According to multiple major media sources, including the very reliable Brian Costa at the Star Ledger, the Mets are near a deal with the veteran Japanese lefty Hisanori Takahashi.
Takahashi has pitched for the Yomiuri Giants for a decade, and while he has largely been a starter, with some success, he is projected to be a lefty out of the pen to complement Feliciano.
While this name may not excite everyone, he was quite good two of the last three years, and apparently the Mets won a bidding contest (war might be a bit too much for this case!) with the Red Sox and Dodgers among a few others.
This scouting report is from the NY Times:
He is listed at 5 feet 10 inches and 172 pounds and is said to throw 86 to 90 miles an hour. He has five pitches, all of which he uses at various points in the count to keep hitters off balance, and he does not shy away from challenging hitters.
Last season he was 10-6 with a 2.94 earned run average and struck out 126 batters and walked 36 in 144 innings. His best season was 2007, when he went 14-4 with a 2.75 E.R.A., made the Central League All-Star team and was named to the Best Nine, meaning he was considered the best pitcher in that league.
24 comments
GravediggerHebner
2/11/2010-1:27pm at 1:27 pm (UTC -4)
“Takahashi, you’re out. Get in there, Takahashi!”
Like 2 Japanese ships passing in the night. May this one not be the Akagi.
Mr North Jersey
2/11/2010-1:30pm at 1:30 pm (UTC -4)
I guess soon they will start accusing the Mets of signing too many Japanese players.
njstuckintx
2/11/2010-1:36pm at 1:36 pm (UTC -4)
Good bye Los Mets, Hello Mets-san.
DNDJohan aka kistics
2/11/2010-2:57pm at 2:57 pm (UTC -4)
LOL! and now there will be division amongst the Spanish, Japanese and English speaking players.
CaseStreet
2/11/2010-3:11pm at 3:11 pm (UTC -4)
lol, even that is over-hyped.
I was watching the 2004 season on MLB Network and they had a clip of Schilling saying, “Oh it’s a latin thing” when some of the Dominican guys were talking in Spanish at ST.
I’d imagine Pedro and Schilling weren’t the best of friends yet that team managed to win a few games.
DNDJohan aka kistics
2/11/2010-3:32pm at 3:32 pm (UTC -4)
Schilling isn’t friends with many people.
metsfan4decades
2/11/2010-1:59pm at 1:59 pm (UTC -4)
I like this signing.
Just goes to show you the rumor mill out there. Last I heard, he was quoted as saying he prefers the west coast…..
CaseStreet
2/11/2010-2:06pm at 2:06 pm (UTC -4)
As trs likes to say, wait till ST.
Omar’s a man w/ a plan.
Nice to see Feliciano get some help.
oleosmirf
2/11/2010-2:29pm at 2:29 pm (UTC -4)
im hoping he helps the rotation
steveo
2/11/2010-2:38pm at 2:38 pm (UTC -4)
But I thought the mets were out of money Buster only how could this be? We should start listing all these idiot quotes from these guys, and at the end of the year rate them on their accuracy.
Kingman 26
2/11/2010-2:57pm at 2:57 pm (UTC -4)
Ha!
You are SO right, but I think we can judge the accuracy of most of them right now, especially the near-pathological liar Olney.
Will be pumping some dough into your local Clark County economy in a week and a half Steveo.
saltygary
2/11/2010-3:00pm at 3:00 pm (UTC -4)
There’s more to it and it’s not just Olney making such claims.
Their bond rating just went down to junk status this week:
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/New-York-Mets-Citi-Field-bonds-given-junk-status-021010
stickguy
2/11/2010-3:08pm at 3:08 pm (UTC -4)
that has nothing to do with the Mets, or the wilpons/sterling financial situation. It was because the insurance sompany that underwrote the guarantee is going belly up.
Kingman 26
2/11/2010-3:30pm at 3:30 pm (UTC -4)
Gary, Olney’s nonsense lie was 1–2 weeks ago, and has absolutely LESS than nothing to do with whether:
A–They have a few million for Torrealba (where did the Jacobs and Takahashi money come from?)
B–They even WANTED Torrealba or if he even wanted to come here
C–What Stick said
One has zero to do with the other, and Olney is most definitely a prevaricator.
steveo
2/11/2010-3:25pm at 3:25 pm (UTC -4)
We need it, leave all the money you can,there talking about closing schools out here cause were so broke.If you get to venture to the outerlimits south of the city you might be able to catch a glimpse of Mr Bryse Harper I got to catch some the CSN BP the other day and the he and some of the others were mashing.
Kingman 26
2/11/2010-3:34pm at 3:34 pm (UTC -4)
I love your city. I have been regularly visiting since the early 90s, and used to go multiple times a year when I lived in Seattle.
I promise, I will leave my usual respectful donation to Clark County….I follow the LV scene closely, and I do cringe when Obama makes his anti-Las Vegas comments…totally unnecessary in this economy. I truly hope your area rebounds once again, which I do think it will. There is no place on this planet like Las Vegas, and at this point, it does not even have much to do with gambling—the best of everything can be found in the four miles of the Strip.
saltygary
2/11/2010-2:50pm at 2:50 pm (UTC -4)
Good to see that the team is getting personnel that Bobby V. will be comfortable coaching.
DNDJohan aka kistics
2/11/2010-3:00pm at 3:00 pm (UTC -4)
I’m not sure if any of you guys caught on, but I think Schoe signed a minor league contract with the Brewers. I know he has had his moments with the Mets fans, but he wasn’t all that bad towards the end. I think he would’ve been a good compliment to Feliciano.
saltygary
2/11/2010-3:02pm at 3:02 pm (UTC -4)
Oh god just throw me out the window if Schoeneweis, Rogers, Glavine or Mel Rojas ever come back to the Mets organization.
DNDJohan aka kistics
2/11/2010-3:04pm at 3:04 pm (UTC -4)
How about our buddy Armando~!
saltygary
2/11/2010-3:06pm at 3:06 pm (UTC -4)
The great thing about Armando is he is too terrified to ever come back. He knows what would be waiting for him. $hit he would be in his car on the highway before the HR he gave up ever hit the ground.
DNDJohan aka kistics
2/11/2010-3:08pm at 3:08 pm (UTC -4)
but seriously, Schoe was not bad at all against the LHBs. He just faced too many RHBs than he really needed to face. You can mostly blame that on the management.
CaseStreet
2/11/2010-3:14pm at 3:14 pm (UTC -4)
There’s a happy breakup if I’ve ever seen one.
Both Shoe and the fans would be happy if he never wore a Met jersey again.
Kingman 26
2/11/2010-3:35pm at 3:35 pm (UTC -4)
I am with Salty here—Schoeneweis, let us remember, gave up a HR in a certain end-of-season game.
I would take Benitez or the retired Doug Sisk over Scho anytime, anyhow, anywhere.
Scho, along with Jerry, is my LEAST favorite Met of the Omar era.