Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast - Effectively Wild Episode 1145: The Reigning-MVP Podcast

Episode Date: December 5, 2017

Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about the latest Giancarlo Stanton and Shohei Ohtani news, speculate about why some teams reportedly didn’t try to sign Ohtani, and discuss the Yankees’ surprising hiring of Aaron Boone. Then they bring on former (and future?) MLB pitcher and current Fukuoka Softbank Hawks closer Dennis Sarfate, the 36-year-old reigning […]

Yeah, I'm gonna try, yeah Just a little bit harder So I can show, show, show him Love with no control Hey! I'm waiting so long For someone so fine I ain't gonna lose my chance

No, I don't wanna lose it Ain't gonna lose my chance, no I don't wanna lose it Ain't gonna lose my time To make you mine, oh man Alright, get out! Hello and welcome to episode 1145 of Effectively Wild, a baseball podcast from Fangraphs presented by our Patreon supporters. I am Ben Lindberg of The Ringer, joined by Jeff Sullivan of FanCrafts. Hello. Hello.

So we have a treat lined up for us and hopefully for you later in this episode. We will be talking to the reigning MVP of Japan's Pacific League, Dennis Sarfate, whom some of you may remember from his brief and fairly undistinguished stint in the majors about a decade ago, a little less, but he has gone on to become just an unhittable god in Japan. That is what people call him, as we will discuss with him soon. So it's a long conversation. It's all about how he ended up going over there, how he improved as a pitcher, his prospects for coming back over here. And naturally, we asked him about Takuya Nakashima as well as Shohei Otani. So plenty

to interest you in that conversation. And we'll get to that in just a few moments. We are coming closer, it seems, to the transactions that we've all been anticipating, but we are not there yet. We, all weekend, were subjected to updates on Shohei Otani and Junko Stanton. Nothing is certain as we speak, other than the fact that Stanton has met with the Cardinals and Giants and their proposals on the table, and the Marlins are apparently okay with them. He just has to approve them. And of course, as we've talked about before, he has lots of leverage here if he wants to hold out. And of course, Otani has narrowed down his choices to seven finalist teams that he is meeting with now.

Any takes, impressions from this kind of news, non-news? I feel bad for the A's because the other five West Coast teams are all finalists. And, you know, the A's are really in no worse spot than the Padres, but for the fact that they play in a horrible, horrible stadium. So I just feel bad for them being excluded from the list of finalists but otherwise I think the only really surprising thing to me about the Otani news like I didn't think he was going to go to the Red Sox I didn't think he was going to go to the Twins definitely didn't think he was actually going to go to the A's we uh we got a tweet confirmation that the Reds are out but I think we could have lived

without that tweet probably turns out according to Darren Willman of Baseball Savant the Reds are I think the only major league team that's never had a Japanese player so I didn't know that but in any case of course the big news was also the first news we got that was that the Otani is not going to the Yankees which yeah a lot of people I would say maybe it was uninformed speculation I don't really know what to say but a lot of people chose to pick the Yankees as the favorites and I remember seeing some tweets I'm I don't really know what to say but a lot of people chose to pick the yankees as the favorites and i remember seeing some tweets i'm i don't know how to credit them it doesn't matter they probably don't want the credit some people said that the yankees were probably better than a 50 50 chance to get otani and i think maybe that was mostly because of the

endorsement opportunities of playing in new york and then we found out that well actually that size of the market specifically worked against the yankees in a way that it hasn't worked against anyone else Otani doesn't want to play in a market that big so whether that means he'd be comfortable in a market the size of Los Angeles since nearly every market is smaller than New York we don't know but the Yankees were were the big news and moving forward it's I mean I don't I don't know if Otani actually wants to sign with, like, the Padres, but the fact that they've made the list of finalists at all is certainly indicative. And we've got, what, three AL teams and four NL teams remaining. The Giants are meeting with Otani on Monday.

This could be a very big week for the Giants and their fans. So, yes, I don't know what this means about Otani being a DH or being a right fielder, but it kind of feels like this could be wrapped up by next weekend, maybe even in advance of the winter meetings, which begin on what, Sunday or Monday. Yeah. So it's the Dodgers, the Giants, Angels, Padres, Mariners, Rangers, and Cubs. And of course, Yankees fans are upset and are imputing his character and questioning his intestinal fortitude because he doesn't want to pitch in New York, which I think is quite unfair. Clearly, he is okay with pitching in very big moments in his native country. He is okay with coming to the majors. He is evidently okay with pitching in some

other pretty big markets and cities. So I'm going to guess that this was more of an East Coast, West Coast thing than New York specifically, But whatever, just because he doesn't want to go to the Yankees doesn't mean that there is some defect in his character that anyone should worry about. So I think maybe the most fascinating aspect of all of this, I mean, first of all, it's funny that this happened so quickly, right? Because teams were probably spending weeks, months. I mean, certainly the last week or so teams were cranking out these questionnaires, their responses to the seven questions. And just like in a day or two, he just tossed out most of the work that those teams do. He didn't even give it like a courtesy three or four days

to make it seem as if he had really been pouring over those things. I mean, I'm sure he and his agent at least took a look at all of those things, but probably somewhat demoralizing for teams that spent a lot of time and effort on these things and found out almost immediately that they weren't among the finalists. But I think the most fascinating thing was that it was reported that only 27 teams actually submitted responses to that questionnaire. And I think the Marlins came out and said that they wouldn't even want to pay the posting fee which is really i mean there's no more demoralizing news i would think even as the stanton trade talks progressed there's nothing more demoralizing than hearing that you wouldn't pay 20 million for a player who's worth like hundreds of millions i mean that's just but how do they suck worse how are

the marlins worse now i know we will probably when the stanton stuff happens we'll probably talk about that some more but i think it is kind of interesting that three teams evidently didn't even decide to participate here and i wonder why that was i wonder whether they had any indication that he just wasn't interested in those teams, whether the agent just told them, hey, you're not really in consideration here, or whether they just figured that they probably weren't in consideration. And I assume that one of those teams is the Marlins. I don't know if it's been confirmed what the other teams were, but obviously there were

some teams that were extreme long shots and probably had no chance and probably figured they had no chance. And so you can sort of understand why they wouldn't want to do this if they just about knew that they had no chance. But on the other hand, I mean, why would you not want to at least throw the lotto ticket in there? It doesn't cost you all that much just to submit responses to these surveys. And as we were discussing, I think when Tony was on the show, it's just, I mean, just from an eyewash angle, just from a looking like you're trying angle, I think Buster

Olney back in September said that just, you know, being interested in Otani was like the GM equivalent of running out of ground ball or something. Like it's just the basic thing that you're expected to do. And I don't even know if it's that because even with running out of ground ball you might say well it's you know you're keeping yourself healthy by saving your strength and not sprinting down the line every time i don't know what your defense is here even just from looking good for your fans who say well at least they tried they probably weren't going to get him but they put their hat in the ring and three teams evidently did not even do that i don't know what

the thinking is they're stupid it's stupid the marlins are stupid and whoever the other two teams are i don't think it's out i don't know if we can even speculate i guess we could kind of go process of elimination by fine figuring out where all the articles on mlb.com were written about like rays have a real chance at otani and then you just kind of go down the list and see who wasn't written about or who never issued any quotes i don't know but like if we can assume that even like the reds put in a questionnaire response then i just i under look if you're the marlins no team is further away from japan in the major leagues like you are you are it you know that you have basically no chance but you just go it's two hours of work on an afternoon that you just fill out the question.

