Comments on: Scouting the Unknown

By: cws05nuts

cws05nuts — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:17:20 +0000

@ Stephen: Nice work bud. Appreciate the Dayan write-up. Dubbed the Cuban Pimp by Ozzie after showing up to spring training in a tricked out rover.

240 might be lowballing his weight.

The current production is troubling but I like your optimism for 2010.

By: Linkage — 6/15/2009 | FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball

Linkage — 6/15/2009 | FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:41:47 +0000

[...] those of you clamoring for more information on international prospects, the fellas over at RazzBall take a closer look at Junichi Tazawa and Dayan Viciedo. Tazawa is under Boston’s control, and [...]

By: Chase

Chase — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:34:52 +0000

Stephen have you heard of Randal Grichuk? He was taken 24th by the angels. He’s a powerhouse OF from my neck of the woods. Same age as me

By: Tim McLeod

Tim McLeod — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:22:32 +0000

There will always be both success and failure when looking at the Japanese imports. One has to always keep in context that most of these players are into there early 30′s when they do come to MLB and have a lot of mileage on there bodies. Matsui’s knees were shot long before he played that first game with the Yankees and Dice-K routinely piled up huge pitch counts prior to the Sox acquiring his services. I realize that you were looking at current players but when looking to both success/ failure of import players some of the greatest successes haven’t been mentioned. I am surprised you didn’t mention Hideo Nomo the first name player and star to make the move. Only one of 4 to achieve no-hitters in both NL/AL and a dominant pitcher in his day. Kaz Sasaki was probably the dominant closer in the game in the early 2000′s racking up 119 saves over a 3 year period. Aki Otsuka was a solid set-up man and closer until the arm fell off. Tazawa is special because a) he is young and very gifted, and b) he changed the rules of the game. The Red Sox and Craig Shipley should both be commended. Darvish is undoubtedly one of the finest young pitchers in the game today but don’t hold your breath waiting to see him in MLB. He is “God” in Japan and has stated that he wishes to promote the Japanese game in Japan and has no desire at this time to explore North America. There are several players that have expressed an interest in posting but their teams have not followed through and probably won’t for several more years so the immediate future as far as NPB imports is not overwhelming. An interesting piece Stephen and as a long time writer and follower of the Japanese game wish you success in your future ventures into this aspect of the game.

By: Quintero

Quintero — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:59:45 +0000

@big o:Yu Darvish is an insecure dude, let him stays in Japan which is his comfort zone. Plus ,there are also lots insecure family members of his to hang out with him in Japan... @Stephen: Great piece again. Like your perspective, and it's good to know how others feel about these players. I watched Dayan Viciedo play twice for Cuba. My impression is he can do better than his current minor stats. During those games, I saw him adjusted the pitching from at-bats to at-bats, and had gap-to-gap pull power which seems easy with his swing. I wonder if players like Lazo helped him with tips in the dugout...as far as I know, the Cuban players always play the game with passion(er...most of them) and pick each other up in the game. I think if he can improve on pitching selection(altho we all know that's not easy for him), he will be fine(to justify the money). Junichi Tazawa is not special because those offerings he has. He is special because, like you said, "he came over before playing at the highest level of professional ball in Japan." Check out those pitch-count there, you would figure Dusty Baker is secretly having jobs oversees... Indeed a person can't be two place at the same time and there can be only one Tazawa(and Dusty Baker), but the Project of Tazawa might teach the baseball world something different five-years later, if the Redsox system keeps doing what they are doing the best.

By: AL KOHOLIC

AL KOHOLIC — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:17:59 +0000

@Paulie Allnuts: yeah his name came from the last ho he brought home from the bar,sure you heard this before but he once told me ,the last piece of ass he got is when the toilet paper broke,but he`s great at this fantasy baseball shizz,never scared to trade a stud,i am,he makes very bold moves,got him in a football league to,but back to this,i need my sp`s to get real hot,bedard,hamel and danks,plus hanson to grow up fast,got zimm looking real good of late,if so i can make a run,if sp`s mediocre,im dunn

By: Paulie Allnuts

Paulie Allnuts — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:52:42 +0000

@AL KOHOLIC: I don't really have any players I can afford to trade. Five decent starters, but can't afford to give any up. Same with RP. And I have a poor offense outside of BA, as Maggs and Lud aren't hitting, and HanRam is having an ok season, but not what I envisioned when i picked him up #2 in the draft. Haven't had a decent 2nd baseman all season. What's interesting is that although Ichiro is has a terrific BA, he never scores any runs. It's too bad that he wasn't on a decent offense. Put him on the Bo-sox, Phils or Yankees, and he would have much more value. When I look at things, I feel that I am lucky to be in the middle of the league, considering that I made terrible MI choices, and haven't had any pop in the OF since the beginning of the season, when Lud got off to a fast start. I figured that you were friends with BFH from the comments you two post.

