The Mets reached an agreement with Hisanori Takahashi on a minor league deal that will pay the lefty $1MM if he's in the majors. The deal also includes up to $2MM in performance bonuses.
Takahashi, 35 in April, is a flyball/command pitcher who can fill a swingman role. The Mets, who signed Japanese reliever Ryota Igarashi earlier this offseason, could start Takahashi in the minors.
In 144 innings for the Yomiuri Giants, Takahashi pitched to a 2.94 ERA. He had good strikeout (7.9 K/9) and walk (2.3 BB/9) rates, too.
ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick reported that the sides reached an agreement after David Waldstein of the New York Times reported they were on the verge of one. Crasnick, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports and Waldstein added financial details (Twitter links). Before that, NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman passed along a Sports Hochi report indicating that Takahashi would sign with the Mets or Dodgers.
Ben Nicholson-Smith contributed to this post.
Shouldn’t have waited until he was 35.
Probably had to in order to avoid the posting fee system. NPB free agency is way different from MLB.
Well that’s an interesting two finalists. Expected the Dodgers. Not so much the Mets.
Sounds like he’d be a good fit with the Mets. Citi Field will hold his flyballs. He’d be another good bullpen member/spot starter.
We just resigned Jeff Weaver…
35? Pass.
#Mets ‘on verge’ of agreement with Takahashi…via twitter
oh i so called that!
Good move by the Mets (Sparing the Dodgers) =)
the dodgers were so close again.
So much for that “he prefers the West Coast” nonsense we heard earlier. Just like Sabathia preferred the West Coast right?
It’s okay, I prefer baked beans to Lima’s.
lefties hit .300 against this guy… i know its on a minor league deal, but tons of guys are getting minor league deals with a real chance of making the big league club this off season .. i like what the mets are doing when it comes to the pen and outfield/infield depth… but do they know what starting pitching is??
wow, good for the mets they finally did something. Now just sign one of the remaining starting pitchers remaining so when the season comes around your team doesn’t crash totally into the ground.
Agreed. Just 1 decent 4th starter so they aren’t relying so much on Pelfrey and it isn’t a terrible rotation any more.
next stop: super bowl.
I love that almost every positive comment about this signing says something about how “Citi-field will hold his flyballs”. What’s going to happen when they’re on the road?
Philadelphia is the only hitter’s park in the NL East.
Actually no. Sun Life Stadium (Marlins) is more of a hitters park than anything in the NL East. And while Turner Field is clearly a pitchers park, Nationals Park is pretty much dead center. Also add in that Citi Field will become more of a hitters field next year. According to the New York Daily News, Citi Field’s center field wall is being cut down by 8 feet.
turner field is a pitchers park, built for the glavine maddux and smoltz era
Even so, they play a lot of games outside of their division too. I’m not saying this is a horrible move, I just thought that was a funny “look a the bright side” kind of reaction.
What happened to “The Mets don’t have anymore money” theory?
A mere technicality… Wilpon had a jar full of Yen in the cupboard
That’s gotta be a damn big jar. $1M USD is worth almost $90M yen.
The Mets just keep on rolling…
Oh Omar – you (and maybe Dayton Moore) are the only GM who makes Hendry look like he knows what he’s doing.
Deals like this are just a big “whateverrrr.” All the Mets seem to be doing when it comes to pitching is taking flyers on a bunch of guys. They’re hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with one or two of them. Great plan ya got there fellas. You’ve got a stud and four huge question marks in that rotation, you’re scaring NOBODY. You’re getting laughed at. Better hope some of these guys actually step up because winning only once every five days will leave you out of the race by June and your spanking new ballpark is gonna be a ghost town. Unless of course you want to get serious and build a pitching staff.
How can the Mets not have there pitching and catching set. A lack of planning or lack of funds. Why sign a player like Jason Bay unless there was money available for other players to compete.
You are probably right, but this guy could be the next Saito too. When the Dodgers got him, he was about this age and Saito didn’t even make the team out of Spring Training. After that, Gagne got hurt, they called him up and the rest is history. Saito has been really effective ever since and in both leagues. I really like the experiment with the Japanese pitchers especially at a low cost. Their unorthodox deliveries are sometimes extremely effective and could really help benefit their team.
drama queen….
Numbers disagree with you. link to espn.go.com
Typically the Marlins are in the top half for runs.
Really? Everyone who disagrees with you is Jeff Wilpon? This act is getting so old.
he is not guarenteed anything. If he proves he has something to offer in spring training great, if not hello AAA. no harm in this move. its not going to prevent another move from happening.
I agree completely. I mean, the first at bat in Citi-Field was a Homerun by little Jody Gerut. But what I was getting at is, even if Citi-Field was a pitchers park why do people feel like it’s a great fit for the team when they only play half of their games there? I mean, I would say the Twins should start scouting in Alaska, but then the eskimos would be too hot in Texas.
ps. that last bit is not to be taken seriously.