Marwin Gonzalez is heading to Japan, having agreed a deal to join the Orix Buffaloes, according to Yahoo Japan. The MVP Sports Group client will take home a $1.5MM salary, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
Gonzalez, 34 in March, spent the 2022 season as a utility option off the bench for the Yankees, slashing .185/.255/.321 with six home runs across 207 plate appearances. While the bat didn’t really show up, the veteran was generally a positive contributor on defense, appearing at every position bar catcher and center-field.
That’s generally been the case for Gonzalez over a 12-year big league career that saw him spend his first seven seasons in Houston, and then stints in Minnesota and Boston, before a return to Houston and a season in the Bronx this year. Outside of a .303/.377/.530 year in 2017, the switch-hitting Gonzalez has never been an elite hitter, and owns a career .252/.310/.399 line. He’s made up for that with his defensive strength and versatility though, and has compiled 11.1 fWAR over his career.
The production’s been in decline for a few years though, and since 2020 Gonzalez has hit just .198/.272/.313 with a steady increase in strikeouts. That’s been good for a wRC+ of just 63, or 37% below the league average. That period’s also seen Gonzalez bounce around the league a bit, suiting up for four different teams during that time. 2020 saw him play out the second year of a two-year, $21MM deal with the Twins, before he inked a one-year, $3MM pact with the Red Sox in 2021. Boston designated him for assignment late in the season, and he returned to Houston that year to serve as a bench piece down the stretch. The Yankees signed him to a minor league deal last winter, but were impressed enough in spring training to add him to the big league roster on opening day, and he held his spot all season.
The Buffaloes are the defending NPB champions, having won the Japan Series 4-2 over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows this year, their second straight season playing in the Japan Series.
I didn’t think Japan allowed cheaters into the country…?
HAHAHAHA SO original Someone sign this guy!
At least he’s honest about it in his handle.
Hank – Yeah he coulda gone with “Good thing they have metal trash cans in Japan” or something like that.
We ain’t down with cheating’, we down with chillin’. Peace.
Good for Gonzalez but also good for MLB. He looked like a minor league in Sox and Yankee uniforms of late. His only true decent season was in 17…
I wonder why that was?
A very appropriate screen name there.
Well I figured it was a step above “Wow.” There is only so much creativity at 6am.
Seems like more former major leaguers signing in Japan than usual this offseason. Are they allowing more foreigners on teams now? I know there used to be a small limit like two or three per team.
That limit is still in place
Reds – There was actually far more last year because of the labor dispute.
Yakult Swallows
Always a chuckle when i see this teams name in an article.
Have a friend that travels overseas. I believe it was Hong Kong where there was a sign in a hotel “you are invited to take advantage of the hostess.” I think some things are lost in translation lol.
What hotel?…
I do not recall, it was a few years ago. Maybe I should ask her.
I do remember asking her if she did though lol.
2017 was his best season. Imagine that.
Everytime I see you name it reminds me of fraggle rock.
That’s what it’s from.
oh! love that show growing up
Was Red Fraggle a boy or a girl or are Fraggles unisex/non-gender conforming or what have you…? I was never able to watch the show myself, it was on HBO and that was like for the rich kids when I was a kid lol. I had community access and maybe Nik at Night.
Red Fraggle was the girl fraggle.
2017 Was a career year for Gonzalez, but it was an outlier. That year made me keep him in my virtual (fantasy sounds kinda pervy) team….mistake.
Good luck Marwin.
Carlos Cheater Correa, CCC next?
Interesting screen name. A poor take, IMO, but an interesting screen name.
Great take
Depends on the position really. It’s atrocious at capturing the true value of catchers because it way way undervalues defense, but it works for less defensively challenging positions. The DH in particular is really easy to capture with WAR since it’s so offense dominant
Defensive WAR is stupid, because it’s not even WAR. They set the “replacement level” at league-average defense, arbitrarily.
No, it’s logical to think that replacement level defensive WAR is league average. If you’re putting in a replacement player, the expectation is that he would at least be average defensively. That’s probably why he’s a replacement player. If he’s average offensively, he’s not a replacement level player.
Good move for Gonzalez. He qualified for a full MLB pension last year when he accrued 10+ years of service time. I’m guessing his plan now is to take the largest guaranteed salary he can get?
Oscar – well written and informative….nice job!
