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Sunday, July 26, 2009Kobayashi, Yabuta might have better luck pitching back home
It is obvious 2009 has not been a great year for Japanese pitchers in the major leagues. Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Boston Red Sox and Koji Uehara of the Baltimore Orioles have spent a lot of time on the disabled list, while Kenshin Kawakami of the Atlanta Braves has posted a losing record of 5-6 through games of Wednesday.
Hiroki Kuroda of the Los Angeles Dodgers is also behind the .500 ball at 3-5 with a 4.73 ERA in 11 games.
Hopefully, they will all get healthy, bounce back and make significant contributions to their respective teams before the season ends. For at least two others whose attempts at finding success at the major league level have not panned out, it may be time to call it a day, to look back with pride for trying, come home and help a Central or Pacific League team.
Former Chiba Lotte Marines close Masahide Kobayashi was released by the Cleveland Indians last week, and media reports indicated his agent was still trying to get him hooked on with another major league club. Instead, he should follow the example of Kazuo Fukumori whose attempt at playing regularly in the majors with the Texas Rangers never materialized.
Fukumori, the Rakuten Eagles closer in 2007, left Tohoku for Texas in 2008 but struggled through a season and a half. Finally, he apparently saw the writing on the wall, realized he is not MLB compatible and returned to Sendai, back with the Eagles.
Kobayashi should see the light, too, and the same goes for Yasuhiko Yabuta, another ex-Lotte reliever who, like his former teammate, has not really done anything for the Kansas City Royals since departing Chiba for the American Midwest at the end of 2007.
The 35-year-old Kobayashi has seen more of Columbus, Ohio, than Cleveland during the past 18 months. His major league record with the Indians does include 57 appearances, but he leaves behind a 4-5 won-loss record, six saves and a 4.53 ERA.
In 10 American League games this year, he was 0-0 with no saves and an ERA of 8.38. With the Triple-A Clippers, he was 2-2 with a save and a 4.66 ERA in 18 games prior to his release. Obviously, he was nowhere near the pitcher he was in 2005 with Lotte when he recorded a Pacific League-leading 29 saves in 46 games, along with a 2.58 ERA for the Japan Series champion Marines.
Middle reliever and setup man Yabuta (36), meanwhile, pitched in 31 games for manager Trey Hillman's Royals last season, compiling a 1-3 mark with a 4.78 ERA. This year at Triple-A Omaha, Yabuta is 1-1 with a 3.82 ERA in 19 appearances.
After losing both Kobayashi and Yabuta to free agency and the majors last year, and seeing situational lefty reliever Soichi Fujita become a free agent and defect to the Yomiuri Giants, Chiba Lotte manager Bobby Valentine indicated there was no doubt his club was damaged by their absence.
"Not so much Fujita, but not having Kobayashi and Yabuta in the bullpen was huge," said Valentine at mid-season in 2008, as the Marines failed to make the Pa League postseason Climax Series, and the outlook for this season's playoff qualification does not look that great, either.
It would seem Kobayashi and Yabuta could improve the bullpens of several teams in Japan, and they should be more comfortable here than in Columbus or Omaha.
The list of native players who left Japanese ball for a crack at MLB but returned to their native country is getting to be a long one. It includes pitchers Hideki Irabu, Masato Yoshii, Kazuhiro Sasaki, Kazuhisa Ishii, Shingo Takatsu, Masao Kida and Fukumori, and position players Tsuyoshi Shinjo and Tadahito Iguchi.
Is it not time for Kobayashi and Yabuta to join them by giving up the major league dream and coming home where they belong?
There are a lot of teams here who could use them.
* * * * * Contact Wayne Graczyk at: wayne@JapanBall.com
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