I hope we sign Tazawa, it would at least give us depth.

I’d give him a bail-out role, but that wouldn’t work because of his tendency to always pitch from the stretch. The positive thing about that is that If someone reaches base against him, he won’t have to change from wind-up to the stretch, and that hopefully won’t mess up his rhythm.

From an ESPN article on the available Japanese pitchers:

Tazawa, who stands 5 feet, 10 inches — “5-11 if you really like him,” Wilson said — will get a major league deal this winter but is unlikely to make it to the majors during that first season.

He has good command of his fastball and slurve, but he lacks velocity, stamina and the ability to keep the ball down.

The talk of a deal worth as much as $4 million is testimony not to Tazawa’s talent, but to the soaring appreciation of Japan’s game. Fourteen years ago, no major league club would have paid a penny for Japan’s best player. Hideo Nomo changed that.

It wasn’t long before the trickle of scouts flowing through Japan became a stream. Major league teams now are making high-level offers to established stars some 10 years after Nomo got it all started.

But buying established stars requires paying top dollar, and if the best Japanese amateurs are available at a tiny fraction of that price, why not go that route? Thus was born the Tazawa buzz.

The right-hander would have gone in the first round of Nippon Professional Baseball’s recent draft, but that is a long way from being ready for the majors.

At 22, Tazawa is unlikely to throw much harder than he does now; his fastball barely tops 90 mph when he is rested, and he struggled to hit 88 mph at the end of last season.

In Class A or Double-A, Tazawa likely will get hit harder and harder as the season wears on.

Because he knows what he’s doing against corporate league hitters here, there is a chance Tazawa will make adjustments, although Ojimi is a skeptic.

The Mets scout believes the pitcher’s body is too stiff to allow him to keep the ball down in the zone and Tazawa lacks the smarts and toughness to hang in and learn the lessons needed to apply his talent in the majors.

Although Tazawa probably will not pitch at the major league level for the next few seasons, at least he will take the plunge.

This guy has a nasty curveball, which would help him in the majors. But alltogether, the highest I think he could be is #5 starter. He really is not ace material, and I know because I pitch in my high school leauge. This guy is worth it to bring over, but not worth it to put in a high starting position. Hope the Red Sox enjoy the process of extracting him from Japan without playing 9 years in their leauge.

I saw last night where we had agreed with him for a three yr deal…..

three years at $3 million — had been agreed on pending the outcome of the physical.

The ultimate low-risk, high reward. Worst-case scenario, we loose $1MM a year for three years and Tazawa is a mediocre AA pitcher. Best-case scenario, Tazawa impresses in the minors, makes some spot starts for the Sox in August for the Sox, and is part of our rotation in 2010 or 2011. Great signing.

I’ve compared a Matsuzaka complete game (from mlb.tv in 2007) to a Tazawa video (on youtube), and despite the age difference, Tazawa has AT LEAST as much movement as Matsuzaka has on their breaking pitches. Considering Tazawa, 22, Matsuzaka, 28, there is likely to be huge improvement on movement for Tazawa.

Although movement isn’t everything, it’s not like Tawawa has worse velocity. In fact, it might be better than Dice-K
The only thing Tazawa might not have enough of is stamina, but Dice-K averaged about 5 innings only in 2008, so who’s to say that Tazawa has any worse stamina than Dice-K? I think it’s equal.

So: Rounding it up:

Dice-K: Stamina (equal to Tazawa) Speed (maybe worse than Tazawa) Movement (tough to tell because of age difference)

So, not only do I have high hopes for him {TAZAWA}, but I see him as a future #2 starter potentially.

The risks are low and the potential rewards are fairly high. The Red Sox once again demonstrate they are at the top of curve.