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RP Yasuhiko Yabuta


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From Rotoworld:

 

Yasuhiko Yabuta-R-Player Nov. 7 - 7:44 pm et

 

Yasuhiko Yabuta filed for free agency on Wednesday and indicated that he planned to seek employment in the United States.

 

Yabuta should be ranked right behind Hitoki Iwase and Masahide Kobayashi among Japanese relievers possibly making the jump. The 34-year-old right-hander is already receiving interest from the White Sox.

 

Source: Kyodo News

 

http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/i...?storyid=346822

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QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Nov 7, 2007 -> 07:05 PM)
I can't decide whether to go with a comment about Kobayashi being a competitive eater and a reliever, or go with a comment about us even going after 3rd rate Japanese talent as well. :crying

 

I must say I was thinking that myself or some others as well. :D

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Good.

 

We need at least 1 maybe 2 acquisitions into our bullpen, and the best place to start would be from Japan.

 

They have a good success rate in the 1st season, and you don't have to give up draft picks to sign them instead of a Scott Linebrink for instance.

 

I hope we are targeting Iwase and Kobayashi too though.

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QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Nov 7, 2007 -> 05:23 PM)
Good.

 

We need at least 1 maybe 2 acquisitions into our bullpen, and the best place to start would be from Japan.

 

They have a good success rate in the 1st season, and you don't have to give up draft picks to sign them instead of a Scott Linebrink for instance.

 

I hope we are targeting Iwase and Kobayashi too though.

I dunno if I'm a fan of this. It's a high risk, high reward type signing. We've seen as many japanese guys come over on the mound in recent years and dominate as we've seen completely implode. We need, as far as I can tell, a key 8th inning type righy setup man, 7th inning if MMac could ever get his arm out of his ass. I'm just not sure I'm ready to put a guy who's never pitched in the MLB in that role.

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QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 03:00 AM)
I dunno if I'm a fan of this. It's a high risk, high reward type signing. We've seen as many japanese guys come over on the mound in recent years and dominate as we've seen completely implode. We need, as far as I can tell, a key 8th inning type righy setup man, 7th inning if MMac could ever get his arm out of his ass. I'm just not sure I'm ready to put a guy who's never pitched in the MLB in that role.

 

It's not high-risk at all, even though you're trying to paint it that way. He's going to get at most what, $2.5-3 million dollars? If he sucks you'll know that by July 1st. Start him off in low-leverage innings, pitching middle relief. If he succeeds for the first month-and-a-half, two months, start using him as Jenks' setup man.

 

As far as at the beginning of the year when you're not sure whether he's good or not, you have a couple of options. First is hoping Thorton and MacDougal bounce back -- both certainly have the stuff to bounce back, and it took a lot of bad luck for both MacDougal and Thorton to be as mediocre (that's being nice) as they were in 2007. If by chance they still suck into next season, leverage the hell out of your LOOGY/ROOGY monster of Boone Logan and Ehren Wasserman. That's not awe inspiring by any means, but if used properly I'm confident they'll be effective.

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QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Nov 7, 2007 -> 07:09 PM)
It's not high-risk at all, even though you're trying to paint it that way. He's going to get at most what, $2.5-3 million dollars? If he sucks you'll know that by July 1st. Start him off in low-leverage innings, pitching middle relief. If he succeeds for the first month-and-a-half, two months, start using him as Jenks' setup man.

 

As far as at the beginning of the year when you're not sure whether he's good or not, you have a couple of options. First is hoping Thorton and MacDougal bounce back -- both certainly have the stuff to bounce back, and it took a lot of bad luck for both MacDougal and Thorton to be as mediocre (that's being nice) as they were in 2007. If by chance they still suck into next season, leverage the hell out of your LOOGY/ROOGY monster of Boone Logan and Ehren Wasserman. That's not awe inspiring by any means, but if used properly I'm confident they'll be effective.

Despite how much I like the LOOGY/ROOGY combo, outside of those 2 I really don't like the concept of having 1 other right handed reliever other than this guy. At least to my eyes, if this guy is your 11th guy in the bullpen, the 2nd, early inning righty, then you have to plan to start the season with 12 relievers. April wins count just as much as September ones. If Wasserman's job is as a ROOGY and not a guy who can give you 2 innings, and we still don't have a clue what we have with MMac (we just know he can't give you 2 innings), then I'd think we'd need to start the season with a 7 man pen to be able to include this guy. Esp. if Danks, Contreras, and Floyd have rotation spots, or even 2/3.

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QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 04:46 PM)
These guys are always worth a flyer. Heck, Okajima was a cheap throw in sign by Boston to make Dice-K feel more comfortable, and look how that worked out. And hell, we even got one great year out of Shingo at least. Why not??

And there are relievers such as Otsuka have come over and sustained that success for more than a year or 2.

 

Also, it saves us from having to target relievers in trade talks when we're dangling Garland, Crede etc., so we can focus on acquiring good young talent that this aging ballclub and weak farm system desperately need.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Royals are close to signing right-hander Yasuhiko Yabuta to a two-year deal with a player option for a third year, FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal.

With Hitoki Iwase staying in Japan, Yabuta took over as the No. 2 Japanese reliever available behind Masahide Kobayashi. The 34-year-old had a 2.80 ERA and a 147/49 K/BB ratio in 174 1/3 innings the last three years.

 

-rotoworld

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Chicago Tribune Link

 

Japanese righty may provide relief

Sox among the finalists for Chiba Lotte's Yabuta

 

The White Sox are among five teams in the running for Japanese reliever Yasuhiko Yabuta.

 

The Sox are looking for bullpen help, and Yabuta has told Japanese media the Sox, Royals, Indians, Rays and Pirates are the finalists for his services.

Yabuta, a 34-year-old right-hander, had a 2.73 ERA in 58 appearances for the Chiba Lotte Marines last season. He filed for free agency last month.

 

Yabuta helped Japan to the 2006 World Baseball Classic title. His achievements included strikeouts of Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon and Derrek Lee.

 

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Please sign him.

 

You don't give up any draft picks, Japanese relievers have an excellent success rate in the 1st season here, and he's one of the better Japanese relievers out there.

 

Signings like this, if they pay off, are the ones that are going to help the Sox get back over .500 next season.

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7th inning if MMac could ever get his arm out of his ass

 

That is unlikely to happen. I wish the Sox would part ways with the Royals rejects and outbid the Royals

for this Japanese guy.

I would rather we trot anybody out there than some of the hacks the Sox used in the pen last year.

 

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QUOTE(greg775 @ Nov 18, 2007 -> 10:48 PM)
That is unlikely to happen. I wish the Sox would part ways with the Royals rejects and outbid the Royals

for this Japanese guy.

I would rather we trot anybody out there than some of the hacks the Sox used in the pen last year.

 

Yep, cause we all know MacDougal is a Royal reject... rolleyes.gif

Edited by BearSox
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QUOTE(jasonxctf @ Nov 18, 2007 -> 10:23 PM)
if we can't outbid or out attract the..

 

Royals

Indians

Rays

and Pirates

 

then this organization is in worse shape that I originally thought.

 

You are referring to the same Indians that were a win away from going to the World Series last year, right?

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QUOTE(greg775 @ Nov 18, 2007 -> 10:48 PM)
That is unlikely to happen. I wish the Sox would part ways with the Royals rejects and outbid the Royals

for this Japanese guy.

I would rather we trot anybody out there than some of the hacks the Sox used in the pen last year.

MacDougal was the Sox's best reliever in 2006 so believe it or not he doesn't totally suck.

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