TODAY: MLB Insider Jon Heyman provided some clarification as to the financial specifics today (via Twitter). As presumed yesterday, the posting fee will amount to $1.24MM, while the Rangers will pay out $6.2MM over the course of the two-year contract. Arihara will make $2.6MM in 2021 and $3.6MM in 2022, adds MLB.com’s TR Sullivan (via Twitter).
Dec. 25: The Rangers are in agreement with right-hander Kohei Arihara, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link). It’s a two-year contract in the $6-7MM range, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (via Twitter).
Arihara, 28, has spent the past six seasons with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball. In 836 career innings at Japan’s highest level, Arihara compiled a 3.74 ERA with 6.7 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9. He has been especially productive over the past two years. Arihara posted a minuscule 2.46 ERA with a career-best 8.8 K/9 in 2019. This past season, he managed a 3.46 mark with 7.2 K/9 across 132.2 innings.
Writing for Baseball America on the heels of Arihara’s peak season in 2019, Jason Coskrey noted that the right-hander works in the low-90’s and primarily leans upon his fastball, changeup and slider. Arihara has up to seven distinct pitches in his arsenal, though, and Coskrey notes he’s adept at using his secondaries to keep opposing hitters off balance. He also has a long history of throwing strikes, not having issued more than 2.2 walks per nine innings pitched in any of his last five NPB seasons.
Arihara’s not known for especially overpowering raw stuff, and that’s been borne out in his relatively low strikeout rates. Shun Yamaguchi, who signed a similar contract with the Blue Jays last offseason, consistently posted heftier strikeout totals over his time in Japan than did Arihara. So too has Tomoyuki Sugano, the higher-profile NPB starter available to MLB teams via the posting system this winter. That could suggest Arihara’s more suited for the back of the rotation, although he figures to have a decent opportunity for innings in Texas.
Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles will presumably try to bounce back from dismal 2020 seasons. Dane Dunning will certainly get a rotation job after coming over from the White Sox in the Lance Lynn trade. There’s a lot of uncertainty beyond (and even among) that trio, though. Kolby Allard was knocked around last season and hasn’t yet established himself as a big league caliber starter. Kyle Cody, who never worked more than five innings, was the only other player still on the roster to start multiple games for Texas last season.
In addition to Arihara’s salary, the Rangers will owe the Fighters a release fee under the terms of the MLB-NPB posting system. The Fighters will receive a sum equal to 20 percent of the contract value. Depending upon the contract’s specific terms, that would put the posting fee in the $1.2MM – 1.4MM range. Texas’ total outlay is around $7.5MM, hears Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter).
The Red Sox and Padres were reportedly the other finalists in the bidding for Arihara, whose posting window was set to expire tomorrow. San Diego and Boston will now have to turn elsewhere in their hunt for additional rotation depth.
I love Chris Young
This isn’t Young. JD is still making the decisions for a bit.
Awesome. I’m glad that the Rangers signed him. I wanted Arihara to play for the Rangers.
Me too, this way the Red Sox will get Sugano.
The hitter or the pitcher?
Dang. I thought for sure they would prefer Sugano. Maybe he’s still in the fold as well
He’s older by 3 years. By the time they’re ready to compete he’s too old in terms of how young the rest of the team would be. 3 years for this pitcher means he’s only 31 for example. Better to getting to their prime then towards the end. Just imo.
We’ll see how it plays out. Ranger fans are HOPING our team is competitive by 2023. Assuming the upper level prospects pan out, and JD/CY bring in some starting pitchers.
Not really sure that matters with a 2 year contract.
2 year contract, then available for arbitration.
No, he’s not eligible for arbitration after two years. He’ll become a free agent.
This is not true; he will be under team control for 6 years.
Sugano is older though right? might be hard to convince a guy on that side of 30 to join a rebuild.
money talks
more like the Rangers probably dont have much use for guys in their 30s when they wont be good for a couple of years
Especially since Sugano is used to being a part of a successful franchise (Yomiuri Giants)
rangers’ ace!
:/
Sweet. Hopefully he has a good year and we can flip him with some years of control left.
Oh my gosh’ merry Christmas! Am I right?
It’s cool but not that exciting. Look at Shun Yamaguchi and Yusei Kikuchi..
