Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Uno Masa

The signing of free agent pitcher Masahide Kobayashi was announced by the Tribe on Tuesday. Kobayashi is a 33 year old, right handed reliever who has pitched for the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan the past nine seasons. In typical Shapiro fashion, negotitations were kept under wraps until the last minute and came as a surprise to Cleveland fans. Kobayashi received a 2-year, $6 million guaranteed contract with a $3.25 million club option or $250,000 buyout for 2010.

Kobayashi owns a 2.79 career ERA and is one of Japan's all-time best closers. Masa has saved 227 games in his career and has at least 20 saves for seven straight seasons and has over 30 saves in four of them. Only Kazuhiro Sasaki and Shingo Takatsu have saved more than 200 games in the Pro Yakyu league. Kobayashi posted a K/BB ratio of 4.0, giving up just .095 HR/IP the past three seasons. His ERA jumped from 2.68 to 3.61 between 2006 and 2007, but the Tribe are confident Kobayashi will revert to the mean (see career ERA above).

Kobayashi is a step up from the Tribe's recent bullpen depth signings. He has a proven track record as a closer, making him a solid backup for incumbent closer Borowski. Masa's role has not been clearly defined yet, but look for him to bolster Raffy Betancourt in the setup slot. In addition to providing insurance for JoeBo, the Tribe finally has a veteran reliever to backup Betancourt and allow him to rest. Betancourt threw a career 79.3 regular season innings in 2007 and could use the extra help.

Depending on his effectiveness, Kobayashi, Rafael Perez, and Jensen Lewis may end up in a game of musical chairs for the 6th and 7th innings. No matter what the order, Cleveland projects to have an effective late inning relief corps, once again.

This is all contingent on Kobayashi making a successful transition to the Majors. There are a few question marks surrounding Kobayashi, but his track record and scouting report indicate a solid addition to the pen. The article on the team's website provided a brief scouting report:

Nate Minchey, an international scout for the Tribe, saw Kobayashi pitch six or seven times this past season, and club scouting director John Mirabelli saw him live twice, as well. What they saw was a confident strike-thrower with a three-pitch mix that includes a fastball that maxes out in the mid-90s, a two-seam fastball that cuts in on right-handers and a mid-80s slider with a hard, downward break. Kobayashi also has a deceptive delivery.
Mirabelli described Masa's slider as his "out pitch" and noted his durability. Here is a highlight video of Masa from MLB.com.

The Tribe did not have to deal with a posting fee and drafted a reasonable contract with low risk and a high reward. The primary risk is how well Kobayashi's pitches will translate to the majors. Given the track record of top-shelf Japanese releivers like Sasaki, Saito, and Okajima, this could end up as a steal compared to pricey free agents like Francisco Cordero and Scott Linebrink. Signing Kobayashi helps to further distribute the load on the bullpen and the Tribe should be better as a result.

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