It's just so it's so dumb. And it's not like it's not like the Marlins are thinking with their galaxy brand like, oh, all this time teams have spent thinking about Otani. We've been we've been pursuing other. No, you haven't been doing anything. You've been trying to trade Giancarlo San for all the money and all the prospects because you're stupid because this new ownership group is ridiculous and worse it's worse we'll talk about that soon like you said I'm sure but the only team I can really pick on here is Marlins because they're the only team we we know about but

as far as your initial point when you were talking about how these things were coming quickly and that some teams have even put in years like I think the the Rangers have basically been like devoted their last five years to just learning more about shohei otani for like this specific moment and and thankfully for them they're still involved but otherwise it's it's kind of like for for the 23 teams or certainly at least i don't know the yankees who were in there and and tried hard it's like you you think this year's rockies spent years building this team to try to get back in the race it's like look we have this young pitching staff we have like a core of position players we tweaked it a little bit with some free

agents and trade acquisitions and look we finally built a competitive team then they had their ups and downs but they hung in the race they stayed in the race they won a wild card spot and then they made the playoffs the rockies made it back to the playoffs and four hours later they lost the diamondbacks by three runs and a pitcher hit a triple so like it's just it was over or you were like the twins would be the same case except they they were, I don't know, more of a surprise. But all these teams basically just lost a one game playoff. And now they get to focus. Like imagine, imagine being a GM calling about another pitcher who's available.

Just like how, how sad is that phone call? Just being like, hey, is Jason Hamill available? Like who wants to have, like I would think that if you're a team who was eliminated from Otani on Sunday, just take Monday off. Just like stay home, watch a movie, have some ice cream and just kind of,

you need to rebound before you go about your business. Yeah. So we'll be talking about this a lot, probably in the next few episodes as we get some definite news. And I'm sure that the next week, week and a half is going to be very busy in baseball, which is quite a contrast to the last month plus, which has been the opposite of busy. But I think once Otani and Stanton are settled in some way and the winter meetings get going, I think we'll probably see

a whole lot of the backlog erased as teams sign some of the guys who they've been waiting on to see what would happen with Otani and Stanton. So that's sort of the silver lining for baseball fans. Yes, the last month plus has been pretty boring from a transaction perspective, but those moves have to be made at some point. So we'll be cramming those moves into a smaller timeframe. We've talked about how otani has a lot of like non-financial leverage here because he's so important and valuable but now think about the stanton negotiations from the dodgers perspective you know stanton would love to join you you know that you probably also wouldn't really want to trade much for stanton their competitive balance tax concerns and

everything the dodgers don't seem to be deeply involved right now but the dodgers also i don't think their roster needs much in the way of tweaking they're uh they're really good they're the best team in their division right now already but if if they were just telling stanton's camp like yeah yeah no no no we'll give you an answer like tomorrow well maybe we're gonna we're getting gonna get involved we just have to kind of talk it through and you just keep delaying it by like a day or two at a time you can just like ruin not only stan's offseason but like the giants offseason just holding them up basically forever because if stanton has any inkling that the dodgers could become involved he's going to hold out for the dodgers based on pretty much every indication

so the dodgers can basically screw their competition right now if they want to because they don't need to do that much yeah they should do that and yeah i mean just from a trolling perspective that's that's pretty valuable. So the only other notable news that happened over the weekend, or I guess on Friday, was the Yankees signing of Aaron Boone. And like most managerial moves, I don't think we have all that much to say about this one. It was somewhat surprising. I certainly did not expect Boone to be the pick when we were seeing the six or so names that were involved here. And even when we heard that it was evidently between Boone and Hensley Mullins, I think that Mullins was looked at as the favorite, obviously the more experienced candidate. just because he has not coached or managed at any level. He has been a national broadcaster and people hate all national broadcasters.

So they're immediately predisposed to dislike him. But I think we kind of come down on this where we come down on all managerial hirings and firings, which is that we don't know. And for a guy who has no experience, he has experience in that he is a third generation manager. He has obviously been around and learned from managers.

And a big part of the manager's job is interacting with the media. And Aaron Boone has been a member of the media for several years. He has obviously played in this market. So all those are positives. And it's, you know, it's risky, I guess. The Yankees have not hired a manager like this in something like 70 years. They did not have to do this. They could have stuck with Girardi, the proven option. They could have acquired some other proven option or more proven option.

And instead, they went with the least proven option. So there's risk that maybe they didn't have to take on. And I sort of thought that this model of manager was outmoded now that we had kind of seen it come and go with the various managers like this who have been hired, the Walt Weiss's and Robin Ventura's and Brad Osmus's and Mike Matheny's who have not really distinguished themselves and in most cases have already been let go or fired. And it seemed like we were maybe moving back toward experienced managers or younger guys who at least have some coaching and managing experience like the other managers who've been hired this winter. And so Boone is a departure from where I thought we were trending. So it's it's noteworthy in that sense.

Yeah. And I guess what Gabe Kapler is sort of experienced in that he has one year of experience. And yeah, been a manager, been a front office guy. Yeah, he's been involved. But this mainly just speaks to how the managerial role has changed, where managers used to be in control of basically everything. But baseball now has become so complicated that you can't really have a manager who's also making roster decisions or transaction decisions. Now, that hasn't really been the case for a while.

Managers will have their input based on the things they see on the field and around the clubhouse, but they're not really making those calls anymore. They haven't for a long time. And the Yankees' entire list of finalists was a list of people who had never managed in the major leagues before, right? Mulins was, I think, the closest thing having managed in the WBC. So it was immediately clear that the Yankees were, they just didn't really care about managerial record at all.