I am fine with this guy. Looks like we will have a decent rotation with some upside next year. Wait for 2022 or 23 before chasing the big arms, but you certainly need guys like this to help out the backend.
Why are you fine with a guy with no stuff who now will play in a hitter friendly park?
New ballpark who dis?
Ridiculous
haha this dude has no idea about the Rangers. The ballpark plays big there boss.
New Rangers park plays big, did you not watch any World Series games all played in Ranger’s park?
Did you watch the other 10 playoff games in Tx?
It’s a huge park
You obviously don’t know much about the new park. Very much a pitchers park, especially with the roof closed.
I’m excited for this guy. He won’t have to be a savior just give them innings and keep them in games.
I like this signing. Hoping he’ll give the Rangers some innings. Come on CY go get us another back of the rotation guy.
I would rather the younger guys that will be here in 2-6 years get a chance. Like Wes Benjamin and Kyle Cody.
We already have Kyle Gibson, Lyles and Dunning.. and now Arihara.. I guess Kyle Cody and Wes Benjamin can duke it out for the 5th spot.
Can’t really have too much pitching depth though huh? Always seems like it takes 10 starters to get through the year.
Eh I like it I guess.. good cheap depth..
I also am hoping for a glimpse of Cole Winn in 2021 and I want somewhere to put him for 3 or 4 starts.
I want to see a glimpse of Hans Crouse and Ricky Vanasco as well as Palumbo.
Won’t be seeing Vanasco for a while. TJ surgery.
I want to see Palumbo not get some flukey injury after making an appearance. Literally every year he gets some strange injury
Agreed. This guys’ low strikeout numbers in that league don’t thrill me. I would rather see one of Palumbo or Benjamin get that slot, or sign a bounce back candidate to a 1-year deal to keep the seat warm for Vanasco or Crouse in 2022. I hope this guy works out.
a very nice christmas gift!
This guy a starter or reliever?
Well he will probably start 7-10 games before being moved to the bullpen lol
Got it lol.
Real lottery ticket player, 30% chance he ends up with 2+ WAR, 70% chance he’s terrible.
He’s also supposed to be an inning eater which protects the bullpen and theoretically should allow those in the minors to continue to develop. On a two year deal, you hope for that with the ability to flip him should he adjust well in the U.S.
You don’t know any of that.
Arihara was never at the top of my list for MLB candidates from NPB, because his strikeout rates were never impressive before 2019. I think major league teams like him because he has an MLB-sized body, which any number of successful Japanese pitchers do not. If you have a body like Kenta Maeda, you have to pitch like Kenta Maeda did in NPB to get an MLB deal.
I’m still rooting for Arihara, because his success in MLB means more efforts to bring the best NPB pitchers to the U.S.
I am still surprised that the Angels weren’t even finalists. They need pitching so badly. Another year of wasting Mike Trout.
I think Sugano is who they will target . At least I hope. He is probably The best free agent starter after Bauer. I think Arihara is more like a back end starter. The Angels need more front type guys.
Angels always say they want pitching bot never sign hardly any. Angels will finish below 500 again.
Yea because so many free agent pitchers have signed thus far!
I’m really intrigued by this guy. He has such a unique profile. 7 pitches and doesn’t lean on any one of them much. Good control. That could lead to a lot of soft contact and a starter who might actually be pitching in the 7th or 8th inning once in a while. I hope it works for him in MLB. Who’ll be catching him? That’s probably going to be an important part of the equation.
Jose Trevino, one of the lone brightspots on our roster at the moment and a solid to very good young catcher defensively.
Arihara looks like a tough assignment for a young catcher. No better way to learn though.
Throwing a low-90’s fastball with 7 different pitches is not really a unique profile with Asian-born pitchers. It often translates to MLB as nothing particularly special (all middling stuff) once there’s a scouting report. US pitchers typically focus on their best offerings and round out a repertoire in the minor leagues and jettison the extraneous pitches by the time they arrive in MLB. I wish him well, but I would temper expectations. Nobody really throws seven pitches in MLB, for good reason.
Yu Darvish throws ten different pitches. There’s a fair number with six or seven. Only the guys who throw 95+ can even get away with being 3 pitch starting pitchers.
Ever heard of Kyle Hendricks? Fastball, Curveball change and has never posted an ERA over 4.
