Due to much tighter labor controls by the NPB's corporate owners, the NPB free agent class of 2009 is a mere seven players. There are more possible DH free agent candidates in the MLB free agent class than the entire NPB class.
Indeed, of these NPB free agents, several of them will sign with other teams in Japan, such as Norihiro Nakamura, who flopped in his debut with the Dodgers and went back to Japan to play for the Orix Buffalos. He will now try his luck with another NPB team.
On top of the shallow class are two famed NPB pitchers: Kenshin Kawakami and Koji Uehara. Which one is a better pick for your MLB team? It's true both have excellent history-making careers in Japan. Kawakami brought the Chunichi Dragons their first title since 1954, and Uehara brought Japan its first victory in the World Baseball Classic while playing for the Yomiuri Giants.
American-based baseball fans got to see Uehara up close in 2006 when he fanned a tournament-best 16 batters. Your humble scribe, who saw Uehara pitch at the 2006 World Baseball Classic, was impressed with his control.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Unfortunately, Uehara was injured the next year and missed part of the 2007 Season. Since that time his pitching has been sporadic, though he has been successful on the international stage with dominating performances and saves recorded both in the Asia Games and the Beijing Olympics.
The question is, will he be consistently productive with an MLB team or suffer from the additional strains of a longer season with substantially more travel?
Conversely, Kawakami has been a reliable workhorse for the past few seasons. Last season he ended the longest championship drought in the NPB by winning the Dragons a victory in the Japan Series and the Konami Cup.
Neither Uehara nor Kawakami is likely to represent Japan in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
Kawakami is a proven winner and seems a better fit for a lot of teams. The Royals, who lost out in Free Agency bidding on Hiroki Kuroda last year, will likely be interested in signing him. The Braves or joining Daisuke Matsuzaka on the Red Sox are other options. The ALCS Champion Tampa Bay Rays are reportedly also interested.
The most intriguing option would send Kawakami to the Royals. With Trey Hillman, a former NPB Manager of the Nippon Ham Fighters (who was defeated by Kawakami's Dragons in the Japan Series), the Royals seem like a good fit.
Allegedly, though, Kuroda took less money to go to the Dodgers. After having spent his entire career with the cellar-dwelling Hiroshima Carp, he was looking for a chance to win a championship.
Will Kawakami feel the same impulse? Will he take less money to go to a proven winner? Only time will tell.
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“They will always be the Tampa Bay 'Devil' Rays to me!”—Joe Nixon is a semi-pro sportswriter and a Chunichi Dragons Fan since as a child he watched the film Mr. Baseball.
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about 1 month ago
Due to much tighter labor controls by the NPB's corporate owners, the NPB free agent class of 2009 is a mere seven players.
I think we have a causation issue here. While it's true that NPB's corporate owners have a tighter labor control, and that a small percentage of qualifying free agents actually applied, one is not due to the other. It has more to do with social norms and the obligation a player has to the team that has supported him, been his extended family for 9 or more years.
I'd recommend reading up on some of Robert Whiting's books, namely "The Chrysanthemum and the Bat" and "You Gotta Have 'Wa'."
It's great that you're writing about Japanese baseball. But this is your second article that made me take a double take at some of the things you're saying.
Michael Westbay
JapaneseBaseball.com
about 1 month ago
JapaneseBaseball.com is a great website and a credit to fans of the world game. Having worked in Japan, I am aware there are cultural factors that keep the free agent pool small. I agree it is more than simple economics though certainly it is big factor. It was all simply to much to get into in this brief article and my main intention was to show one of the differences in the labor market in the US versus Japan.
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