And I know we've given the Dodgers credit for being a brilliant and thorough front office. But like if the Yankees believe something, it's been thoroughly researched. They have great reasons for doing what they're doing. The Yankees, every decision they make is thought through from start to finish finish and the yankees very clearly arrived at the conclusion that they did not need an experienced manager to be able to handle the new york media circus which is the thing that everyone points to whenever the yankees are making a decision it's why everyone is picking on shohei otani now because they think he couldn't handle the circus which is sort of confirmation of maybe why he didn't want to play there in the first place.

But anyway, this is about Boone. We didn't know how he was going to do. But clearly, the Yankees are of the belief that a manager's job is to handle the media and get along with his players. And I guess that's kind of the takeaway. Whether or not it's going to work is probably going to come down to whether Luis Severino stays healthy and Aaron Judge hits 60 dingers. Right. Yeah. He's apparently a popular and personable guy and had an impressive interview. And we don't know Aaron Boone personally and weren't there when he was interviewed.

So there's only so much we can say about that. But I'm sure that they've done their research on him. And I can understand why it's tempting to want a manager who's kind of a blank slate and maybe doesn't have the expectation that he's going to be in charge of everything. And Yankees obviously have a big front office, big analytics department, and it's been frustrating for them at times as it has for many teams to see their recommendations not always be heated or just to have that kind of layer, that level of translation where things can get lost.

So you can certainly see why someone like Cashman, who's been GM for almost 20 years now, would want to be kind of the power player in that relationship and would want to sort of set terms. And who knows, maybe that was part of the arrangement. So it was surprising news and caused some consternation. And maybe from afar, it was not the most obvious or sensible choice, but the Yankees are not afar. They're right there in the room and probably have a better sense of these things than we do. So we can take a quick break now and we'll be back in just a moment with Dennis Arponte. So in our first ever, I believe, Effectively Wild interview with a reigning league MVP, we are joined by Dennis Sarfate of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

And if I could just read down this list of commendations that I was sent along, we have you won the Pacific League MVP for the month of August, which, of course, pales in comparison to the Pacific League MVP for the entire season. You won the Japan Seriesp award for the championship you won a commissioner's special award for uh setting the all-time saves record in fact blowing away the all-time saves record for the league and you are also the first ever foreign player to win the shiriki award and you were the first non-manager to win that award in 16 years so long list here but i think the uh the first question that comes out of this is,

would you have ever, if you were given a vote, would you have ever voted a closer for the league MVP? Man, you know, I talked to my dad about that towards the end of the year. He's a traditionalist too.

He said I wouldn't vote for it. He even told me that. You know, I have a hard time voting for a pitcher. A year like, I guess, like Masahiro Tanaka had in 2013 would be close to what I would vote for a pitcher. I think it, I guess, like Masahiro Tanaka had in 2013 would be close to what I would vote for a pitcher. I think it's a starting position players award. You know, the thing

they said about that, no, Japan's different because a reliever has absolutely zero chance of winning the Cy Young, the Sourmore award and how they do it there. So I don't know if I would ever vote for a closer or reliever at any point for an MVP for the season. But I mean, I'm definitely honored that they voted for me. So I'll take it. Yeah. And I guess we should also mention what three World Series or Japan Series titles in the last four years, which is pretty impressive.

And you've played pivotal roles on all those teams and all those series and capped them off with a game six performance this year where you went three innings, which is not something you typically do. I'm sure we'll ask you about that, but I guess we should rewind and fill everyone in on how you got here. And of course, people might remember your work in the majors back 2006 to 2009. And I know you were scouted, you were seen by a scout, I think in 2011, when you were pitching in AAA. So can you talk about how you ended up going over to Japan? Was this a tough sell for you? Well, yeah, I mean, I spent most of my career, you know, with the Brewers as a starter and, you know, always leaving the league and walks,

never really putting it together, put it together for a little bit in Houston for the last month of 07 and ended up getting traded to Baltimore. And I was like, man, I'm on this rollercoaster ride that just keeps going from city to city. But I never quite figured it out, you know, with my stuff. I had other things that kept me from getting better. I think personally, you know, I cared more about the outside world and the limelight than I cared about getting better. So in 2010, I got designated that right before spring training, went that year to Norfolk, AAA, felt better. I'd had surgery the year before, so I felt better for the first time in a while, put up really good numbers in it. And I got passed over a bunch of times that year for a really a struggling Orioles team that year that

probably I could have been called up a few times, but right. Yeah. You had good numbers that year. You were still walking guys, I guess. Yeah. I've always walked guys, you know, it was, it was a thing I threw hard and I would lose the zone and some days I would be really good at some days I'd be terrible, but, uh, I had a good, a decent year that year. And I just, I had an offer to go to Hiroshima and it was like either that or take guaranteed money. I'm, you know, I had a good, a decent year that year. And I just, I had an offer to go to Hiroshima and it was like either that or take guaranteed money. I'm a husband and a father of two, almost two kids. I guess my wife was pregnant with a second one. And I decided to take the route where I was going to provide more and not just be shuffled between AAA and the major leagues

or even have a chance to make the roster the next year. So I took the leap and decided to head to Japan. Yeah. Can you tell us what that financial decision was like, if you can remember? I don't know if you can tell us the exact numbers, but what kind of difference were you considering there when you were thinking about coming back to AAA or going to Japan? Well, yeah, I was lucky. You know, my last year in AAA, I had to make a percentage of what I made the year before. So I want to say I made something like $270,000 that year in AAA, which, geez, that's a lot of money.

And that year, the offer from the call-up was for, I believe, $700,000 base with a chance to make a lot more money in incentives. And I never knew guys got money for incentives. You know, I figured if you pitched well, it was the next year's contract. So when I heard you can make even more money for doing well, I was like, yeah, man, let's go do this. And, you know, for guaranteed 700,000, I've never made three quarters of a million dollars at that point in my career. And I just thought it was a good opportunity to get over there. And if I had a good year, I can stay there and maybe stay a couple of years and try and come back. But that was my thought process. Let's take care of my family and get some money in the bank and provide for that. As far as the financial decision you've just

explained, but of course, there's also the personal decision and you talk about supporting your family. But I understand when you were playing professional baseball at any level, you're spending a lot of time away from home. But if I'm not mistaken, your family but i understand when you were playing professional baseball at any level you're spending a lot of time away from home but if i'm not mistaken your family currently lives stateside and i don't know if they ever moved with you to japan but assuming that they didn't how how exactly were you able to work through that conversation because that's i mean whether you're playing in baltimore or playing in houston that's an awful lot closer to home than playing in hiroshima yeah we knew my wife knew when i made that decision to go to Japan, it was going to be, we're going as a family.

