Sawamura DFA
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
- Start date
Um.....wow?
Two seasons with Boston:
2021: 3.06 era, 152 era+
2022: 3.26 era, 128 era+
He's not bad. So....are the Sox just clearing the decks here or what?
Two seasons with Boston:
2021: 3.06 era, 152 era+
2022: 3.26 era, 128 era+
He's not bad. So....are the Sox just clearing the decks here or what?
That was pre-emptive story saying Davis will be DFA'd. I wonder if they decided to dump Sawamura instead?
They dumped both, Zack Kelly and Kaleb Ort coming up according to Chad Jennings.
View: https://twitter.com/chadjennings22/status/1564053525264465920?s=20&t=P2y-nrgqjgcgJrOKMUpKkQ
I believe this still leaves a 40-man spot open since Ort was already on there. So conceivably this could be the precursor to a Casas call-up. (Although I’m not getting too excited yet.)
Kelly is interesting, I guess. I don’t really get the appeal of Ort; he’s older than Davis. I guess when you don’t have any major league ready prospects, this is what you do.
Probably a good opportunity to get Kelly some MLB experience and possibly a sink or swim look see at Ort.
Any team claiming Sawamura would not only assume the balance of his $1.2M 2022 salary but would also be responsible for a $100k incentive his 50th appearance this season and at least his $1.0M buyout for 2023. I expect that he will clear waivers before any team signs him.
Depends how desperate a contender might be for pitching help. You may not want to pass on him and have someone else higher up the chain claim him before he's clears and can negotiate with you.
Plus there's the Aug 31 deadline for post-season eligibility.
I remember being introduced to Hi-Chew after reading about how he ingratiated himself to the clubhouse last year by giving them a bunch of it, and it is delicious. So thanks for that.
The Padres were the only such team that came to mind and even they have Pierce Johnson and Drew Pomeranz likely to return in the next 8-to-12 days.
Getting released is never fun, but in any way are the Sox doing these two or maybe only Sawman, a favor, by the timing of this. Is the rule still that you are playoff eligible as long as you are in the organization by 9/1. That assumes a playoff contending team is interested..
My dad was at the WooSox vs Syracuse game last night, he threw out the first pitch. He's turning 75, so my step mom bought the privilege for him at a charity auction. After he throws it out, they gave him the ball and he had our family and friends sign it for him.
After the game he and some friends are just waiting for the traffic to clear out, watching the Sox farm hands load into the bus. Ort proactively came over to talk, saw that he had an autographed ball in his hands and offered to sign. My dad's shrunk down to all of 5'3" now, and he said he felt like a little kid having Ort (listed at 6'4") sign the ball for him.
But the good karma seems to have worked, Ort's called up the next day. He also made a permanent fan out of me.
Go get 'em Kaleb!
I would think he gets claimed, even with his awful strand rate.
Big Fudge might just because he's a lefty.
Big Fudge might just because he's a lefty.
Frank German deserves a looksie IMO. WHIP under 1. Opponents are batting .159 vs him.
I'm not sure what they're waiting for from him otherwise.
They have abused Ort before to get some innings, so maybe he's just a shuttle guy.
Brasier lasting this long is utterly baffling.
I'm not sure what they're waiting for from him otherwise.
They have abused Ort before to get some innings, so maybe he's just a shuttle guy.
Brasier lasting this long is utterly baffling.
I too look forward to higher draft picks.Oh good, Ort's back. That's something to look forward to.
These are the perfect 2 guys to bring up. A nice 30 audition to see if either of them stay. Some team will pick up Sawamura, but Davis is probably getting a one way ticket to Palooka-ville.
How much more payroll do they have to cut to get under the luxury tax and avoid the worse QO compensation?
Will moves like these make a difference?
Will moves like these make a difference?
Depending on which source you believe, they're somewhere between $5M and $11M over the cap. Moves like this won't make any difference at all, especially if Sawamura and Davis go unclaimed on waivers (which seems likely). That would result in zero savings whatsoever. I've said it before, but the trade deadline was the time to shave payroll if they wanted to get under the luxury tax. It would take a great deal of luck to do it while relying entirely on the kindness of other teams (claiming players on waivers and taking their remaining contracts).
I don't think it'll matter much in the end. We'll be under the cap in '23 or certainly '24. JDM has probably played himself out of a QO though may accept a smaller deal to stay. Kiké's injury had the same effect. Eovaldi wants to stay and seems like he might, either with a QO or a reworked deal based on his recovery. I genuinely think Bogaerts stays too.
Bloom's 'moderate buy' approach to the deadline signaled that he feels confident that he can work out extensions with players he wants to stay, I think. Vazquez wasn't one of them. We'll see.
Meanwhile Michael Chavis (90 wRC+) would probably have given us more from the 1B spot than we've had all year.
Chavis is maybe slightly less bad at first base than our fellas, but I don't think a 90 wRC+ guy who can't hit righties (72 wRC+ vs. RHP) would have given us more than a Cordero (105 wRC+ vs. RHP)/Dalbec (121 wRC+ vs. LHP) platoon.
If nobody claims either player off waivers, then it makes no difference at all. And even if they are, the Sox might save $500K.
