Remember the 2004 ALCS when Mike Myers made Hideki Matsui look silly?
Remember it no more and experience it again in 2007. The lack of a dominant lefty reliever plagued the Red Sox all through 2006. We now have a solution in the form of 30-year old Hideki Okajima. Okajima, a lefty reliever, has agreed to terms on a two-year contract with the Red Sox. Okajima was 2-2 with a 2.14 ERA and a 63/14 K/BB ratio in 2006 in the Japanese league. He also supposedly has an excellent curveball.
Okajima’s signing has been heralded by Rotoworld, as they say “He might be very good until the league begins to figure him out, at which time he could settle in as a reasonable specialist.” Okajima held lefty hitters to an average under .200 the past two years and is four years younger than Jamie Walker. An official announcement will occur later today at Fenway Park, with Okajima in attendance. It is not clear yet if Okajima will have a clause making him a free agent after two years, for if there is no clause, we can retain him for a third year at league minimum (or be arbitration eligible as a “super-two” player).
Welcome to Boston, Hideki. Now call up Daisuke Matsuzaka and tell him what a great place Beantown is.
Update: RH in the comments gives us this scouting report on Okajima from his friend, a San Francisco Giants scout.
PITCHES…
1. Fastball — low 90’s
Okajima’s fastball is an average MLB-caliber pitch. It is a heavy pitch that is difficult to hit because it has late movement away from lefthanded hitters. 20-80 scale: 60-65
2. Curveball — 70’s-80’s
Okajima’s curveball is his bread-and-butter pitch. It breaks hard and late, away from lefthanded hitters and down and in to righties. He’ll throw it on any count and he will strike-out batters by changing location with it, which he does very well. 20-80 scale: 70
3. Forkball
Okajima does not use his forkball often, but he will use it when he’s struggling with his control. He locates the pitch very well, but there are times when he does not get the necessary spin on the ball for it to break as much as he’d like it to. The pitch is very tough on righthanded batters. 20-80 scale: 55
Okajima will primarily rely on those three pitches, with the fastball and curveball being his most consistent and favorite pitches to throw. He also supposedly has a splitter, but it doesn’t have as much bite as his other pitches and is not an MLB-caliber pitch.
By the way, the Yankees supposedly also made an offer to Okajima that actually included more money than the Sox offer, but were turned down because Okajima preferred Boston, thinking that the Sox wanted him more because they placed the first offer.
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