The Tigers announced today that the contract of first baseman/DH Dean Green has been sold to the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Presumably, Green has negotiated a salary with his new organization for the 2017 season.
Green, 27, is a former 11th-round draft pick who has played in the upper minors in Detroit’s system over the last several seasons. He has not yet reached the majors, and would again have been eligible for the Rule 5 draft had he not been moved to Japan. In all likelihood, though, his major league prospects weren’t great. He has spent most of his time in the minors serving as a DH, and has never played any position in the field other than first base.
Still, there’s a lot to like about Green’s bat. He mashed at Double-A (as he had over the prior two seasons) and kept things up following a call-up to Triple-A last year, posting a cumulative .296/.356/.500 batting line with 23 home runs over 534 plate appearances.
The last they’ve seen of Dean Green? Wonder what could have been.
Boo bad pun, he was a pretty decent player in the system it’s just he couldn’t play defense.
I saw him down in Toledo, he has a decent swing
So you’re saying from what you’ve seen, Dean Green had a decent swing?
Mean swing
The NL getting a DH would prevent stuff like this from happening.
While I could get onboard with the NL adopting the DH in conjunction with a few other rule changes, the twenty-something incapable of playing enough defense at 1B to get an MLB audition represents the perfect case against the DH.
With a few notable exceptions, I just don’t find all-hit, no-glove players stashed at DH all that exciting to watch. Nor do I believe in most cases that extending an older player’s career by playing him over 2/3 of his team’s games at DH all that satisfying either.
What are your thoughts on the 99% of pitchers being incapable of hitting enough at the MLB level? That is why the DH spot is in existence. Not to make a spot for weak defenders or to extend the careers of aging players, but to prevent us all from having to watch guys batting .114 on a regular basis.
That being said, this Thanksgiving, I will be thankful that Bartolo Colon plays in the NL.
“I just don’t find all-hit, no-glove players stashed at DH all that exciting to watch.”
I didn’t ask and don’t care what you find exciting? Everyone is different! I for one, love watching professional baseball players hit in MLB. I have no idea why you would find the fact that the professional player hitting is currently not playing horrible defense when the inning ends. How does that even work? Do you go
“YES ROBBIE CANO! GREAT HITTING, AWESOME SINGLE TO LEFT!!! Oh great here’s Nelson Cruz, excuse me while I nod off over here, BOR-RING!”
Because that sounds to me like you are either crazy or don’t know how to properly watch baseball!
Paul Molitor was an outstanding DH who had his career extended by being able to do awesomely well the hardest thing in all of pro sports, hit a round ball with a round bat – and to me that’s what’s being lost here when you hear these old people or people who worship old narratives talk about when they talk about not allowing the DH to be in both leagues, or getting rid of it altogether. Hitting is -extremely hard- to do, so lets get those who are good at it to do it instead of those who can’t.
Also, I love how relief pitching is A-ok by the anti-DH crowd, when it’s the exact same concept.
The DH isn’t going away, and while I don’t see why people are fighting for bad tradition they are going to fight it. So I would offer this suggestion.
Let the home team decide if they are going to play with the DH in both leagues for each game.
Most of the time you’ll likely have the DH, but when you have someone like Bumgarner starting that would give you a advantage.
It is getting to the point where most pitchers can’t hit .200, most of them can’t even bunt any more.
I rather see a hitter, then watch the manager correctly do a double switch.
I also think the DH gives the AL a real advantage when it comes to signing hitters (though the NL likely has that advantage when it comes to pitchers so I suppose it evens out) and the DH also allows teams to semi-rest players.
Having two rules for each league would be like the AFC deciding to protect quarterbacks there would be a 12th player on the field who defenses would have to tackle instead of the quarterback.
I can watch baseball however I want to watch baseball. Thanks
Setting assessments of my sanity and/or ability to “properly watch baseball” aside for the moment, I did say that I favor adoption of the DH in the National League provided it is done in conjunction with other rule changes to ensure that offense is stimulated in the right measure in both leagues.
Molitor, Ortiz, and a handful of other players definitely qualify as exciting players. And pitchers as a group have reached woeful levels of ineptitude at the plate. The pros of having a DH outweigh the cons for the majority of fans, and I’m totally fine with that and agree that it’s time to adopt the DH in the NL.
Given how seldom MLB has made significant rule changes, I do believe serious consideration should be given to roster size, the continued use or limits on the use of shifts, and any number of game-length motivated rules at the same time the decision is made to adopt the DH.
So again, I say yes to the DH… but more for the reason that Dookie pointed out than the new opportunities it would afford all-DH-all-the-time types, and only if it’s implemented as part of a cohesive set of decisions that in my opinion would include a DH in both leagues and no limits on defensive shifts and adoption of a three-batter rule for relievers to ensure the offensive bump in both leagues that so many fans would like to see.
Is this something that the player usually has to agree to? Who initiates these potential transactions? Do player’s agents make the suggestion, then shop them around Japan or Korea? Do the NPB or KBO teams have scouts over here regularly? What kind of contract is realistic for Mean Dean Green?
Yes, the player would agree to the move (including a contract). It can be somewhat agent-driven, but those teams do scout the upper minors and certainly aren’t just taking what they can get. Choosing foreign players is a big deal for them b/c there are caps on the number.
Players get an opportunity to play at a big stage, earn more money than in the minors, and possibly spur a return. Salaries vary a good deal, but even guys who were marginal MLB candidates can earn in the upper hundreds of thousands on through to several million annually.
Look at all the formerly-bad MLB players, who definitely wouldn’t be making 2+ million in MLB, on this list:
http://nbakki.hatenablog.com/entry/Top_30_Salaries_of_NPB_(Japan_Professional_Baseball)_Players_in_2016
Some fun names to note: Hiroki Kuroda was the oldest player in the NPB last year and made the most money, $5.6M, and our old friend Daisuke Matsuzaka made $3.7M. Closer (and guy to keep an eye on in regards to moving back even though he’s 35+) Dennis Scott Sarfate was a top two salary with $4.6M.
Balentien was also making $3.3M last year, and he says he wants to come back to MLB, but would he accept a pay cut? Or would a team give him the same money? He seems like a decent risk-play.
Yeah, lots of guys who weren’t quite able to keep MLB roster spots succeed there. And some (eg Vogelsong) come back and revive MLB careers.
Personally, had I been a not-quite-MLB quality player — rather than a not-quite low-level college quality player, ha — I’d have loved to have taken a shot at playing a big role on a Japanese team. Just sounds like a lot of fun.
I agree on Balentien. He’s still young enough to take the paycut to try MLB and still go back for a few more seasons of NPBL if his run at the majors was unsuccessful..
This topic fascinates me for some reason. I want to live in the alternate universe where Kevin Millar went through with playing in Japan instead of getting poached by Boston. The thought of that man wandering around Tokyo makes my heart sing.
It is very cool. Japan, Korea, even Taiwan are all available for guys and I think there’s an increasing awareness of that — both as a path for earnings and as an interesting and profitable career re-routing. It seems that everyone isn’t cut out for it, which isn’t surprising and is also true to an extent of players who come here from other countries. Lots of challenges, lots of opportunities, but we’re all wired differently.