And it was a decision that we came to that, let's try this. You know, we only had one kid at a time and she was pregnant. And I knew I was going to go there that first year and I was going to leave right after I got there. I was going to stay for a month at spring training and then she was due to have the baby. So I was able to like kind of get a taste of it and come home with you know with that and just fill her in like what it's going to be like and then unfortunately that was right i came home and my daughter was born on the

day that the nuclear disaster and the tsunami hit so a lot of that first year was kind of like chambliss you know she came out for a couple of months and went back home because we were unsure about where the food was coming from and if it was tainted with radioactive stuff. So the first year, it was kind of like hogwash. And then the second year, she came back. She was there for most of the year. And every year since then, she has been there with me and my girls except for this past year.

Actually, my second year there, my wife got diagnosed with Lyme disease. So we've been struggling with that for the last five years. And this past season, right when I left, is when it kind of hit her the most. And she had a lot of crashes with her body and she wasn't able to come out until almost August. Yeah, I'm sure it had to be difficult being away from your family at that time. Maybe we'll ask you about that later on. But I'm curious about your first season in Japan, despite all of the complications we just talked about. I mean, the usual cultural adjustment that a player would have to make. And then on top of that, the disasters that I'm sure were scary.

Even so, your stats, you know, basically from day one, from the start of your first season with the carp, you were dominant. You had a 1.34 ERA that first season. You struck out more than 12 guys per nine. You got your walks down. How much of that was just the different level of competition and how much of that was you just being a better pitcher in some way? Because we can ask you, I guess, what you think about the level of competition, but historically, I think the stats have suggested that it's somewhere between AAA and the majors. And you went from AAA to Japan. In theory, that would be more difficult competition and you were immediately better than you'd ever been. So what was the cause of that? You know, I think the main reason why I've been

so successful over there, especially the first year, is I had to do things on my own. You know, the pitching coaches, they're not really messing with foreigners. You're supposed to be over there to help the team, and you should have your stuff together already. They don't really take experiments over there. You know, they took a chance on me. Eric Schultz from the scout for the carp, he knew I was a hard thrower and said, you know, this guy might be successful.

So I think, you know, my first four appearances in that year, my first year, I gave him a run in the first four games. I didn't blow a save, but we had a two run lead and a three run lead in all of them. But I gave him four runs in my first four outings. I was like, all right, I gotta, I gotta figure this out or I'm going to be on my way home real quick, you know, but they were patient with me. They, they knew I had a good spring and I was showing good velocity and, you know, I threw stride and I think it was just a different feel. Like I don't have to impress anyone. They're looking at me like I'm the man.

And, you know, in the States, in the big leagues, I wasn't the man ever. And so you don't really have the confidence from your manager, your coaches and your teammates. But in spring training, I got that confidence from them and you can feel it. You know, as a reliever, you can feel if your team's clapping as you run into the stadium, you know, you run into the field or if they're like, okay, game's over. And I guess I just felt that way from day one and it just kept going, you know, kept taking off. Yeah. When you were playing stateside, your meal ticket was that you threw a great fastball. You had a rising four seamer. It was 96, 98. I remember watching you with the Orioles. You were, you know, not a great team, but you were getting some important outs or being entrusted to get some important outs and then you you go over

to japan and you you go through every step of the decision but you know you know in your head that you're going over and you're not going to be facing major league competition anymore now you kind of fast forward and along the years you've developed a curveball you've developed a really good splitter that you've relied on but how long roughly did it take you to go over to Japan and start to understand that, you know, even though I have this overpowering fastball, a fastball that you don't see a whole lot of over here, that I'm going to need something else? You know, it probably wasn't until my first year with the Hawks. So my first two years with the Carp and then my one year with Seibu, I was majority fastball. I actually got into trouble with throwing too many because then, you know, these guys,

Japanese hitters are very good with hand-eye coordination. And so it's hard to strike them out. They're going to put the ball in play. And when they slap the ball, they're going to most likely beat it out. And you're going to get up a lot of infield hits. When I got to Softbank, my first year there, the catcher, Koro Hosokawa, he really challenged me. He sat me down.

He says, I know you throw hard. Now, this is through an interpreter. He doesn't speak this good English. I know you throw hard, but I want to start mixing things up, and I want to throw forkball's first pitch for a strike. And I was like, man, forkball first pitch? That's my out pitch. I don't want to start that off.

But me trusting this guy has been around for a long time. He's caught some really good pitchers. I said, all right, let's just do it. You know, in spring training, we worked on some things and I was throwing first pitch fourth balls and they were thrown, I was throwing them in the dirt and they're swinging. And I'm like, oh, it makes sense. You know, you're just sitting, here comes a guy going to throw a fastball and they just swing no matter what. And then as I started developing that over the next four years, now I'm starting to mess with it in the bullpens and in spring training. Now I can throw it for a strike. Now I can front door it to lefties or I can, you know,

I can make it go more away. I can throw it where I pull it against righties and it kind of, you know, it goes the other way. And then it started making my curveball really good because then it was, I had another pitch. So when I threw my curveball, I can just throw that for a strike. I didn't have to, you know, that didn't have to be a swing and miss pitch. So then it started improving that. And then it was like, man, I look back, I'm like, I got three pitches. I might be able to, I can be a starter, you know, in my head, I'm thinking I could start right now. And then I never wanted to start, but I'm thinking, I mean, I have a legit three pitch combination here. And I said, that's going to be fun for, to go out there for three outs. And that's what it's been,

you know, the last four years, it's been really fun going out into the games and just knowing that I can throw three pitches for a strike and I don't have to worry about being perfect. I don't have to throw so many fastballs. And I pitch to contact now, which I never did in my life. And I think that's what's raised my strikeout so much. I'm pitching to contact and they're not hitting it and I get ahead in the count and then I'm able to put them away. Yeah, I want to ask about the velocity because I'm looking at some stats from MPB this year

on Delta graphs. And if you just set a minimum 60 innings pitched and you just sort by fastball velocity, the top seven pitchers are all foreigners and you are second on that list with an average of 95.2, it looks like. And I don't know if that is the hardest you can throw. As you mentioned, you're maybe pitching for contact a little more, so maybe you took a little off, but still you're one of the hardest throwers in the league. And if we compare that to MLB, just take, say, the average velocity of everyone who had 20 saves this year in the majors it is 95.7 so basically the yeah the average mlb closer throws about as hard as the hardest throwing pitcher in japan period so even though the extra pitches obviously have helped you how much does just having mid-90s

heat help you out there how much can you get away with in japan that you can't get away with in the majors well you know it really helps me which has always been my bread and butter like you said you touched on it earlier the uh rising fastball you know they have a hard time with it especially it looks good coming in and it's just it's on them too quick and i get a lot of swings and misses on balls that especially with two strikes balls out of the zone you know my fastball there's some days where i go into the game and i'm like, all right, just be nice and easy. And then there's some days where I go in the game, I'm warming up and I say, I'm just going to throw all fastballs.