His average fastball speed is low 90s, but he can throw harder. Apparently, he’ll change speeds quite a bit on his fastball in a single outing and will hit 95. He also throws his fastball less than 30% of the time, his second most used pitch (changeup) less than 20% of the time, and 4 other pitches fairly evenly at 10-13% of the time each and then sprinkles in the curve. I think that’s unique. The only comp in MLB is Darvish. If the Rangers try to get him to throw a more consistent fastball at the upper end of his capabilities and then ditch some of the secondaries, then yeah, it won’t be intriguing at all and will be as boring as most pitchers have become. It’s hard to command 7 pitches which is why it’s rare to see, but this guy has good command. I’m a Jays fan and watching Ryu this year who doesn’t have that big an arsenal but does command all his pitches really well and throws them in any count was a real treat.
Off-topic, but, even as a RS fan, I use to love watching Jimmy Key pitch. I have friends that could throw harder than him, but in his 40,000 pitches that he threw, I never saw him throw one down the middle. Even at the end, with the NYY, it always looked like a dartboard, with Key aiming at the triple score.
It was a joy to watch him perform, and consistently out-smart some really good hitters.
Tanaka & Maeda each throw six pitches. Yu Darvish throws 9(!). That’s three NPB pitchers that *do* have deep repertoires & are good pitchers.
I guess I just disagree with a lot of your post. Plenty of upside with Arihara. Pitcher’s like him have certainly experienced high levels of success in MLB. Part of that is the very thing you are trivializing; wide pitching arsenals.
I suspect this is $6-7M total over two years, not per season. While I have questions about how he will translate to MLB, a $3M salary means he doesn’t have to do too much to provide value. Even eating some innings will have value. Be surprised if his ERA is below 4.50 though.
Yeah if the total outlay here is $7.5M, including the posting fee, then this is pretty cheap for two years of a SP.
That price point kind of makes it seem like he’s not really actually seen as a “mid-rotation” piece like some of the earlier reports said. If he can take the ball every 5th day and just eat innings then it’s probably a win for the Rangers.
Get Sugano and the Rangers won’t be a complete rebuild anymore, they’ll be competitive. Too bad they didn’t keep Lynn.
Nah still too many holes. Sugano might be fun to watch but I doubt the Rangers are even in on him. Target is still 2022 or 23 Madman, gotta find some joy in the young guys until then.
They were last in scoring last year. And they were 11th in ERA. Sorry, but you are likely to have the worst record in the AL.
I expect us to be better than that. A lot of last year was injuries to guys we thought would contribute, and letting so many young guys play. We have had a nice offseason and I expect our offense to improve pretty significantly. We are in a much better spot at the moment than say the Orioles, Red sox, Royals and Detroit. I think we won’t even be the bottom of the AL West if the pitching takes a step forward. Tough to make a prediction with so many young guys.
Lol we’re better than Detroit and Baltimore. And we’ve made a lot of moves to upgrade the offense (Dahl, N.
Lowe)
Ya, i dont know about him.In 6 seasons in japan, 882 innings, 856 hits, 6.8 strikeouts per 9 innings 2.0 walks per 9 innings. low 90s soft tosser translated to mlb in a possible hitters park could spell disaster
The deal is cheap and make sense for a contender to solidify the backend of a rotation. This doesn’t look good for what we can assume front offices thought of him.
A non-contending team getting a cheap two year deal? Unless there are some special options or caveats like Maeda has, it shows teams don’t think he will deliver above a 4-5 rotation piece, won’t deliver that consistently, or provide the adjustment or development to be worth much in the future.
Because he’s is young enough you would try to add some catch-all’s in there in case he somehow flicks a switch and becomes something unexpected.
the Rangers have to stop shelling out loads for midling pitchers. Gibson, Lyles, and Arihara are all making solid money to probably all be mediocre at best.
2/$6-7M is not solid money. That’s middle relieving vet money…very little risk dude. Lyles was an overpay and Gibson has more upside but this deal for Arihara comes with very little risk
if its total then its not bad. i had originally read it as per year and that just didn’t look good to me.
Yeah the deal is small with little risk. My guess is Texas offered him the most money and opportunity to start rather than compete for a rotation spot.
I said some bad stuff about Arihara earlier, but I’m willing to give him a chance. I didn’t like the track record, but he has a filthy mix of pitches. A forkball, 4-seamer, 2-seamer, curve, and slider. He throws pretty hard too. I just hope some of it translates to the MLB. Let’s go get Kim now and I will be ecstatic!
