Headlines

  • Bobby Jenks Passes Away
  • Braves Release Alex Verdugo
  • Clarke Schmidt Expected To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
  • Top 40 Trade Candidates For The 2025 Deadline
  • Rays Reinstate Ha-Seong Kim
  • Yankees Have Shown Interest In Ryan McMahon
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025 Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Free Agent Stock Watch: Koji Uehara

By Tim Dierkes | August 30, 2010 at 8:00am CDT

As his two-year contract with the Orioles nears its conclusion, righty Koji Uehara is restoring some value.  He sports a 1.91 ERA, 9.8 K/9, and 1.6 BB/9 in 28.3 relief innings and has quietly slipped into the team's closer role.

Uehara, 35, pitched well as a starter in 2009, but his season ended in June due to hamstring and elbow woes.  He began this year with more of the same, but has been healthy for the last two months as a late-inning reliever.

Uehara was signed as the Orioles' first-ever Japanese player in January of 2009.  HIs two-year, $10MM contract included $6MM worth of incentives for innings pitched and games finished that he was not able to reach.  His path with the Orioles was not surprising; in June of 2008 NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman outlined Uehara's injury history and success coming out of the bullpen in '07.  The contract indicates the Orioles were aware of the possibility that Uehara would switch to relief at some point.

Teams are more cautious in free agency now than they were two years ago.  Plus, Uehara is no longer a mysterious figure.  He's an injury-prone right-handed reliever who will be coming off a strong half-season at age 36 – not unlike Brendan Donnelly after the '09 season.  Uehara's agent Mark Pieper would do well to get his client a $2MM guarantee this time around.

Share 0 Retweet 3 Send via email0

Baltimore Orioles Free Agent Stock Watch Koji Uehara

Odds & Ends: Crawford, Ramirez, Hernandez, Orioles
Main
Arbitration Eligibles: Chicago White Sox
View Comments (13)
Post a Comment

13 Comments

  1. myname_989

    15 years ago

    I’m surprised that he wasn’t placed / claimed on waivers, if he’s having such a decent second half. Just about every team in baseball needs bullpen help, and since the Orioles are out of it, you’d think they’d appreciate the salary relief.

    Reply
  2. bleachercreature

    15 years ago

    wow he’s 35? Why did the Orioles even sign a 34 year old injury prone possible reliever and to such a high contract to boot? I thought this guy was young, that’s disappointing to hear and sounds like a poor deal…like most japanese players are.

    Reply
    • Dave_Gershman

      15 years ago

      Most Japanese players are not poor deals. I’d say most are good productive deals. And he has actually done a great job since he’s been healthy this season. Theres a good chance he could be a valuable pitcher on the market this off-season. And he has crazy, crazy sideburns as well. Which helps his closer stock.

      Reply
      • bleachercreature

        15 years ago

        it’s not that they’re bad players, most are decent players, but they’re given these ridiculous contracts, over hyped (which might be America’s fault) and are already old. Who has really been that great out of Japan? Ichiro, Matsui, Saito and Kuroda have been solid so far and Sin Soo Chu on the Indians is actually a pretty good player. But who else can be put in that category?

        Fukadome is ok but over paid, Matsusaka has been highly overrated and the only reason he was considered elite was because he had the Red Sox offense making it impossible for him to lose, now that it has fallen apart he’s kind of slipped. Kei Igawa was just in response to Matsusaka because apparently everyone needs a Japanese player and he turned out to be a $50 million bust.

        If anyone has any other examples of really good japanese players that i may have overlooked i’d like to hear because i’ve really lost faith in that entire process.

        Reply
        • Christopher

          15 years ago

          Full list of all 42 players here.

          en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Basebal…

          The ones with any significant impacts not on your list:

          Hideo Nomo (Dodgers)
          Shigetoshi Hasegawa (Mariners)
          Isuro Tanaka (Indians, couldn’t help myself)

          Reply
        • Jason_F

          15 years ago

          Shin-Soo Choo is South Korean, not Japanese.

