December 5, 201510 yr Japanese 3B Nobuhiro Matsuta of Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks has signed with the Legacy Agency. Peter Greenberg representing. https://twitter.com/jcrasnick/status/673231777461379073 Matsuta, 32, hit .290 with 35 HRs for NBP champions. Several big league clubs are interested. https://twitter.com/jcrasnick/status/673232217150214144 http://www.baseball-reference.com/register...id=matsud001nob
December 5, 201510 yr QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Dec 5, 2015 -> 03:13 PM) Japanese 3B Nobuhiro Matsuta of Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks has signed with the Legacy Agency. Peter Greenberg representing. https://twitter.com/jcrasnick/status/673231777461379073 Matsuta, 32, hit .290 with 35 HRs for NBP champions. Several big league clubs are interested. https://twitter.com/jcrasnick/status/673232217150214144 http://www.baseball-reference.com/register...id=matsud001nob A little long in the tooth. Iguchi put up a .903 OPS in Japan in 2013 as a 38 year old. If he is reasonably cheap, he is probably a better choice than David Freese. Edited December 5, 201510 yr by Dick Allen
December 5, 201510 yr QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Dec 5, 2015 -> 04:01 PM) You don't get a lot of mileage out of Asian players. a 2 year contract that could be 3 if some levels were met is the max I would offer this guy.
December 5, 201510 yr QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Dec 5, 2015 -> 04:01 PM) You don't get a lot of mileage out of Asian players. Ichiro Suzuki says hello.
December 6, 201510 yr QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Dec 5, 2015 -> 02:01 PM) You don't get a lot of mileage out of Asian players. What does this mean?
December 6, 201510 yr QUOTE (Vance Law @ Dec 5, 2015 -> 07:14 PM) What does this mean? You can say there's a pattern of these guys not lasting all that long and so far you're right. Tanaka - elbow problem within a year. Matsuzaka, one big league season with 200 innings. Iwakuma, 1 all-star level year, then down to 130 innings last year. The hitters might be an exeption, but Iguchi didn't last all that long, Fukudome broke down pretty quick. You've got guys like Ichiro and Hiroki Kuroda who are the exceptions, but in general he's not wrong. If we're looking at the Japanese market, it might be another of those "make sure you're ready to compete with this guy this year because the long term risk is high" moves.
December 6, 201510 yr QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 5, 2015 -> 03:57 PM) A little long in the tooth. Iguchi put up a .903 OPS in Japan in 2013 as a 38 year old. If he is reasonably cheap, he is probably a better choice than David Freese. Bartolo Colon has pitched very well in to his early 40's, therefore pitchers in the U.S. must not be that good.
December 6, 201510 yr QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 5, 2015 -> 04:57 PM) A little long in the tooth. Iguchi put up a .903 OPS in Japan in 2013 as a 38 year old. If he is reasonably cheap, he is probably a better choice than David Freese. Loved me some Iguchi
December 6, 201510 yr QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Dec 6, 2015 -> 01:27 AM) Bartolo Colon has pitched very well in to his early 40's, therefore pitchers in the U.S. must not be that good. Sorry my comps bother you so much. I suppose you are correct and this guy is a stud, and will get a boatload of money.
December 6, 201510 yr QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 5, 2015 -> 04:23 PM) You can say there's a pattern of these guys not lasting all that long and so far you're right. Tanaka - elbow problem within a year. Matsuzaka, one big league season with 200 innings. Iwakuma, 1 all-star level year, then down to 130 innings last year. The hitters might be an exeption, but Iguchi didn't last all that long, Fukudome broke down pretty quick. You've got guys like Ichiro and Hiroki Kuroda who are the exceptions, but in general he's not wrong. If we're looking at the Japanese market, it might be another of those "make sure you're ready to compete with this guy this year because the long term risk is high" moves. Fukudome was very good in his age 33 season, ok in his age 34 season, bad at 35. That's better than you can say for Nick Swisher, for example. Iguchi was fine at 32, bad at 33. I don't know if there were injuries there or not. You mentioned Ichiro. There's Shin Soo Choo, Nori Aoki who both had good-to-excellent seasons at 32 last year. Hideki Matsui was a very good hitter still in his age 36 season. Kang was excellent last year and is only 28. That's a pretty good track record considering there have only been 16 Japanese or Korean position players in MLB. Matsuda is already 32, but just had his best season ever. He won't get a lot of years or dollars. He'll get a fraction of David Freese's money. At some price, he'd be a sensible stopgap. Particularly if the price were low enough that you would care if you had to release him. But Sox may be too committed to competing at this point to take the risk. If it were 2014, this would be an ideal type move. Edited December 6, 201510 yr by Vance Law
December 8, 201510 yr Phil Rogers @philgrogers 2m2 minutes ago #WhiteSox exploring Japanese 3B Nobuhiro Matsuda. He hit a career-high 35 homers last year for #Softbank. Well timed move to US.
December 8, 201510 yr Phil Rogers @philgrogers 4m4 minutes ago #WhiteSox exploring Japanese 3B Nobuhiro Matsuda. He hit a career-high 35 homers last year for #Softbank. Well timed move to US.
December 8, 201510 yr QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 09:24 AM) Phil Rogers @philgrogers 4m4 minutes ago #WhiteSox exploring Japanese 3B Nobuhiro Matsuda. He hit a career-high 35 homers last year for #Softbank. Well timed move to US. Now this, I could get on board with.
December 8, 201510 yr QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 09:18 AM) Phil Rogers @philgrogers 2m2 minutes ago #WhiteSox exploring Japanese 3B Nobuhiro Matsuda. He hit a career-high 35 homers last year for #Softbank. Well timed move to US. How many teams are actually still looking for a 3B? I can't think of many and it seems like there are enough options to go around between Lawrie, Matsuda, Freese being available.
December 8, 201510 yr If the Sox were to sign this guy, I sure hope they wouldn't be paying for his career year.
December 8, 201510 yr QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 09:45 AM) If the Sox were to sign this guy, I sure hope they wouldn't be paying for his career year. I don't see many teams being in on him. I bet Lawrie gets traded and Freese signs somewhere before he signs (one of those guys may go to us).
December 8, 201510 yr Jon Heyman @JonHeymanCBS 5m5 minutes ago White sox, padres among teams in on japanese free agent infielder Matsuda
December 8, 201510 yr QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 10:04 AM) Jon Heyman @JonHeymanCBS 5m5 minutes ago White sox, padres among teams in on japanese free agent infielder Matsuda Now Heyman is a much better source.
December 8, 201510 yr QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 10:08 AM) Couple videos of Matsuda Couple things I noticed on other YouTube videos of his (as far as negatives). He struggled versus RH in the WBC. And he chases the breaking pitches down. With that said, obviously a small sample size.
December 8, 201510 yr Older and doesn't walk much. I'd definitely be interested in he's fairly cheap, though. Better that that giving up assets to get a guy like Lawrie.
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