Hello Rangers,
Merry Christmas and seasons greetings from London..
Got to admit I’m higher on Sugano largely because of Koji Uehara’s splitter. Tenuous I know. You’d know better than me but there’s apparently more action on a US ball with a splitter and for anyone that can control it – it is gravy.
Saw Koji float a couple of saves in 2013 ALCS – the 5 out save in game 5 being particularly good . Not suggesting he’ll – Sugano – be converted to the pen but of the two he seems to have the higher ceiling. Arihara is still a nice get – hugely team friendly contract – they’re paying pennies on top as a posting/development fee and the contract would be mega-flipable if they do strike gold…
Sorry Rangers29, but Kim and Sugano will be a Blue Jays in the New Year!!
I think jaysfan is right. Arihara is not a bad consolation prize by any means though.
The Red Sox are landing Sugano
RANGERS29!!!!! THANK GOD YOU’RE HERE!!!
There is another poster running around here with the name Rangers92! This guy must be STOPPED!!!
No matter the cost!!! >={
You’ve got the touch starts playing
Very good move by the Rangers, might start 2022 as their #1 starting pitcher as he’s similar to Miles Mikolas (less velocity than Mikolas) or he could be Mike Leake like which is still a steal at that price. Remember Brett Anderson got $5 million for last season alone.
San Diego has the draft capital to trade for Musgrove from Pittsburgh. It won’t cripple their system to do so and he will give SD innings. I think SD should look at that possibility right now. Musgrove will give the Padres what they need. Toronto was my other option for Musgrove
I mean prospects capital
San Diego is cutting payroll, dought they sign anything but discount/cheap pitchers.
1) What makes you think SD is cutting payroll? They had some decent money come off the books (Profar, Richards, Yates) and from what I’ve seen, it sounds like they want to keep it at the same level as last year. That probably gives them $10-$20M to play with.
2) Musgrove is projected for like $3.75M, so that’s not even really expensive… If the Padres wanted someone on a discount like you’re saying, then his contract would be attractive to them.
Says who?
Bloom coming up short again, day late and a dollar short. Welcome to the Rube Goldberg of GMs and Ownership
Stop ragging on Bloom regarding a pitcher most of us haven’t seen. AL34, you remind of a spouse, ready to nag regardless of happened. Had he chose Boston, you’d probably have written about it being dumpster diving or trying to find that one pearl in the ocean. Relax and give Bloom a chance. No one was more of a Dombrowski fan on this site than myself. Fact is, Bloom is here so let’s evaluate Bloom in say 22 or 23. Real issue to me is ownership which seems to want to change the world through Sox ownership. I’m still loyal to the memory of Tom Yawkey who saved baseball in Boston and without him where would the Jimmy Fund/Dana Farber institute be? History is written and should always be told. Re-writing it however is very dangerous.
Good people aren’t good 100% of the time; the bad ones aren’t bad 100% of the time. Tom Yawkey did lots of stuff; some of which was admirable, some less so. As one who has a relative whose still alive probably because of Dana Farber, I never lose sight of Yawkey’s contribution. But the accusations of racism are legitimate.
Bloom is just John Henry’s errand boy. Henry let DD do what he wanted; he won’t make that mistake again. And I’m one of DD’s biggest fans; flags fly forever, and the farm system’s issues were more serendipity (injuries, et al) than lack of skill.
Is Bloom going to be bold (the Henry mantra)? Or is he going to be limp for the next few years. Henry’s making that call, not Bloom. I still expect the Sox to be aggressive this winter. But let’s see.
Not so far!
Looie: I’m sorry I can’t agree on this:
This is the same Ted Yawkey that refused for over a decade to integrate the Red Sox (completely ignoring the equally difficult Ted Williams advice) and the same Ted Yawkey that protected a clubhouse child molester in Donald Fitzpatrick. I might be wrong but I’ve been led to believe the Jimmy fund (which I’ve donated to) was player led. The Dana Farber institute is a great example of his benevolence.
Sorry I just can’t think of Ted Yawkey as some kind of anointed saviour. Just a flawed individual like most of us….
