 2009 Cashman had negotiated a deal to return Igawa to two different Japanese professional teams. “I drove to Scranton, sat him down and told him it was our assessment that his abilities didn’t translate into a major league career,” said Cashman” “I told him that it was our fault — our mistake — not his. But I said, ‘If you stay, you’re not going anywhere.’ And refused the trade both times.”
Even factoring in Igawa’s signing was a reaction to Dice-K signing, (another Japanese pitcher, Red Sox invested $50M+ Posting Fee and $50M+ contract and didn’t get their money’s worth overall. (It’s OK, he’s still better than Kei) Although his 2008 season was special, DiceK failed to have any other season that even closely resembled it, fading badly 2009-2014.
The good news is both these signings were made 2007, so that was 10 years ago. I also feel you snubbed Hiroki Kuroda (but it’s ok everybody always overlooks that guy, even when he pitched) he may not be an ace—but he was as automatic as any other Japanese pitcher I’ve seen pitch in my lifetime to be good for 200IP+ on an annual basis with zero injury concerns, whatsoever, an impressive feat considering Kuroda didn’t appear in big leagues until his age-33 season.
Are you blaming it on the “dark” state? Godzilla? Too much sun? Frank Rizzo? Cheese whiz?
The Nats aren’t moving Turner to CF for Cozart
Why not? Eaton has always performed better as a corner outfielder anyway. It could be the strongest defensive lineup.
Because Michael A. Taylor will be playing CF next year.
That makes sense, especially with Goodwin around as depth. I think Cozart would be a great addition, but Taylor brings a lot of speed value.
Nats don’t have the payroll space to spend on that. They’re also already loaded in the 2018 OF… Eaton-Taylor-Harper-Goodwin. Robles will factor in.
Taylor might win the Gold Glove this year. Even if he couldn’t hit, it’d be a crime to not start him there.
I still think it’s worth considering. Harper is a free agent after 2018 and Taylor was basically replacement level before this season. Personally, I think Taylor will be ok, but he could backslide pretty easily.
Signing Cozart creates too many moving parts for the defense unnecessarily. If Cozart were a rare talent like Carlos Correa or Francisco Lindor, then it would be a reasonable goal.
Otani could have the backing of an entire country, instead of a city or state how about 36mill people? Come to Toronto!
As much as I would love that, I can’t see it happening. That would fill out their rotation and give them a bat (if he’s as good as they say offensively).
The Angels should be able to pitch that if he wants to be the best he should aim to play with the best to learn the American game. I still dont think that Arte has his house in order, but if he really doesn’t care about prestige and more about the craft, it’s a pretty ruthless pitch.