Since Ichiro Suzuki's appearance on the major league scene in 2001, a handful of players have crossed the Pacific to play baseball in the United States. Most of the time, these player's Japanese clubs demanded a large sum of cash to even negotiate with their players.
But since dipping into the talent pool in the Far East has become common place, the Indians may have found a diamond in the rough.
On November 20, 2007, an average sports fan might not have even noticed that the Cleveland Indians even made a move. But that was when the Indians finalized a deal with a little known reliever named Masahide Kobayashi.
Most Tribe fans saw the last name and thought the Indians signed the best competitive eater in the history of competitive eating. But what Indians fans didn't know was this deal might have been the steal of the off season.
Going into spring training, no one quite knew what Kobayashi was capable of. Kobayshi had an impressive track record in the Japanese league. Kobayashi was a nine year veteran, who had tallied 227 saves and garnered a 2.79 ERA over his career. But this was the Major Leagues.
His first spring appearance didn't get off to a great start. Kobayashi gave up two base hits and had a runner safe on a fielder's choice, to load the bases. But he responded by getting two routine fly balls and a strike out for the third out. Since then, he has been lights out.
Take a look at his stats and they will tell you the story. In 19.1 innings this season, Kobayashi has only given up four earned runs, has thirteen strike out, and has gotten two wins and two saves. He has a 1.86 ERA, which is lowest in the bullpen.
But take away the statistics, and Kobayashi has been able to do what Joe Borowski and Rafael Betancourt have not. He has had a short memory. Most of the runs he has given up have been off of solo home runs. But Kobayashi has turned around and finished his innings strong. He has that mind set that club's covet in their closers.
His best appearance by far was on Thursday afternoon's game against Oakland. He came into a bases loaded jam with one out, courtesy of Rafael Betancourt. After a run scoring wild pitch, he struck out Mike Sweeney and Ryan Sweeney to end the game and get his second save.
So if I can give Eric Wedge a piece of advice, just give Kobayashi the ball in the ninth. Stop denying what we all know. He may not have drawn the same circus that Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki, and Daiske Matsuzaka did. But this guy nobody really knew about is for real.
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about 1 month ago
How about him battling back from 2-0 and 3-1 counts against Mike Sweeney to get that strikeout? That was a wicked slider he threw 3-2, perfectly placed at the knees and the outside corner that Sweeney could only flail at.
Might as well give him a shot to close now. I'd like to see Raffy get a few days off because I think he's tiring. Plus he's struggling to put away hitters - probably because he only throws one pitch, a fastball away, about 85 percent of the time, that they just slap foul over and over. He has to throw that change or slurve more often just to keep them honest.
about 1 month ago
Wedge is a stubborn asshole that doesn't like analysts to tell him what to do. I surmise he still hasn't (well, he got one save today) to spite all of us.
from about 1 month ago
Ouch! What did Uncle Eric do to you?
He is stubborn, I agree with you there, I almost soiled myself when he pulled Betancourt. He has never done that before. It was the right move but I still couldn't believe he pulled the trigger.
I don't like a lot of his strategy but like the way he has eased Masa into MLB.
about 1 month ago
Well he will probably be the man till Joe gets back, but I do think if Borowski isn't the same then Kobayashi is the man. It is nice knowing there is that security there.
about 1 month ago
I agree that Kobayashi has flown under the radar to most fans after his deal last fall. I said it before the season, he will be one of the most important offseason acquisitions in the AL Central for this season. Bullpens are always volatile and to have another veteran pitcher with closing experience, and success that exceeds that of Okajima, Saito and others from Japan, was a very important piece. I thought he could close here from the start, but have been imresses on how Wedge has eased him into the role. He will likely go back to setup when JoBlow come back, but in the end we may have found our closer for the near future.
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