Take care…
I have been a Red Sox fan since the 1970s. Bloom wasted money on so much garbage snd team throwaways last year, a shot at this guy would have been a better idea. The contract he got was not much either, no draft compensation, just money. Henry has that. Bloom has dealt with a small market team Tampa that does not draw fans.
Betts should never have been traded but signed. He was a community guy and did a lot there. Fans are not going to come and see throwaways in Boston play. As far as aTom Yawkey, there is documented proof he was a racist. Just look at the lack of African American Ballplayers in Boston in the 1970s and 1980s.
Al you can’t be naive enough to blame Betts trade on Bloom. Everybody knows that was an ownership decision or at least they should know.
The Red Sox rotation would look a lot different and we would not of been having this conversation if Sale and Erod could of been penciled in every 5 days. You have to remember Sale didn’t get his TJ surgery until the end of March. When spring training started it sounded like Sale wasn’t good to o need the surgery so Bloom didn’t know about 2/5 of his starting rotation, the top 2/5 being out for the year.
I also think that Bloom did very well on his trades during the season. He traded players that were not going to help the Red Sox this year and turned them into intriguing future pieces. Potentially a couple of starters and a potential future closer as well as another power hitting threat in Potts potentially.
Blaming Bloom for any of this is just stupid stupid imo but everyone is allowed an opinion just can’t tell you how much I disagree with yours. I would say let’s see what Bloom does this offseason and more importantly the next offseason before we can start to truly form an opinion on Bloom. So far I like what he has done let’s give him a chance with a real season or two before calling him a failure.
I also think that Bloom did very well on his trades during the season.
———————————————————————
He’s done great. The Pivetta results alone is more production than all the players he traded away.
His daddy took away the charge card and there wasn’t enough in the couch cushions to get it done. Best case scenario.
Another year, another lack of legitimate effort to fix the same glaring holes that have existed in the roster since bloom took the reigns before last off season got going.
Oh well, at least he took a team weak on pitching, traded away the bullpen, and hasn’t gone after legitimate free agent pitching. Sounds like steps towards success?
Oh well, at least he took a team weak on pitching, traded away the bullpen,
————————————————————-
Oh no!
He traded away Workman, Hembree, and Osich!
Oh no!
How will we survive!
Yeah, the only competent bullpen guys we had besides Barnes and Brasier. We were stuck with watching the likes of Ryan Weber, Kickham and Matt Hall. He got a good return for them so I’m not as mad at that move as OP is but I get it
Hernandez and Taylor are much better than the guys we gave up.
You probably wouldn’t realize it, not being a RS fan and all, but every sihgle guy we gave up are all unsigned FAs or been released by the teams that we traded them to.
Bloom coming up short again,
——————————————-
ROTFLMAO!
Until four days ago, you had never even heard of this guy.
As a RS, I had no interest in this guy. I only looked at the comments to see who would be the first lame-a$$ to whine ‘I can’t believe that so-and-so missed him’.
To summarize, you are a troll who knows absolutely nothing about this guy.
They need to get starting pitching, relief pitching, and a second baseman during the season. It is now December 26th and we have done nothing in those areas but pick up more “Dumpster Players”.
LOL!
We need starting pitching, but instead of getting some MLB-proven pitching, you want a $3.1M Japanese SP that was #4 on his own team in ERA.
But you also don’t want ‘Dumpsters’?
Pathetic response.
But you know what, koji started out on a 2 year 10m deal as well to BAL.
When your pitching depth is shakier than taking a drive over galloping gertie like the RS have, you need to be bold.
The RS reported interest in this guy makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is losing him to a 2yr sub-8m deal including the posting fee.
Bloom just paid basically near what this guy got for someone who is older, with less upside. No risk, no reward. BOLD moves are needed, and as fans. We aren’t seeing them.
Or did all the money, all the waiver claims on all those dozens of players not a single one of which worked out since bloom took over work for you? Practially anyone, ANYONE, was getting value back for trading mookie. He was one of the top talents in baseball and young. Bloom didn’t work any miracle there, and, didn’t use the money below the salary cap to accomplish anything. Didn’t buy prospects by taking on a dead weight contract attached. Didn’t bring in guys to help the team contend.
Traded a fading but still potent Price away, and didn’t replace his presence in the rotation either.
Traded away bullpen arms, but sat by as other teams courted and signed the top available FA RP talent.
