Koji
- Thread starter Papo The Snow Tiger
- Start date
This is noble and sad but untrue. Farrell and Nieves have the job and the obligation to study him and make sure he is ready to pitch. Given his recent outings they don't seem to be looking out for him. Shut him down asap.soxhop411 said:
Like I said in the GDT. Both parties will need to agree to shut him down given he is a FA and not under contract with the team next year.InsideTheParker said:
Most teams who shut a player down do it with a player under contract. Don't want to piss off the MLBPA
Well, they just gave him a week off. He pitched last Monday and then not again until this past Tuesday.Harry Hooper said:
JimD said:
If the FO truly believes they will have a contending club in 2015, having traded away Koji in July means going out and acquiring another closer this offseason. At that point your options are signing a "proven closer" to a Papelbon-style megadeal or something like a Bailey trade. Neither option is very attractive.
Bob Montgomery's Helmet Hat said:
Yes, but this time make it a more like a Troy O'Leary "vacation."
I would think he realizes he's only hurting his chances for a decent payday everytime he goes out there and gets hammered. Might as well stop the bleeding now and rest.soxhop411 said:
I don't care if this is the inevitable end for Koji Uehara. While its painful to watch, he more than earned his contract last season when he wildly outperformed anyone's expectations. That said, maybe it is time for him to sit the rest of the season out.
strek1 said:
The Japanese baseball player ethos is to take the ball and pitch when asked and get back on the hill as a matter of pride and fulfillment of responsibility. The money grab is a little farther up the baseball hierarchy of needs...
I'm sure Koji recognizes the potential economic impact of his implosion, but I think he's more driven by other factors.
They could have traded Koji and kept Andrew Miller. I know he's a FA at the end of the year and will probably take multiple years, but he may be worth it. Perhaps he was determined to get paid and they knew that.Harry Hooper said:
The problem is that Koji needed to be very very good to justify getting a QO, and at his age that was a big risk no matter how good he had been up to the deadline. Additionally, his value was likely to never be higher. We don't know what they were offered so maybe it was minimal but that seems unlikely.
In the offseason, they could have taken the lesson that most other teams seem to be getting (and they should have learned themselves) about not needing a "proven closer" and being able to find great closers other ways, and just grabbed some solid arms and figure out who is "closer" in spring training. Considering the two proven closers they had last year got hurt or sucked.
DeJesus Built My Hotrod said:
This is where I'm at. Just shut him down, for crissakes. He has nothing left in the tank, he's pitched his ass off for us and this year's toast. There's nothing to be gained from running him out there like this.
Mujica can close the rest of this horseshit year. Send Koji home.
I would hope the Sox are doing strength tests on his arm, as they've reportedly done in the past on other pitchers. If he's physically okay, then it makes sense for the Red Sox to continue to trot him out there. The season is lost, so if he needs to work through something mechanically (given the strength assumption), then better do it now than during a season that means something. If he's end-of-career-toast, then better to figure that out now than after they sign him to a huge one or more year contract.
I don't know how he goes from being historically great to awful in the blink of an eye. I think he's always been one of those "location means everything" kind of pitchers, and usually his location is perfect. But he's been losing the feel of his splitter and they've been up in the zone and people are crushing them. I don't know why he's been getting the splitter up, but he has. And, of course, his fastball isn't fast enough to dominate people with.
It could just be a blip. Maybe he's fatigued. I doubt he's suddenly lost it and his career is toast. I would expect him to be a good pitcher next year. Maybe not elite, but a solid bullpen arm.
It could just be a blip. Maybe he's fatigued. I doubt he's suddenly lost it and his career is toast. I would expect him to be a good pitcher next year. Maybe not elite, but a solid bullpen arm.
Toe Nash said:
Is it really unlikely that no team wanted to overpay for a 39-year-old reliever who became an unexpectedly great closer only last year and ended up pitching the highest number of innings in his MLB career at an advanced age? He probably wasn't seen by some teams as a good bet to be ridden hard in September and into October.
I am truly baffled that (even before this implosion) anyone believed the Red Sox were going to give a 39/40 year old closer a QO for near $15 million.... that strikes me as less likely than Lester getting a 7 year contract from the Sox.
Stitch01 said:
Seriously. Teams wouldn't give up at least something similar to what they got for Miller?
Perhaps some other team. But not the Orioles, who more than likely knew what we had in Koji and chose to stay away.glennhoffmania said:
Maybe it ends badly with closers who don't have a heater, examples being Todd Jones, Keith Foulke and Koji. Maybe Sergio Romo now too. Todd Jones was realIy never much stat-wise though. I was amazed last year and earlier this year when Koji was getting everyone out without a fastball that broke 90. I know, see Greg Maddux, latter day Roy Halladay, Jered Weaver and others. So, [SIZE=13.63636302948px]recently, [/SIZE]Koji's lost the downward movement on the splitter, as well as ability to locate it, looks like to me. Double whammy.
Wouldn't surprise me in the least to learn that nobody was interested in giving up an Eduardo Rodriguez for Koji.
It usually ends badly for all closers, and most often well before the cusp of their fortieth birthdays. He might or might not be cooked, but even if he is, he's put together a very good run.Al Zarilla said:
John Tomase @jtomase 40m
Koji told Masashi Yamazaki of the Tokyo Sports Press that he requested the team remove him from the closer's role b/c he wasn't performing.
https://twitter.com/jtomase/status/507995622998568960
Koji told Masashi Yamazaki of the Tokyo Sports Press that he requested the team remove him from the closer's role b/c he wasn't performing.
https://twitter.com/jtomase/status/507995622998568960
Contract bargaining position seppuku though, right? Very honorable. I'm sure Farrell was proud to act as his second.Al Zarilla said:
Koji is the man, an honorable man. His run at his age was one of the greatest I ever saw here. The Closer was lights out in our run to the WS title last year.
I bow to the man. Koji Time was HIS time. It is legend therefor he is legend.
I bow to the man. Koji Time was HIS time. It is legend therefor he is legend.
and now it's "Mujica Time"..... Now it just gives the Sox another "to do" list at closer....his recent drop certainly creates questions about 2015.