And those are usually the games where I just feel really good out there. The ball's coming out of my hand good. And I could tell usually within a few warmup pitches in the bullpen. And those days I'm usually, you know, what is it? 156, 158. So that's like 97, 98. And it depends on what field some of these mounds are terrible so certain fields i throw harder at and you know i hate our our mound and pukaoka i hate

it it's probably the worst mound i've pitched on in the entire league my favorite is sendai where tanaka pitched and then my second one would be sebu it's just it's a little bit flat i like flat mounds i'm not a big high mound guy and i think going back most big league mounds are high mounds so like where otani pitches off of in the sporo dome it's it's a concrete mound and it's high it reminds me of like cleveland i mean things is up there and so i really have hard times there with my command and so i really think that you know major that mound there compared to like where i was in the major league it's a little bit higher than what it was in the States. So I just like a flatter mound. I like a lower mound. There was

places in the stadium in the States that I pitched way better at. I pitched better in New York. I pitched better in Boston. And I always had good numbers there. The fastball, some days it's there and I can put more on it. And some days I'm like, I just want to go out there and throw eight pitches because with this team it's like i can throw every day for a week and you never know you're not going to have that one guy that you're like okay we might lose today but every day is a chance to win so i try to limit my pitch counts this part isn't really a question but it's uh it's fun to hear someone saying that they pitched a contact when i believe you had the highest strikeout rate and the lowest contact rate allowed in the league. It's like when the Nationals say they're getting Steven Strasburg to pitch a contact.

It's like, I don't think he knows what that means. But anyway, you have you've spoken before on a few occasions talking about the difference between spring trainings that you've experienced stateside and, of course, in Japan. And and you have, I think, as Ben and I understand from the writer perspective, spring training is terrible. And it seems like from the player perspective, American spring training is also kind of terrible. You're just kind of going through the motions. And you have talked about the Japanese spring training being conducted with more of a purpose. So could you maybe explain in a little more detail the differences that you've noticed? Yeah. So in the States, spring training, whether I was in Arizona spring training or Florida spring training, I had one goal in mind and that was, let's get out of here

as fast as I can because we have a tee time at once. So that's pretty much what everyone's thinking. I'm sure not everyone. I'm sure there's a lot of veteran guys that put that work in that. But if you look around, spring training is a drag. You've got guys taking PFP with water bottles in their back pocket and kind of going through the motions playing catch and you know working out soreness when you're in japan spring training is i mean it's training it's you're not getting time off i mean i'm at the field at nine and i'm done by noon but i have i've done cardio i've done lifting i've done core we've done pft throwing bullpens and it's like you hammer it out. And so it's really a time to refine your tools. For me, I use that.

I'm ready. I've always been ready when I go to spring training, whether it's been here or in Japan. I just feel like that's my job. I need to prepare myself. You need to be in good shape. So in my off seasons, there are a lot of training, a lot of weight training. But in Japan, it's like when you get there, it's on. And so they break it up there.

So you go five days. The first set is five days and an off day. Then you go four days and an off day. Then you go three days. And so you have like six off days in spring training, but those are needed off days because your body is just, I mean, I've been so sore before where my first year, me and Brian Bullington were doing hot, cold tub contrast in the hotel. And we were just switching rooms. One would be cold, one would be hot. And you know, you know it's work you know you're getting your work in but those off days are rewarding because you rest or you go play golf and so it's not like you're looking to play golf every day so that was the biggest change for me it's like okay this is work you're not going to

just get through the motions and they'll and they'll tell you if you know if they feel like you're just slacking and you could see it sometimes with new foreigners that come in. They think it's just going to be, you know, easy peasy, piece of cake, get through it. And then by the end of practice, you know, you see them limping, their shins hurt, their abs are sore the next day. They can't, you know, sit down in the toilet. And you just laugh because you're like, yeah, this is what it is. You know, it's good. It's good for me.

I love that approach. You know, I'm into fitness now. So I really wasn't into that back then. I was always in decent shape, but I'm definitely in better shape now than I was 15 years ago or even 10 years ago. So I'm curious about your thoughts on pitcher roles and pitcher usage. It's something we talk about a lot and you've pitched in just about every way it's possible to pitch at this point. So, you know, we talk about what makes certain pitchers well-suited to a conversion to reliever. Sometimes you might say that a guy has health problems or maybe he doesn't have enough pitches to be a starter, that sort of thing. And

he looks like a bullpen candidate. And obviously going to the bullpen has worked out extremely well for you. And then once you were in the bullpen, you've been dominant both as a setup man and as a closer. You've been dominant for bad teams and for the best possible teams. You've pitched at unimportant moments and the most important moments. You've pitched for one inning at a time or three innings at a time in game six of the Japan series. So do you have any thoughts, A, on what makes a pitcher best suited for that bullpen transition, and B, just on whether pitching in those different roles and for different types of teams affected what you did at all? Because at least statistically, it seems like you're sort of the same guy, no matter what. guys just can't be relievers if you know you watch them and as they go as a starter they're the guys that get stronger as the game goes on or you know they have a certain warm-up method and they need to do this and you know that's going to affect you you can't just go in the bullpen and take your time getting up when your teammates on the mound getting shellacked and you need to get

ready to get into the game for me it was easy my arm never hurts so I can throw I mean there was times last year I threw five or six games in a row and then they I would tell them I'm good but they'd say no you're off today and so for me that was always my thing it's like I want to throw every day I hated starting and having a even a so so start and have to wait five more days to go pitch again I hated it so I think that plays a role in it you know so you can see early on who can handle that stuff as far as like the closing and all that i never got the opportunity to do it the only time i got the opportunity to be a closer was my last year and i was at norfolk and i had you know 20 saves that year in a pretty decent year

i feel like my velocity was good my stuff was good that year but that was the first role they gave me where like you're the closer and then when i got there i've had that role ever since except for one year with sable i kind of went back and forth between the eighth and the ninth but I think just letting guys know where they're going to pitch and sticking to it and not being like this fair weather fan where it's like okay he had one bad one let's let's move him up an inning that doesn't give a guy confidence that it's not going to help any pitcher at any time you know you see it all the time the young guy comes up to the big leagues and they don't pitch him for three weeks and then he pitches in a blowout game. Well, yeah, that's great because

you don't want to put him in games where are tight, but almost it's like you should just do it and see what he's made of and see what he's got. And in Japan, they did it with me. I mean, my first year with Hiroshima, they sent down a closer who was making a million dollars more than me. And he was their closer the year before seeing seeing 20 some games and they sent him to the minor leagues and made me the closer and i was baffling i never never saw that in my life more than the other guy and they sent the guy making more money down and so i started to realize that you know i can do this and you give confident when you have self-confidence you can pitch a lot better you know i take arietta i played with arietta in baltimore that year in the big league and in AAA.

