Another japanese pitcher signs with Boston

[Schwarber Fan]

BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox announced that the team has signed free agent righthanded pitcher Takashi Saito to a one-year contract through the 2009 season with a club option for 2010. No further terms were disclosed.

 

How long until their entire pitching staff is japanese?

[mdwilla]

He would have be a nice gamble for the back of the end of the pen , and to give Fukodome a friend.

[EnduringFaith]

for 1.5-2.5 million... I think we missed out.

[Guest]

An incentive-laden contract like that is a good idea.

[SweetZombieJesus]

ugh jesus another good move hendry completely missed the boat on.

[Cubswin11]

I remember reading an article about his injury during the playoff series with the Dodgers. He basically needed to have TJ surgery to repair his injury, but at his age he didn't want to do it and have to rehab, so he decided to have a experimental procedure. They did some sort of a procedure where they injected plasma into his elbow, it was the first time it was ever done on a pitcher and the doctor didn't even know if it would work, or for how long it would help him be able to pitch. So it sounds there is some pretty significant risk with him.

 

Saito credited his unlikely recovery from a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow that he suffered in July to a cutting-edge medical procedure, which, to his knowledge, had never been tried on a major league pitcher.

To this day, team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache can’t definitively say that injecting platelet-rich plasma into Saito’s elbow is what allowed him to avoid Tommy John surgery. ElAttrache also won’t guarantee how long the elbow will hold up or that Saito won’t have to have surgery in the future.

 

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/oct/03/sports/sp-dodfyi3

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Everything I've seen is that Saito's arm is hamburger meat, I don't think this is a particularly shrewd move or one that the Cubs should've made.

[SweetZombieJesus]

Everything I've seen is that Saito's arm is hamburger meat, I don't think this is a particularly shrewd move or one that the Cubs should've made.

 

Then why did Boston sign him?

[RedFlash]

Everything I've seen is that Saito's arm is hamburger meat, I don't think this is a particularly shrewd move or one that the Cubs should've made.

 

Then why did Boston sign him?

 

Short answer, it's what teams do. Boston thinks Saito has something left, and if they can keep him healthy, IMO which could be doutful, he could provide an upgrade over what they got currently in the bullpen. This is simillar to the Cubs signing Chad Fox, the difference, Saito when healthy is actually.....you know....good.

[Clem Fandango]

The last time someone took a chance on a player who had an experimental medical procedure that guy ended up hitting a home run to send his team to the world series

 

[/bad comparison]