I don't know where this "no major league ready prospects" stuff is coming from. We have a couple more guys pitching well in relief in AAA and AA; most just aren't on the 40-man roster yet.
Kelly and Ort are on the older side, but that's less of an issue for a reliever, especially a guy a few spots down the depth chart where we're collecting viable arms with options to shuffle on and off the 26-man roster. I think Politi, German, Wallace and Bazardo are all probably better prospects than Ort, for example. But when we're thinking about the last few spots on the bullpen, options and roster status are huge. Ort is likely being chosen over, say, Frank German because he's less promising, because we may end up losing him in the off-season roster shuffle.
We also have more interesting SP prospects than we've had at any point since... the Pedro trade, maybe? Some of those guys are going to end up in relief. Mata just moved up to AAA. He could be a late inning reliever if he's not in the rotation, and he's pretty close to ready. Thaddeus Ward, too.
I for one would be fascinated to see Boston move to a bullpen of mostly multi-inning relievers. You could see guys like Schreiber, Houck, Crawford, Ward and Mata being successful in 2-3 IP stints every few days.
It could spell the end of the La Russan era of bullpen management!
View: https://twitter.com/PeteAbe/status/1564358749535477760
Not all that surprised by this, but it seems the Sox don't necessarily want to be done with Sawamura. If he clears waivers, they can outright him to Worcester and retain control of him.
Not all that surprised by this, but it seems the Sox don't necessarily want to be done with Sawamura. If he clears waivers, they can outright him to Worcester and retain control of him.
Looks backwards to me! Davis to Twins, Sawamura unclaimed
View: https://twitter.com/ChrisCotillo/status/1565029609653112832?s=20&t=RB3xko87wG7BReEaFh82xw
View: https://twitter.com/ChrisCotillo/status/1565031691898560517?s=20&t=lXOm7vFWHBTBJNjsgSy3Ew
View: https://twitter.com/ChrisCotillo/status/1565029609653112832?s=20&t=RB3xko87wG7BReEaFh82xw
View: https://twitter.com/ChrisCotillo/status/1565031691898560517?s=20&t=lXOm7vFWHBTBJNjsgSy3Ew
I believe John Franco and Jesse Orosco are both still pitching for the Mets.
The Sawamura experience is somehow less than the numbers would indicate. He throws hard, he has a killer splitter, and his overall numbers seem decent. But when you're watching, the pace he works at is unbearable and he throws so many non-competitive pitches. Maybe the pitch clock will be his best friend. Or he'll be back in Japan next spring.
The Sawamura experience is somehow less than the numbers would indicate. He throws hard, he has a killer splitter, and his overall numbers seem decent. But when you're watching, the pace he works at is unbearable and he throws so many non-competitive pitches. Maybe the pitch clock will be his best friend. Or he'll be back in Japan next spring.
Released. Guess they really have no 2023 plans for him.
View: https://twitter.com/PeteAbe/status/1568993397058293762
View: https://twitter.com/PeteAbe/status/1568993397058293762
I am assuming it’s what the player wanted, but a fairly puzzling series of decisions surrounding a somewhat serviceable reliever.
He could never throw enough strikes, and his FIP always pointed to his actual era being deceiving, but he has a pretty good arm. He definitely feels like a guy that should be brought to spring training.
Not puzzling so much as unknown, I think. There's no need to stress Sawamura's arm at this point in AAA. There's also the pitch clock issue for next year.
But in the interim between now and an off-season resigning (if the parties wish) he's off the 40 man.
I'd be surprised if he's not a NRI at least.
I'm really late to the party but that was Tazawa back in 2014 or 2015. Did Sawamura reintroduce it?
Tazawa also made Hi Chew really popular with the Marlins.
https://www.tokyopop.com/blog/hi-chew-to-open-u-s-based-factory-in-2015 (thanks to Taz)
edit: Yeah, Sawamura ate them last year. https://www.mlb.com/news/hirokazu-sawamura-adapting-to-major-league-baseball It mentions how Hi Chew was already popular in the Sox clubhouse because of Tazawa.
He's a 34-year-old reliever, who had a FIP around 4.5 across 2 seasons in which he threw about 100 innings.
He was an interesting flyer, who had a live arm and command issues in Japan. Stateside, the live arm did miss bats in year 1 but didn't so much in year 2.
It was an interesting low-risk, moderately high upside bet that panned out in that he wasn't a useless arm. But he's the definition of a fungible arm at this point.
I have to imagine where he lands next depends more on whether or not Sawamura wants to live in the states or Japan. If he remains in the United States, he'll probably get a minor league contract from someone and a NRI but there's a reason he went unclaimed after being DFA'd. It's just not that exciting of a profile now that we've seen 100 innings in the majors.
He was an interesting flyer, who had a live arm and command issues in Japan. Stateside, the live arm did miss bats in year 1 but didn't so much in year 2.
It was an interesting low-risk, moderately high upside bet that panned out in that he wasn't a useless arm. But he's the definition of a fungible arm at this point.
I have to imagine where he lands next depends more on whether or not Sawamura wants to live in the states or Japan. If he remains in the United States, he'll probably get a minor league contract from someone and a NRI but there's a reason he went unclaimed after being DFA'd. It's just not that exciting of a profile now that we've seen 100 innings in the majors.