And the guy was confident, you know, but when he got to the big leagues, he was hesitant. And then all of a sudden he gets traded. It's that change of scenery that everyone always talks about. And he goes off and wins a Cy Young and gets all the confidence in the world. You know, I think that really helps guys. Let's focus on that three inning appearance appearance made in the last game of the championship now in in the states we've seen like wade davis has was given some really long save assignments in the playoffs kenley jansen a couple years ago was given a nearly three inning outing before he was removed for clayton kershaw and that was unusual except those those pitchers

had at least worked multiple innings a few times during the regular season. Now, you went out in game six of the Japan series, you threw three innings, and my understanding is you never exceeded one inning all season long. You were the one inning closer, and then you were just put out there until a decision was rendered, and you had said to the press that you were content to throw four, five, six. I mean, at that point, what was your mindset going into a game like that? I know, of course, your adrenaline has to be through the roof, but how do you prepare to even have a three or beyond inning outing when it's something that you haven't actually done for at least one entire regular season? I want to be honest. At least just spend nine months out of your home and just say, okay, I want to go home. Just give me the ball and I will pitch until my arm falls off.

I just wanted to get it over with. I did not want to go game seven. I knew at home, once I went into the game, I was just going to go get an inning of work. Once we tied it, in my mind instantly, I said, I'm staying in this game and giving our team a chance to win as long as it takes. I don't care about game seven. I threw an inning in two thirds a few times this year. I came in in the eighth with one out, guys second and third or eighth inning, you know, two outs. So I threw, you know, an inning plus a couple of times. But when I got done with that second inning, you know,

it started off really, really fun. You know, in the first inning, I go six pitches, you know, three up, three down. The next inning, I give up a leadoff single through the hole. I throw a ball into the stands on a pickoff and I saw that runner on second with no out with Lopez coming up, who's, you know, 330 homers and a hundred RBIs. And then Tsutsugo is up after him. And then the batting title champion Miyazaki is coming up and I'm sitting there like, no way am I going to blow this game right now? There's no chance. You know, and I get through that inning and my adrenaline kicks up a notch. You know, the place is just, you know, Japanese. I don't know if you guys have ever been to a Japanese baseball game live, but it's like, I said, it's a cross between like the

WWE and like game seven of the world series. It's just, it's crazy. It's a crazy adrenaline rush. So when I came off that field, I was just pumped and I just came in and I said, I'm going one more. And then I kind of sat down and I looked at my interpreter and I said, was that stupid? Should I go one more? You know, then you start thinking, okay, what if we don't win? What if I go four innings and then we lose the next inning and I have to pitch tomorrow after throwing four innings? Could I do it?

You know, so we got done with that inning and, you know, we almost scored a run in the 10th and I'm like, screw it. I'm going back out. So I already told them, you know, and almost scored a run in the 10th, and I'm like, screw it. I'm going back out. So I already told them, you know. And I got through that inning. I was tired, but I was like, I'll go. If it was a 12-inning game where it was going to end, we would have won. Because in Japan, the rules that they have, they're the way it's set up.

The team with the best record, if it's a tie game after 12 innings, wins. But in the Japan series, there are 15 inning games. So I knew I couldn't go 15. There's no way I could have went, you know, 12, 13, 14, 15. So I said, I'm done. And we were just lucky enough to get that run across. And, you know, it wasn't anything heroic. I just, I really wanted to come home.

You know, my wife and my kids had left two weeks before that. And I had been pitching all year and I was just tired. And I said, you know what? It's time to go home. Just keep me in there until we win this thing. You mentioned the atmosphere in the stadiums there. And that's something that we get questions about from listeners sometimes. Can you describe it in a little more detail and also tell us if there's any way we can

import that to this country? Because it seems like a lot of fun that we're missing out on. Well, you know, I think first of all, it stems, I think, I think major league baseball players and what they're getting paid, they've separated them from the fans. I feel like there's a distance between professional athletes and fans here in America, which is, I mean, I think it's great because I think sometimes it's overbearing.

I think fans sometimes can push that envelope of what's appropriate and what's not. But in Japan, there's a respect level and they respect what you do. There's not a whole lot of overpaid guys. You know, me being one of the highest paid people in the league. Yeah, I'm highest paid, but I also do a lot. You know, if it was the same situation in the States, I'd be way more paid in the States. So I think there's a respect level from the fans and they just literally enjoy cheering their team on.

spec level from the fans and they just literally enjoy cheering their team on so a game a typical game regular season game you have the outfield bleachers on no matter what stadium you're at home or away one side's home one side's visitors and they're cheering sections they got trumpets drums and when you're batting your fans can make noise but there's a respect so that when the other team comes up to bat your fans sit down and the other team's cheering section can play their music. Everyone's got, every hitter's got his own song that they do with the trumpet. And they, you know, some of the best are Chivalate, their fans. They got this like soccer mentality and their fans are just the best. I mean, they're so loud in that stadium.

It's just an amazing experience as a pitcher to come into a game and you can feel the ground shaking from the fans, just, you know, their sound and what they're doing. It's amazing thing. I've never felt that in the States. You know, I never pitched in a World Series or in a playoffs in the States. So I don't know if it was like that there, but every game is like that in Japan. There's no like one of those games where you're playing in like Miami in the middle of summer and 9,000 people are there. That doesn't happen. Do you have an entrance song or entrance songs? I think I do have an entrance song, you know, so they're, they're really big with their nickname. So, you know, they call me guardian of the hawk. They, then some people have called me a God and I'm like, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. I ain't no God. But so when you win, when you, when you lead the league

in faith, you're, you're considered the safe King. So when I did it three years in a row, they just called me the King of closers. So that's what my nickname is. The King of closers. My song is a song, which actually worked out perfect is by newsboys, the Christian group that sings that the King is coming. They're actually talking about Jesus, but they interpreted it to have me come out. Um, They're actually talking about Jesus, but they interpreted it to have me come out. I definitely point it towards Jesus. It's definitely not me, but it's just cool.

