Kazuo Fukumori & Hideki Matsui

jgribbins: I think the answers to your questions about Fukumori are in the Newsday article. He is coming off season-ending elbow surgery, so I think any team, and not just the Yankees, would be foolish to guarantee him more than one year. I was never particularly impressed with Fukumori even when he was healthy. In my opinion, he would fit in best with a second-tier MLB team that needs depth in the pen for some appearances over a 162 game season. He's not someone you'd consider as a set-up man, and most certainly not a closer.

Fukumori is coming off a very weak season with a 4.75 ERA. But when he's on, he can be one of the elite relievers in Japan. It seems like he either has a very solid year as a reliever or puts up poor numbers. His numbers kind of compare to Okajima in that regard. Okajima has a very strange delivery, even by Japanese standards, and Fukumori is pretty orthodox.

His two main breaking balls are the high velocity shuuto and a fork. I haven't seen him much, but I think his shuuto is around the same velocity as his fastball. His fastball will probably linger around 90 mph. He has a good mentality and could close for any team. I think his lack of top quality control will keep him out of the role. Things could change, however, since some Japanese relievers have greatly improved their control in the Majors.

It'll be interesting to see how the shuuto does in MLB with the additions of Masahide Kobayashi and possibly Fukumori. It's comparable to the two-seam fastball, but has a lot more inward break to it.

As far as Matsui goes, I think SF would be great if he wanted to be a big star on a smaller team, but I think he wants to win more than anything. I also don't think he enjoys DHing, so it could go either way. It all really depends on what Girardi has in mind. I don't see the Yankees trading him, because Japanese tourists aren't going to go to Yankee Stadium to see Kei Igawa. They want to see Matsui, the everyday player. It's just not worth it to trade him away.

Thank you both for the info. You confirmed that he is basically an innings eater and the Yanks have youngsters that can do that.

I agree that Matsui should stay in New York. I like watching him play, although when I was living in Japan and being a Tigers fan, I did not like Matsui beating on them!

LaTroy Hawkins has reportedly just agreed to a one-year deal with the Yankees, so I expect their interest in Fukumori is somewhere between slim and none now.

I still think he would fit in better with a lower level team like Pittsburgh, and he has quite a bit to prove coming back from arm surgery anyway.

Sorry if this has already been addressed, but are you Dan Miceli the pitcher? Are you in Japan to play again?

Or, feel free to ignore this if you don't particularly want to say.

Of course not. I'm just someone who has lived in Japan for many years and is a fan of MLB and NPB. I had visited this site for a good while before joining.

I can't stand Dan Miceli and the way he disrespected Japanese baseball during his short stay here. I guess I'm using the name as an additional way to get some jabs in at the lazy, selfish slob when the opportunity presents itself. Foreign players have enough problems getting treated with respect in this country without Dan Miceli showing up here fat and out-of-shape and not even trying to earn his money.

This site was supposedly started to try to correct misconceptions about how another bum, Kevin Mitchell, was treated by the Hawks during his few months in Japan. Well, the Dan Miceli situation really rubbed me the wrong way. And through letters to the newspapers here that were printed after Miceli waddled back to the U.S., and using various Internet forums since then, I've been able to speak my mind about how he shamed not only the foreign players here, but also reinforced certain stereotypes about foreign people in the minds of many Japanese, in my opinion.

I know this is off-topic and an old topic, so I won't bring it up again. But thanks for the question, A.S.

I agree. I have YES on TV right now and they are reporting the same. The Yankees seem to be only offering one year contracts to relievers. I guess Kyle Farnsworth is still leaving a sour taste!

Thanks for the info.

Texas signed Fukumori for fairly reasonable money given the state of the pitching market. They also released Ohtsuka. I don't expect Fukumori to do anything, though, especially in the Rangers' park.