In a sign that the Yankees could be involved in some overseas bidding this winter, Gene Michael was sent on a scouting mission to Japan, although it is unclear whether the Yankees have their eye on a particular player.
That Michael was sent to Japan for the first time signifies a shift for the Yankees, who have relied on their Pacific scouts for several years. Following the disastrous signing of Kei Igawa, however, the Yankees aren’t taking any chances, sending one of their most trusted talent evaluators to look at potential acquisitions.
Among the potential free agents is Koji Uehara, a 33-year-old righthander who was Hideki Matsui’s teammate with Yomiuri for four years before the Yankees lured Matsui to New York in 2003.
Uehara, who is 109-61 with a 2.96 ERA since making his debut in 1999, has made it known he intends to pitch in the majors next season. He spent eight seasons as one of the Giants’ top starters before moving into the closer role in 2007, although he is expected to be a starter in the majors.
Two other players who could make the move from Japan to the U.S. are righthander Kenshin Kawakami, a righthanded starter, and Hitoki Iwase, a lefthanded reliever, both of whom play for the Chunichi Dragons.
Kawakami, 33, is 110-72 since 1998, while Iwase, also 33, has saved 180 games in the last five seasons for Chunichi.
Why would the Yankees want any of these aging, Japanese pitchers? Unless they were thrown into a relief role, there would be a learning curve for all of them as starters, so I would assume that they wouldn’t even be too effective until their second year in the Majors (of course a very funky delivery could help them in the first year). Who want’s a 34-year old question mark? The Yanks have gotten burned these past few years with these kinds of signings. However, I understand that the team can’t just “forget” about Japan (or Yu Darvish). A working relationship must be maintained no matter how disastrous some signings have been.