I walk around, and I got on the airplane. After the Japan series is over, I'm flying out the next day. The flight attendants are crying on the flight just to shake my hand. After the award ceremony, I get on the flight, and I get on. The flight attendant looks at me and says, Oh, King of Clothes. It's's cool. You know, they recognize you, but they're really respectful there. You know, they just love baseball. They really, there's no leaving. If your team's getting blown out, they don't leave. They stay and they wait and they respect the game. Well, you know, when Eric Thames was playing Korea, they also called

him a god. So at least you would have some company just in case. But so two-part question. First one quick. How much conversational Japanese do you personally speak? Oh, I can get by. If we were in Japan right now, we wouldn't need an interpreter. We can go eat. We can go get directions. We could get around. I understand more. It's funny because my wife is Hispanic. Her family speaks spanish so in the off season i'm around it a lot more i actually try to speak spanish because i know a little bit of spanish too but i'll speak japanese to like her grandma and then when i get to japan after the long off season i start speaking spanish to the japanese players and i'm just i get backwards but i when i listen like sometimes you'll see me do an interview and i don't need my interpreter

to tell me what they said. I know what they're saying. I have a hard time giving it back in Japanese. So I wish I had more time at home to study it and to know it fluently and to respect the country and their culture. Because I've always said when guys come over to the States, if you're going to play in America, you need to learn English. I just feel like where you're at, you need to learn the language. And there was actually a couple of guys in Seibu that were like, hey, you've been here long america you need to learn english i just feel like where you're at you need to you need to learn the language and there was actually a couple of guys in sabu that were like hey you've been here long enough you need to learn the language i was like geez i've been here three years it's a hard language but now you know don't going into my eighth year

it's like i need to know more and i really try to give it my best and to pay attention and to and when i go out to dinner with the guys i want to speak speak Japanese. I try to talk to them back in Japanese. And I think they respect that. You know, I think they understand it's a hard language. And, you know, these guys there, my teammates, and even guys around the league, they love to speak English, too. They want to try.

You know, I play on a couple of all-star teams, and you get to hang out with guys from other teams. And, you know, Japanese players are really cool because I think everyone knows that the major leagues is the best league. And I think they respect the guys that have come over here that have played in the big leagues. They respect you. And I just think they want a taste of it too. And that's why I think you see a lot more guys trying to come over now. One of the things I think we certainly take for granted

covering a baseball stateside is that when players come over to play in the States and they're coming from other countries, you just sort of assume that they're going to be able to to integrate themselves and you expect them to be able to open up and communicate and there's a lot of pressure that's put on these these players that a lot of people don't really have a good understanding for they don't give them the the time and the patience to kind of get their feet wet so you have i mean you've been in japan now for for seven seasons and like you've been talking about you you can get by with your Japanese. And so that's certainly made the process easier. But as your star has grown and you've become a far more prominent athlete in the country and you've certainly won pretty much every award there is to win.

How easy has it been or difficult, I should say, has it been for you to assimilate not just with the city and the culture, say, has it been for you to assimilate not just with the city and the culture, but even with your teammates such that you're not just hanging out, for example, with the small clique of foreigners in the clubhouse? How long did it take before you could really start to feel comfortable in your new setting? Yeah, so my first year, I was pretty close with Bullington. Chad Tracy was on that team. And, you know, I tried to go outside, you know, of that group. And, you know, guys would invite me out to dinners. And a guy, Takaru Ishii, who's a Hall of Famer to be, invited me to his house. And, you know, they're always really good about that.

They want to make you feel welcome and at home. So Hiroshima was really cool. When I got to Cebu, those guys, you know, Cebu is a good hour away from Tokyo. Most of those guys live in Tokyo. So it was come to the field, do your job, see you later. I never saw him again. I took a train every day to the field. I took a train to the airport and I made, you know, Makita, the guy that's coming over him and I are close because, you know, he liked, he always wanted to talk about American baseball. And I always told him that I think he could go there and be successful. And so we've maintained a relationship from then even

till now. But, you know, when I got to the Hawks, the foreigners, I had one foreigner on my team, Jason Sanders, who I was close with. But other than that, I've only hung out with Japanese players. My best friend is Mori, Yuito Mori. He's my eighth inning and seventh inning guy. Iwasaki. I go out to dinner with these guys. We do bullpen dinners.

I've kind of incorporated some of the American style where, you know, I say, hey, this next trip, the first night, we're at bullpen dinner. And I think they really enjoy it. They love it. So now these guys are inviting me to go here, to go fishing. And you know, you, sometimes you just gotta, you just gotta take that leap and just say, you know what, I might not be able to understand them the entire time, but thank God for Google translate. And you know, if you don't know something, I put it in, there's been plenty of times where i've gone out to eat or gone somewhere have a beer with a teammate and there's no interpreter and it's just me and them and it's like hey let's just let's just figure this out you know and and it works and i've done it and i've been successful doing it i think what most people struggle with when

they come to japan is they try to bring american baseball with them they bring a swagger and an attitude that you need to check it at the door because they don't care what you've done. They don't, they just want you to work hard and be that guy that's going to help them. And they don't want you to be arrogant from the get-go. A lot of guys you'll see that has good stuff. They come over there and then they struggle and then they're released. And I think those are, you can really see like, was that guy making an attempt to hang out with the Japanese guys? Was he making an attempt to fit in? And most of the times, no, they weren't. And so that's the struggle. So whenever a player experiences the sort of success that you have in Japan, it's inevitable

that fans back in the US will wonder, when is he going to come here? When is he going to come to the US so I can watch him pitch? And maybe that's sort of an ethnocentric perspective. It sort of presumes that it's better or more appealing to play here. And maybe that's sort of an ethnocentric perspective. It sort of presumes that it's better or more appealing to play here. And I'm sure that the last several years have been very fun and fulfilling for you where you were. It seems like it's been kind of a magical run. So how much time have you spent wondering, could I be doing this in the States? Would I have had the same success? Would I have progressed as a pitcher in the same way? So that's one question kind of backwards looking just about whether that

even crosses your mind regularly because, you know, there's more money in the States or a higher level of competition or whether when you've had the experience and success that you've had, you just kind of enjoy the ride. And then the second part of that question is the forward looking one, whatever you can tell us about your contract situation and the prospects of your maybe testing the waters at some point and potentially trying to come back here. Well, yeah. So once I got through and I got to SoftBank my fourth year in, I had a good year. And then the next year I had a really good year and I was like, I think I could go back. The team came with me to with a three year extension for almost 15 million dollars. And I said, you know what, what's what's more important to go back and try to prove that you are a better pitcher or to set up your family for life?

