Todd Linden Going to Japan

Former Giant Todd Linden was just sold by the Yankees to the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Pacific League, after Linden and the Golden Eagles agreed upon the terms of a contract.

Todd Linden is a classic 4-A player, who deserves a shot from a Japanese team.  He’s 29 years old this season and has an .895 OPS at AAA Scranton/Wilkes Barre in 237 AB’s this year.

That being said, I don’t expect that Linden will be a success in Japan.  Playing in Japan requires a North American player to make huge adjustments to a very different style of play very quickly, since Japanese teams generally don’t give expensive foreign players much time to prove themselves.

Usually, if a foreign player is playing poorly after this first 100 AB’s in Japan, he’s gone, unless he has a contract that’s guaranteed for  the season.

Linden has always been a guy who took a long time to develop at each higher level of play.  It wasn’t until his 3rd full season at AAA Fresno that he proved he deserved a real major league shot.

Despite his enormous physical talents (he’s a five-tool player), he has never been able to establish himself as a permanent major league player, even in a reserve capacity, because he didn’t shown enough in the fairly substantial major league opportunities he had from 2005-2007.  He has a career minor league OPS of .881, but his career major league OPS (after 554 plate appearances) is only .638.  These numbers obviously reflect the problem I’ve described above.

Last of all, Linden strikes out an awful lot.  He’s struck out 148 times in 502 major league AB’s, and he’s struck out 61 times in 237 AB’s at AAA this year.  Many pitchers in Japan throw pitches that are rarely seen in the U.S., and the plate is wider there than in the States.  I have visions of Linden getting burned on close pitches early in his Japanese career, and then going after pitches out of the strike zone with predictable results, much like he did when the Giants called him up and gave him an extended trial in 2005.

I’m rooting for Linden to succeed in Japan, but I don’t have a lot of confidence he’ll do it.