Now, he doesn’t do what it takes to take the flier on the first somewhat major arm on the intl market, who goes at a very affordable price.
Some of us knew who this guy was – probably not ever going to be the ace or a franchise saver – but this is supposed to be the type of move we are told bloom is there to make. High risk, high reward, low cost.
When he isn’t even sealing the deal on that, you’ve got to wonder what is going on in boston? Cause something is clearly wrong.
you need to be bold.
—————————————————-
And your definition of bold is a $3.1M SP that everyone passed on, and had no suitors except the worst team in the league? And out of the 5 guys on his team with the most IPs, finished 4th in ERA?
That’s your bold move of the off-season?
But that’s not the important part. The important part is that, before he was posted in late-November, you never heard of the guy. You can admit it, because no one in here ever heard of him.
And how do I know that? Because before he was posted, do you know how many Rotoworld articles posted about him? Exactly -0-.
If you want to insult Bloom, go ahead. He’s done a great job, but whatever. But to bash him for not signing some mid-range Japanese pitcher is beyond ridiculous.
Joe, you sound pretty shortsighted here and like to twist meanings, I’ll bet you call it ‘spin’…
I never said this should be his “bold move of the offseason”… I said he needs to BE bold. That’s a statement in general.
You don’t only get one bold move. You can make 8 moves that are each bold, or collectively combine to be bold.
Bold IS risking the 3m another team isnt, doing what the other lemmings arent. And it’s not like the 27 other teams didnt have a percentage kick the tires on the guy. You did wind up going through suitors, then 3 finalists if you believe media.
As far as having heard of the guy before, who said anything about before he was posted? Joe, your earlier takes implied guys came out of the woodwork clammoring about him and yet “until four days ago you had never even heard of this guy”… well, SOME of us heard about him in articles back when he was posted, and, a little hint for you, posting rules say guys have 30 days to sign after posting. Even Mlb.com ran a story on Nov 26 when arihara was posted.
At least you now change your tune about having not heard about arihara more than a month ago… which is better than you claiming nobody heard of him 4 days ago.
But you still laughingly defend bloom who hasnt improved this franchise since he took over.
If the 2019 red sox took the field against the current team, who do you think wins?
I bet you’re an apologist for the poor showing JDM had as well, and think he had a pretty good year just like bloom.
I think all this is the wrong place for an extended diatribe on bloom’s failures since coming to Boston and the contradictory excuses his apologists make.
This should be a thread about the moves the Rangers are making and how they’re actually making an effort to improve their pirching corps over 2020 (unlike bloom.)
You blabbering now. In no particular order:
JDM had a horrible season, and I was the one laughing at writers suggesting that we needed to lock him in before he opted out.
When you say “Bold IS risking the 3m another team isnt’, I assume that you don’t remember us signing Renfroe, and you calling Bloom “Bottom-feedin Bloom”. That’s what I dislike. You’re not basing your assessment of Bloom on anything else but your dislike of Bloom.
You also didn’t like the Andriese move. So, apparently, when he signs someone to a $3M contract, it is because he is bottom feeding. And when he doesn’t sign someone to a $3M contract, it is because he is not bold.
You might as just admit it; you won’t like any Bloom moves. You admitted it when you said “bloom has shown to be weak in trades. ” when the only trade he had made was the Betts trade.
FWIW, I think you have some baseball knowledge. But bashing Bloom was not signing a 2nd tier Japanese SP continues to be ridiculous.
Compare andriese with arihara:
Andriese has owned an era over 5.5 for his last 3 and a half years worth of MLB work. He is on the wrong side of 30 turning 32 this season. In 6 years of MLB action he has once, ONCE, turned in an era+ performance above 100, reaching a whopping 101 rating. One other time in last year’s unreliable season data he hit 100. Usually he’s somewhere in the 90s rating below average, with an outlier in the 40s.
Andriese has shown zero upside, and struggles to approach league average both coming from the pen and as a intermittent starter.
Arihara hasn’t yet played in the MLB. However, he was a rookie of the year I’m his league for the NPB. When he was in college 2.72 era with 210k in 62 appearances. Not bad. Followed that up most recently with 3.46 ERA in 2020 and 106k in 132 2/3 innings. In 2019, a 2.46 ERA, 161k in 164 1/3 innings.
