Ryota Igarashi To Sign With Pirates

by Charlie Wilmoth on Dec 14, 2011 9:52 PM EST

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 08: Ryota Igarashi #18 of the New York Mets reacts as he walks back to the dugout after being taken out of the game after loading the bases in the top of the eighth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field on September 8, 2011 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Christopher Pasatieri/Getty Images)

The Pirates will sign reliever Ryota Igarashi to a minor-league deal. Igarashi threw hard and walked way too many batters for the Mets in the last two seasons. He'll be 33 early in the season. He's a righty, so it's hard to imagine he'll break camp with the team - I would imagine he'd be behind Chris Leroux and Jared Hughes, and neither of those guys are guaranteed spots, due to the Pirates' depth in righty relievers. But we may see Igarashi in Pittsburgh at some point.

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Jon Heyman

has reported the Pirates are still interested in Lee, he didn’t use the word “may”. My understanding was the Bucs decided to go in another direction, or it was a mutual decision. I haven’t seen Lee’s name connected with another team yet, and the Fielder situation may not be resolved until January or later. If Lee is waiting on Fielder, that could be a mistake.

by SteelStealth on Dec 14, 2011 10:03 PM EST reply actions

So wait..

you thought there was no chance Lee was coming back and Heyman’s report leads you to believe otherwise?

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by McCutchenIsTheTruth on Dec 14, 2011 10:08 PM EST up reply actions

Don't know what to think

I’m discombobulated at this point.

by SteelStealth on Dec 14, 2011 10:37 PM EST up reply actions

Sounds like the opposite

Though of course I can’t speak for someone else. It sounds from the tweet that the team has decided they will not be signing Lee, whether it was a mutual decision or not.

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by glass0941 on Dec 14, 2011 10:46 PM EST up reply actions

Well

good. At this point, with McGeehe, Evans, and presumably Jones in the fold, I’d rather get the drat pick.

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Shenanigans

by McCutchenIsTheTruth on Dec 15, 2011 2:21 AM EST up reply actions

Wonder if Igarashi is being signed to try to attract Wei-Yin Chen to sign a contract. Anyone know if they have a history together?

by God Loves on Dec 14, 2011 10:51 PM EST reply actions

I can't imagine any connection at all.

Igarashi played for the Yakult Swallows and Chen has been a member of the Chunichi Dragons the past several years. They competed against each other in the same 6-team league. Also, Igarashi is Japanese and Chen is Taiwanese.

パトリック

by patthatt on Dec 14, 2011 10:56 PM EST up reply actions

I remember having some good discussions about Igarashi before he signed with the Mets.

I never thought he would be any good in the majors with his high-effort delivery and the way he exposes the ball. I believe others like Vlad and dtodd felt the same way.

As Charlie points out, he will probably be there for organizational depth and could very well see some time in Pgh. over the long season, but I’m hoping it will be very little.

パトリック

by patthatt on Dec 14, 2011 11:00 PM EST reply actions

I think I may have been more in the “not sure” camp, but I can confirm that Pat absolutely called it right.

by Vlad on Dec 15, 2011 10:10 AM EST via mobile up reply actions

It's great to have the Toyota Irrigation on the team.

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by IAPiratesFan on Dec 15, 2011 7:23 AM EST reply actions

Give me a ham fighter any day

by mocasdad on Dec 15, 2011 12:23 PM EST up reply actions

not the Zero

Players who should be in the Hall of Fame: Pat TIllman, Dwight White, Donnie Shell, L.C. Greenwood, Ray Guy, Steve Tasker, Jack Butler, Greg Lloyd, Andy Russell, Cris Carter, Kevin Greene, Curtis Martin, Willie Roaf, Andre Reed and Jerry Kramer
"Back in my day we killed five hookers and thought nothing of it" Craig James

by WVPiratesfan on Dec 15, 2011 2:17 PM EST up reply actions

He is fine for AAA

We have some serious pen depth, I hope we trade Hanrahan soon.

Should the Pirates keep Neal Huntington?

http://www.bucsdugout.com/2011/5/16/2174135/poll-should-huntington-be-retained

by Kosstic518 on Dec 15, 2011 7:33 AM EST via mobile reply actions

we have a solid AAA rotation as well...