          Reply
          • bleachercreature

            15 years ago

            oh my mistake, i remember that now. Is Japan the only country that has the whole posting process or are there other leagues in other countries? This makes the list of relevant Japanese players even fewer

            Reply
            • Jason_F

              15 years ago

              I’m fairly sure Japan is the only country with the posting process. I don’t think any other country has a baseball league that is worthy of setting up such a system.

              Reply
      • Curt

        13 years ago

        If I was the O’s can could sign for the right price. I take him back in a N Y second.

        Reply
    • bigpat

      15 years ago

      Most guys don’t come over from Japan very young, look at Kuroda and Saito.
      The Orioles needed a starting pitcher and that’s what he was advertised as when he first came over. However, he was never able to stay healthy and seemingly found his niche as a reliever. He’s just very overpaid now, but at least they have a future in the Japanese market since they treated him well.

      Reply
      • ugen64

        15 years ago

        he’s not “very overpaid”. Fangraphs has him at around 2.8 WAR for the two seasons combined. $4 mil guaranteed for 2.8 WAR is not a huge overpay, even in this economy (I imagine he probably reached around $6-7 million after incentives – still a decent contract). in terms of WAR this season, he ranks 31st among the 292 relievers who pitched more than 10 innings (counting some swingmen like Kris Medlen and Hisanori Takahashi). the main reason is that he’s been used a lot in high leverage situations recently. I think it’s impressive he put up these numbers despite only throwing 66 IP as a starter and 28 IP as a reliever…

        of course, these numbers are all using FIP, and Uehara has been rather lucky on HR/FB%. so I wouldn’t say we should expect Uehara to post a 1.91 ERA as a reliever projecting into the future (xFIP says 3.37, which is still a darn good high leverage reliever). but in terms of real performance, he has been pretty decent, even with the injuries.

        Reply
        • Jason_F

          15 years ago

          I think you have the base salaries wrong…he is getting $5M per season (09-10), with the incentives being added to that figure. From what I can tell, he hasn’t reached any of those incentives.

          Reply
  3. niched

    15 years ago

    Koji is an injury risk, but when he’s healthy he is really good. I’m sure the O’s want him back next year as a late inning reliever/closer.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Bobby Jenks Passes Away

    Braves Release Alex Verdugo

    Clarke Schmidt Expected To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Top 40 Trade Candidates For The 2025 Deadline

    Rays Reinstate Ha-Seong Kim

    Yankees Have Shown Interest In Ryan McMahon

    Brandon Woodruff To Start For Brewers On Sunday

    Royals Interested In Bryan Reynolds

    Rangers Option Josh Jung

    Kevin Pillar Announces Retirement

    Braves Place Spencer Schwellenbach On IL With Elbow Fracture

    Giants Exercise 2026 Option On Manager Bob Melvin

    Yordan Alvarez Shut Down Due To Setback With Hand Injury

    Astros Place Jeremy Peña On Injured List With Fractured Rib

    Tucker Barnhart To Retire

    Tyler Mahle To Be Sidelined Beyond Trade Deadline

    Reds Release Jeimer Candelario

    Dave Parker Passes Away

    Griffin Canning Diagnosed With Ruptured Achilles

    Pirates Reportedly Have Very Few Untouchable Players At Trade Deadline

    Recent

    Giants Place Erik Miller On IL, Select Scott Alexander

    Yankees Sign Jeimer Candelario To Minor League Deal

    Giants Activate Matt Chapman, DFA Sergio Alcantara

    Nationals Reinstate Mason Thompson From 60-Day IL

    Bobby Jenks Passes Away

    Rangers To Sign Rowdy Tellez To Minor League Deal

    Yankees Likely To Promote Cam Schlittler

    Astros Sign Hector Neris

    Dodgers Not Planning To Add Third Base Help Before Deadline

    Braves Release Alex Verdugo

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Sandy Alcantara Rumors
    • Luis Robert Rumors
    • Alex Bregman Rumors

     

    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version