Now, who shows more potential for upside? The guy bloom grabs as a castoff due to some previous bias and past connection? The one, (andriese) that even the angels kicked off the pitching staff? Or Anihara, the guy who may have some actual potential to be more than just struggling to be the AAAA pitcher andriese proven to be in 6 MLB seasons?
Edit function turned off… it was supposed to read last 2.5 years MLB work on andriese, but, in trying to add a bloom related comment it timed out
Just out of curiosity, why do you think the entire league passed on Arihara?
I think this is a good deal for the Rangers. They need pitching, and it’s a cheap contract. Either he eats innings for two years or he’s a perfect midsummer flip candidate.
I guess he likes losing
3.74 ERA in Japan will be about a 6.00 in MLB
The low K and BB rates, and the assortment of “junk stuff” usually equals high contact. Pitching to contact can be disastrous in American baseball, where defense has become nothing more than an after-thought (if it’s thought of at all).
That said, he seems to have excellent command, and has a ceiling of a Ryan Yarborough-type. And that ain’t bad for 3M a year. Good move for the Rangers. They have a lot of money, few tradeable pieces, and a less-than-scintillating farm system. They should sign every Japanese/Korean player out there, both pitchers and the SS. And whoever else shows up.
It can only help.
Solid signing and low risk
I thought of him as more a 5th starter swing guy. But I do not have all the info on him.
Wonder his payout in a normal offseason. Hopefully he throws well. I’m not a Rangers fan but am a huge fan of international professionals coming over to the mlb
Creacher, I love when guys come over from other leagues. Its always interesting to see how their game translates.
I hadn’t realised that Jordan Lyles has pitched in the bigs for 10 years for a cumulative -2.3 WAR. It’s pretty impressive, not for the right reasons though
Not much risk at that price.
I don’t quite understand this move for the Rangers. A two year deal? Do the Rangers really think they are going to compete in 2022 because there is no chance they do so next season. I guess they think/hope he will pitch well enough to flip at some point.
It took a two year contract to sign him as at least three teams were bidding for his services, but MLB rules still apply here. The Rangers have team control for five years. At the end of the contract he either signs a new deal directly or through arbitration. If he’s decent, he’s a Ranger for at least five seasons or he’s traded. No mystery.
See a lot of pessimistic views on Arihara, but projecting players from the NPB is an inexact science to say the least.
There have been guys who dominated in Japan and after arriving here, faltered. Then you have, and this should stoke some optimism among Rangers fans, a pitcher like Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda and Arihara’s NPB numbers are very similar prior to coming stateside — solid, but not elite — and the former had an excellent career in the MLB — he was even a bit better here.
Kuroda was viewed as an top pitcher in Japan and by MLB scouts. He signed a 3/35M deal to come to the States 13 years ago in 2007, not a 3/6M in 2020. Money will tell you how a player is viewed and they got it right on Kuroda. The Rangers did not just sign the new Kuroda. Greater chance they signed the new Kei Igawa. He will be better than Igawa, but don’t count on him bring Kuroda. Likely a backend rotation starter if all goes well.
Kuroda signed in an entirely different economic climate. For one, he didn’t make the jump during a pandemic. Two, and arguably more important, he was an unrestricted free agent.
Now, was Kuroda a more accomplished pitcher? Yes, but he wasn’t viewed on the same plane as Darvish, Matzuzaka, Tanaka, etc., at the time of their signings.
My point was that while Arihara doesn’t have the same resume as say a Yu Darvish, it doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to flop. My reasoning for mentioning Kuroda was that their NPB stats are fairly similar (3.55/3.74 ERA, 6.5/6.7 K/9).
And just to be clear, by no means do I think Arihara is a sure bet to succeed, just again, he’s also not a sure bet to be a bust simply b/c he’s not a phenom.
The guys numbers are not spectacular,why the fascination and overpay for Japenese players coming over to the Mlb? I could see this if there league was on a par or better then MLB, but it clearly is not either,
My view as well. I think someone like Sugano is a risk, and Sugano has significantly better numbers Arihara. And since maybe 29 teams need an SP, and he could only land a $3.1M contract, I doubt anyone thinks he is a difference-maker, except maybe AL34 and GASox fan.
So, who will the Rangers trade him to in 2022?
Trade this guy for prospects. Gonna be a 90+ game losing season,if they play that many.