Lincoln, Owens, Locke, Martis, McPherson… the pen looks to have Wilson, Moskos, Hughes, Morris, Igarashi, maybe Leroux

the infield should have Hague, d’arnaud, mercer, harrison and fryer/morales behind the dish.
outfield of marte, hernandez, boggs with fox pretty much playing everywhere.

the Indians could compete for the AAA title with that talent

by white angus on Dec 15, 2011 8:20 AM EST up reply actions

It is shaping up pretty well at AAA

I know most people think it doesn’t matter, but I like have competitive teams in the minor leagues to get players experience playing in a post-season format, plus getting them more ABs against presumably higher than league average competition. The AAA may even be improved from what you have listed, the off season isn’t over yet.

Should the Pirates keep Neal Huntington?

http://www.bucsdugout.com/2011/5/16/2174135/poll-should-huntington-be-retained

by Kosstic518 on Dec 15, 2011 9:23 AM EST up reply actions

part of me thinks that Sanchez may break camp with Indy too. he could stick around with Cole in altoona but i doubt it

by white angus on Dec 15, 2011 11:44 AM EST up reply actions

I'm higher on Sanchez than most people on this website probably.

I’m fine with him starting in either AA or AAA. If I had to pick one I’d pick AA but I would have him in AAA before the end of the year.

Should the Pirates keep Neal Huntington?

http://www.bucsdugout.com/2011/5/16/2174135/poll-should-huntington-be-retained

by Kosstic518 on Dec 15, 2011 1:06 PM EST up reply actions

for the record

It hurts NOTHING to send him to AA (except perhaps an ego).

If he starts there and does what he is supposed to, he wouldn’t be there long before he is on his way.

by insane_sanity on Dec 15, 2011 1:37 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah, I like Sanchez a lot

But he deserves to start in AA. Nobody ever got hurt by having to spend April earning a promotion.

by JRoth95 on Dec 15, 2011 2:38 PM EST up reply actions

Good point.

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by cocktailsfor2 on Dec 15, 2011 3:01 PM EST up reply actions

agreed

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by Mark_Hanna on Dec 16, 2011 11:28 AM EST via Android app up reply actions

Semi-honestly

That AAA lineup might be better than some of the worse Pittsburgh clubs we’ve had. Fewer black holes, anyway – nearly every position is filled by a guy who could (probably) hold his own in the bigs, at least in the short term. More than you could say for Bixler, or JVB, or Eldred….

by JRoth95 on Dec 15, 2011 9:38 AM EST up reply actions

"Igarashi threw hard"

So you’re saying Iggy has some pop?

by bucdaddy on Dec 15, 2011 9:44 AM EST reply actions 6 recs

Winnar.

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by cocktailsfor2 on Dec 15, 2011 9:48 AM EST up reply actions

Ditto.

by sanny manguillen on Dec 15, 2011 9:56 AM EST up reply actions

I wanna be your dog

by bucdaddy on Dec 15, 2011 1:04 PM EST up reply actions

Has there been any team that can co mpete with the trio of Kuwata, Iwamura, and Igarashi?

by sanny manguillen on Dec 15, 2011 9:56 AM EST reply actions

I don’t get it. What’s so amusing about his name? Maybe I just don’t get it because I’m in Japan and see Japanese names all the time, but it doesn’t make sense to me. It’s a normal name?

by thecheeseisblue on Dec 15, 2011 12:39 PM EST up reply actions

i got a rashi?

by white angus on Dec 15, 2011 1:15 PM EST up reply actions

Iggy Pop was a rock musician

My “trio” comment meant nothing about the names. I was wondering if any other team had come up with three imports from Japan who all struggled with replacement level.

by sanny manguillen on Dec 15, 2011 1:27 PM EST up reply actions

a lot of imports from Japan struggle

Besides Igarashi himself, the Mets had Kaz Matsui (whose third year was so bad it nearly wiped out his value from the first two) and Ken Takahashi (who was actually good but was older than Kuwata). Tsuyoshi Shinjo was decent for them in his debut, but then they brought him back to OPS .483. And Satoru Komiyama put up -0.5 WAR (bbRef) for them in 43.1 innings. They’ve had a lot of Japanese players.

Maybe a better qualifier is the A’s, who got approximately replacement-level pitching from Keiichi Yabu, but who actually gave 36 PAs to Iwamura after we did — and he was significantly worse for them — and who picked up Hideki Matsui at the end of his career — not that he was so terrible, but a DH who’s below-average with the bat isn’t providing much value.

Most of these guys haven’t had the concentrated suckage that Iwamura and Kuwata did for us, though. Hm.

(I don’t have this info in my brain, I’m just looking here and here.)

Not actually affiliated with whygavs.

by WHYG Zane Smith on Dec 15, 2011 4:39 PM EST up reply actions