Intent on fortifying their bullpen for the 2018 season, the Cardinals have interest in Japanese closer Yoshihisa Hirano, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Set to turn 34 years of age next March, Hirano has long been a dominant closer in Japan, amassing 143 saves with a 2.62 ERA, 9.4 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 through 271 1/3 innings from 2013-17. Hirano started his career in the Buffaloes’ rotation, and like many starters who struggle early in their career eventually found new life as a member of the Orix bullpen. Since shifting to a relief role full time in 2010, he owns a 2.32 ERA and a 564-to-123 K/BB ratio in 515 1/3 innings, although this season’s 7.5 K/9 mark was his lowest since becoming a full-time reliever.
Hirano easily exceeds the age and experience limitations to qualify as a professional under Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement, meaning he won’t be subject to international bonus pools. He’s also spent 11 seasons pitching professionally in Japan (all with the Buffaloes), giving him the requisite service time in Nippon Professional Baseball to qualify as a free agent that is exempt from the posting system. In other words, Hirano is free to sign with any professional club on the planet for any amount this offseason.
The Cardinals are no stranger to dipping into the international market to bolster their relief corps, having done so two offseasons ago when signing right-hander Seung-hwan Oh. Certainly, their level of interest figures to be preliminary at this stage. The NPB season is still in progress over in Japan, and the Cardinals have no way of knowing exactly what type of contract Hirano will be seeking, nor do they know how he’ll fit in alongside the asking prices of the upcoming winter’s crop of free-agent relievers. Given his success in the Orix bullpen over the past several seasons, however, Hirano will be a name worth remembering as the offseason wears on and teams explore all possible avenues to deepen their pitching staffs.
Other teams figure to at least kick the tires on Hirano this offseason, as they’ve had no shortage of opportunities to scout the righty over his lengthy NPB career. C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer doesn’t explicitly state that the Reds have interest in Hirano, though he does note (Twitter link) that GM Dick Williams’ most recent trip to Japan was likely for the purposes of scouting more than just Shohei Otani, specifically listing Hirano as an example of another player that Williams could have been evaluating.
Ok. Why Cardinals want “Japan” closer? He any good? I hope not because Cardinals not my favorite team.
The way you express yourself with the lack of the English language makes me happy the Cardinals aren’t your favorite team.
Is grammar not your favorite either.
They’re interested because they know that elite or even just good MLB closers won’t come cheap. They’d rather pay a lot less and hope you produces at a similar level to the one he has in Japan.
They should go for real relievers lol
What qualifies a reliever as a real reliever?
Not even a Cardinals guy, but Oh was very good, until Matheny used him more than Papelbon was ever used.
They always go for the over the hill Japanese players Lmmfao smh
Always? You mean two players equals always?
Based on his statistics, he’s essentially like a step below Oh. He’s 2 years older, has posted lower strikeout rates, and higher WHIPs
Based on the fact that I know Boston among other teams (excluding StL.) are interested, I would imagine that he gets a major league deal slightly below what Oh got. My expectation is either 1-yr/$2.5m with a club option for $5m or 2-yr/$4m (down from Oh’s 2/5.25m)
A lot of speculation from someone who reads stats
Way to aim high Mo! Surely we can do better for the bullpen, which besides Matheny’s horrible mismanagement, needs major improvement. Please get a real MLB proven closer, just pay the money, we all know you have it. If you had made a trade for more bullpen help at the deadline, we could have been getting ready for a wild card game tonight. Mo and Girsch need to just accept what we all know: the Cardinals are just not a playoff team without making some major moves. Start the improvement by signing Nicasio. That was a shrewd move, but you need to make a few more or we will be finishing third for a few more years…..
This exact same team with a real manager at the helm could have snuck into the playoffs the last two years.
oh no, not again
As I said before… They are only bla bla bla… until the fan stop going to the stadium they gonna really get some good players… fire Mo fire Matheny and fire all who can’t bat a ball.
So what kind of stats does he have against mlb players? You know, the best players in the world! Oh yeah, he doesn’t have any.
Is this to suggest you would be opposed to signing any international player? That seems like a poor business plan
Well, Shohei Otani doesn’t either, but I would rather have him over someone like Wade Miley.
And they don’t have stats on him so your point is?
My point is the Cardinals have already done this once and it didn’t pan out so why do it again????
It did quite well the first year. Are all fans so forgetful? Must be the millennial disease.
many npb teams have former mlb players, so he’s faced some.
I actually would be happy with this acquisition. This doesn’t automatically make him the closer. I actually would anticipate that going to Nicasio, as Oh didn’t come in as a closer with struggling Rosenthal. He’d probably be 8th, 9th on days Nicasio can’t play. Plus you have Lyons.
I also am for resigning Oh. He has a good track record overseas, plus every pitcher gets a bad season. I feel the new pitching staff (whoever that may be) may be able to return him to his original state. Would be cheap, familiar.
Oh wants to leave, and that’s fine. Overpaying for top relievers has never been cards way. In winning years or bad ones. This would be low risk and cards have several options in house to improve bullpen. Alcantara, waino, flaherty, Reyes will all be candidates to improve bullpen. Resign nicasio, pick up hirano, plus Lyons, bowman, brebbia, waino, Reyes, alcantara and Cecil would be more than enough for a good bullpen without paying anyone near Chapman, Jansen, melancon type money. Then Reyes can mic on as starter later in season which would keep his innings down. Money can be saved to improve position players. Sounds like smart plan to me.
Just overpaying for Brett Cecils. Jokes aside, I agree with most of this however I’d still like them to make a run at Colomé.