Every single year, Brian Cashman manages to use the Yankee lineup to showcase a couple of candidates for KBO and NPB. What a genius.
Defense only guys go oversees or back to the minor leagues. That 2017 season, though…
Yep. His trashcan assisted batting skills really showed up that year.
Wasn’t Marwin Gonzalez the dude who was captured in the dugout making his eyes slanted in a way of mocking Yu Darvish? If so, I hope his new teammates have a short memory.
He is the guy who broke up Darvish’s perfect game (no hitter?) in the 9th inning with 1 out and a 1-2 count. He hit a grounder on a slider that a shift would have turned into an out, as it was up the middle. I was watching the whole game. He was an anemic guy at the plate, which is even worse. It sucks to see this, and I would rather watch a full no hitter or a perfect game live (by the same pitcher) than see Texas win a World Series. Maybe that’s just me.
No. You have your Hispanic players confused … as you’re complaining about racism.
Thank you for kind of correcting me but wasn’t making a complaint. Just a question. Also for the record, I hate everyone equally. Race has nothing to do with it.
“Also for the record, I hate everyone equally. Race has nothing to do with it.”
Well said…..that is my usual offering as well…
@IronBalls I believe it was Yuli Gurriel making the slant eve.
As an Asian, I really don’t get the issue with that. Darvish wasn’t even offended, and MLB should let players settle things instead of doing stuff like that. He was Hispanic, and yet they still have to make a big thing of it? I think it was in the playoffs (World Series?), and it really took away from the actual baseball. Plenty of people make jokes like that. This guy just got unlucky enough to be on TV when he did.
His only good season as a batter was the trash banging saga.
He should have gone on Sesame Street.
“One of these things is not like the others”.
I guess they’re replacing Breyvic Valera with Marwin. Seems like a bit of a wash, not much change. Just additions to the bench players Decent landing spot with Orix, in hopes that they can make it back to the championship in 2023.
Marwin hit .326 on the road in 2017 ( no cheating) and .282 at home ( cheating). He also hit his HR which stunned the Dodgers in the World Series on the road in LA.
To think they didn’t cheat on the road is hilarious and naive.
DTD, as a non-astro fan, am tired of the the lame cheating jokes and astro apologists……
You post is spot on and funny…..
To think the Astros were/are the only Team that cheats is equally hilarious and naive
If you get pulled over while speeding, don’t use the excuse “Well, everyone else was speeding too”. It won’t get you anywhere.
Can you show me where I said the Astros are the only team that cheated?
MLB’s report showed no evidence of cheating on the road. So if we stick to the facts and acknowledge they cheated at home in 2017, then we need to stick to the facts when it comes to the road. And by the way the Stros had a better road record in 2017 than at home. The cheating was what it was but let’s not make up things.
Forgive me if I don’t trust MLB reports considering their punishment for the Astros was laughable. Admitting that it was on the road also would’ve hurt the popularity of the sport even more.
stroh – You are 100% wrong. The trashcan banging wasn’t used on the road, but they still cheated in away games.
https://nationalpost.com/pmn/sports-pmn/report-astros-sign-stealing-extended-to-road-games-too
There is not a shred of evidence based on NY Post reporting. This has as much basis as juiced balls contributing to Judge’s HRs this year. If we are to believe MLB on the juiced balls we need to believe the MLB report on 2017.
He is a product of the cheating, period.
Marwin sucks
Yakult Swallows
Marwin > Merlin > Marvin
Big deal he sucked last 3 years
I bet he hits 35 hr over there this year. And then comes back stateside and hits .183.
How does some stuff ever get published? I just read this on Inside the Red Sox on S.I.:
“After underwhelming stints with the Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros and New York Yankees, utility man Marwin González is headed to play Nippon Professional Baseball for the Orix Buffaloes on a one-year, $1.5 million deal according to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman.”
Marwin was underwhelming after he left the Astros, but he compiled a very decent 103 wRC+ and 102 OPS+ with Houston, and 11.7 bWAR and 9.4 fWAR, the latter equaling Salvador Perez in 873 fewer plate appearances. That’s certainly not “underwhelming.”
Good luck to him in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Also, Marwin played for two years in Minnesota, which this writer failed to mention.
The bench players get the assignments around holidays while the starting lineup takes much deserved time off.