By: AL KOHOLIC

AL KOHOLIC — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:39:51 +0000

@Paulie Allnuts: im also a card fan growing up with hippo in the st.louis area,the only good thing about lud not hitting is hippo has him in our keeper league,,,ive looked our rcl teams over and over,really not much we can trade to help each of us,if you see something ,send it to me

By: Paulie Allnuts

Paulie Allnuts — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:29:20 +0000

@AL KOHOLIC: Unfortunately, you can probably stick a fork through Peavy. No one really expects him to come back in 1 month, and if it takes 3 months, he has to get back in pitching shape, and the Pods certainly don’t have any incentive to get him back into action quickly. In another league, someone offered my Hamels and Gregg for Peavy – now I wish I accepted. And in yet another league, I hit the trifecta today – Bedard, Halladay, and Downs Syndrome on the DL. I already had Volk stationed there. On top of that, I thought I had a steal, trading Danks for Sin-Choo Choo train. So I started the day with 7 starters, and ended it with four, minus 1 reliever.

You did fine without Manny. Hopefully, he will get his mojo back. I tried to trade for him in every league that I am in – you didn’t take the bite, though. BTW, when is the god of Lud going to start hitting again? If this keeps up, I may offer him to our Commish of Golden Fried Luddwickians.

By: AL KOHOLIC

AL KOHOLIC — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:14:53 +0000

@Paulie Allnuts: on the bright side ,i made it thru the manny term without dropping out of offensive stats,

By: AL KOHOLIC

AL KOHOLIC — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:13:11 +0000

@Paulie Allnuts: im in,i dont see myself catching him with hammels looking mediocre and peavy probably done,

By: Paulie Allnuts

Paulie Allnuts — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:10:32 +0000

@AL KOHOLIC: Maybe we can kidnap AJP - I live on the edge of the Pine Barrens. It might take him a month to find his way out. By that time, the league may even out a bit.

By: joe

joe — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:07:23 +0000

How do you like Rich Harder for the rest of the season? I can get him for Robinson Cano… good deal?

By: Matt Wieters

Matt Wieters — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:06:37 +0000

What happened to all of the posts devoted to me?

By: AL KOHOLIC

AL KOHOLIC — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:39:27 +0000

@BigFatHippo: went to california ,my team slipped,had family in all last weekend i sucked,my rcl team lost an unbeleivable 20 points in batting ave in just over 2 weeks,hence my r,hr, and rbi`s fell also,had to go make whoopi tonight(im like alan on 2 1/2 men,had to have a glass of orange juice and more for play at the 30 minute mark,but ,im back,she`s sound asleep and i got my woodford,my cigar and my computer,,ha,ha,ha,life is good

By: Elijah

Elijah — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:27:54 +0000

@john: Yes!

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:39:20 +0000

@BigFatHippo: I read about him early this spring training, and reading up on him reminded me of that. It seems that he has a lot of national pride and might wait a tad bit longer til he ventures into America to play ball.

By: BigFatHippo

BigFatHippo — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:19:39 +0000

@Stephen: I think big o's talking about Yu Darvish, Japanese wunderkid. @AL KOHOLIC: Been busy/gone for 3 days and both my teams are in the crapper. It's like if I'm not here to see them they forget what they're supposed to do. Hit and frickin pitch dammit!

By: john

john — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:14:18 +0000

mini-donkey!!

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:59:30 +0000

@AL KOHOLIC: Oh, ok then I wrote that on purpose.

By: AL KOHOLIC

AL KOHOLIC — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:56:47 +0000

@Stephen: i thought you meant farmer,and i got it

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:47:56 +0000

@big o: The hype was that he was going to need a little minor league seasoning and become a slugging third baseman. This Darvish you speak of, I cannot find who you are talking about? I didn't even catch that typo. It should have said Famer, though if I reworked that sentence Farmer could work.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:42:39 +0000

@AL KOHOLIC: I traded Volquez about 3 weeks before his eventual downturn and never looked back. Hamilton on the other hand, I would have traded after his Home Run Derby performance. But I had Delmon Young last year because he was on my home town team... Never again will I have fantasy baseball loyalty to my hometown team.

By: AL KOHOLIC

AL KOHOLIC — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:41:42 +0000

b.j ryan looking bad,2 walks and a hit bases loaded 1 out 7-1 game,werth up

By: big o

big o — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:40:34 +0000

anyone who thought the kid , viciedo , was major league ready probably doesn’t know much about baseball talent .

darvish , on the other hand , IS major league ready .

except for ichiro , perez , tiant , and oliva the rest are , as you said , hall of farmers .
alexei and dice k , included .

By: AL KOHOLIC

AL KOHOLIC — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:38:57 +0000

@Stephen: yes last year i knew i should have traded both volquez and hamilton but being in the cincy area and a fan i stuck with them threw thier poor 2nd halves

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:32:51 +0000

@AL KOHOLIC: Hate, to be a debbie downer on your hate parade, but defense has been quite a problem for him tonight. But yes, most stellar starts that seem improbable led to regression, whether its a positive or negative regression. PS GREY, check out the latest regression article on fanball.com where they are talking about Matt Cain.

By: AL KOHOLIC

AL KOHOLIC — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:30:01 +0000

hate to be a hater,but its nice to see grienke come down to earth

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:25:05 +0000

@AL KOHOLIC: Yup, and Dizzy V needs to start his come back on fire.

By: AL KOHOLIC

AL KOHOLIC — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:23:57 +0000

@Stephen: yeah and votto seems to set the tone for them all,i see bruce improving once votto comes back