And so I signed that deal. You know, looking back, do I regret it? No, I don't regret it because it took a lot of pressure off me. But at the same time, it's like now I sit here and I'm like, I know I could pitch in the states again I know I could pitch in the big league I wouldn't have gone oh I had offers when I had that extension I had answers to come back there were teams in contact but I wasn't going to come back and just be some sixth inning or seventh inning guy not what I've done there and experience the things I've experienced I didn't want to go back into some kind of mop-up role. Kind of like Tony Barnett. You know, I love Tony, and he had really good seasons with Yakkel as a closer.

And then you go there, and you're kind of like, you're not the eighth inning guy. You're not the closer. He pitched in some high-leverage games his first year, and then last year you're right back into that mode. And just for me, that sucks. Like, that's not fun. I don't want to have that kind of like where I'm just going to go in because we're down by four or up by eight. So that weighed a big thing on me. They, you know, I knew they loved

me. I knew they wanted me to stay. They made it evident by the contract, you know, the money that that team throws around incentive wise and all that. This has actually been a really good deal. My first deal with them, the two year deal was really, was a really good deal. And so, you know, did I want to come back? Yes. But then I saw the family situation. I was like, you know what, this is really putting my family ahead. Now with one year left under my contract, I was like, man, after this season, I really, I did want to test. I wanted to come back and just pitch knowing that I'm 36 and who knows how many years I get, even though I get stronger every year for, I don't know how that works. But could I come back and pitch, you know, after this next season?

Yes. You know, I'm a free agent, but I'm also not a foreigner anymore after next year. So that's going to put me into a category that not many guys have ever pitched in. I won't count against their foreign roster. I'll be a free agent here and in the state. So what do I do? Well, that's when we ask the team to post me. I don't care if

it's out I want it to be out I think what Japan baseball does to their players is a joke I don't think that you should hold a guy for nine years until he can go play in a major leagues everyone's goal should be played in the big leagues and we all know that the major leagues is the best that's where all the best players are so I said you know what let's just my agent Mike and I got together Mike and I got together. My wife and I were there and just, let's do this. Let's just ask them to post me, not knowing what would happen, not knowing what they'd say, but after what I've done and what I've proven over the last four years, let's see if they'll give me my wish with one year left. You know, it has a chance for them to not pay me so much money and to make me make some money on a post if someone would pay them money to get me but uh you know they declined and i get it how many times have you seen an mvp get posted the

next year so do i want to pitch in the big leagues again yes would i want to pitch in the big leagues in 2018 absolutely if they would post me today i would try earnestly to sign a deal with whatever team bought the rights and get it done. But our hands are kind of tied. We really can't do anything about it. But I guess I can go back to Japan next year, try and dominate again and set a couple of records and get to the 250 save mark and live with it. But I'm not thinking just this year. I know I'm healthy.

I'm strong. My arm's just getting better. Every year, my velocity stays the same. I don't lose anything. So can I come after next year? Absolutely. So I'm not going to say it's out of the question, but I would love to test that and see what happens.

Yeah, well, we look forward to that. But I guess the silver lining of the fact that you're bound to stay there for 2018 is just that you are really climbing leaderboards and accomplishing things that not a lot of players have, particularly foreign players. I think you're what the first foreign player to win an MVP award since the 60s, I think. But just you mentioned the 250 saves mark and you're at 229 right now. And for people who don't know, there's something called the Golden Players Club, which is

essentially one of two, I guess, Japanese halls of fame. And you qualify for that automatically when you get to certain milestones. And one of them is that 250 saves mark. So I'm going to guess that you weren't all that well-versed in the history of Japanese baseball when you first went over there. But as you have kind of matched and surpassed some of these names and have heard yourself placed in this company, Have you learned a lot about the past and the great players of NPB history? Oh, of course. I mean, anytime you're president of your team, it's Sadahara Oh. You know the history right there. I've had dinner with him. I've got to pick his brain a little bit. And what a great person. What a great accomplishment he did as

a player. He was amazing. Pretty much brought Japan baseball to where it is now. The honor of being able to talk with him. It's like going to the field every day, I tell everyone, and getting to talk to Babe Ruth. You get to just sit with one of the best Japanese players. I didn't know anything about any of these 250 things until I got to 200. And they're like, oh, you need 50 more and you can be in this Golden Players Club. And I was like, what's that? They're like, you get a green a green jacket I said I get a green jacket I'm in you know I want a green jacket so and then I find that it's not even green I think they were just trying to tell me like the masters you get a green jacket but it's not green it's just like I

think it's blue but you know and they and these guys they're so happy for me you know every time when I got to 200 save you know when I beat Mark Kroon for the foreign saves later, then I got to 200. Then it was like, I got to 46 saves on the, on the season. And they're like, you can get, you can get the record. And then it's like, I got to 50 and they're like, you can get 55. And then I got to 54 and they're like, you can get 60. It's like, they want to see me succeed so much, you know, and they love the awards and what I've accomplished there. And the support from them has just been amazing. The things I've learned about guys like Sasaki and what he did in his career there and Saito and all the guys that I saw play in the States as a younger baseball player, college years and early pro ball, those guys were huge. I got to meet Hideo Nomo my first year with Hiroshima. And so

you see these guys, you're're like these guys were good players in the states but i mean even better in japan their numbers are outstanding guys like korota when he came back to hiroshima after leaving the yankees i mean you're talking about a guy with filthy stuff and you just watch him you're like yeah no wonder why he was successful in the big leagues so you just learn from these guys and you talk to them and you know i played against you know iguchi with the marines who was you know with the white socks won a world series and all of those guys you know they just they'll talk to you they have no problems telling you what japanese baseball cultures are like or what you know what the players back in the day were like and then you see some names come up and

you and you find out what they did and it's just it's you know it's amazing these guys have pitched a lot of innings over here some of the hall Hall of Fame, I mean, my manager, Kudo, he pitched until he was 47 years old. I think he won 10 Japan Series Championships. I mean, I want to say he's done everything. He might have pitched like 7,000 innings. I don't even know, but they just do so much. And it's just cool to be a part of it, to be mentioned with those guys as an honor. I know I have a chance to pass Sasaki and I saw him in the Japan Series and he kind of gave me a little shove. But I know they respect me. I'm not just that foreigner that came over to make money and leave. They respect what I've done. They know I work hard. And I think that's all they ask for is for

you to come over, respect the Japanese baseball, respect the style that they play, and just work hard. Now, there's one player coming over from Japan who's dominating all the headlines. I'm sure you've been asked about him a million times. And in a few minutes, you're going to be asked about him. You might know Shohei Otani, you probably heard the name. Now, you'll probably be asked a question about Shohei Otani in a few minutes. But I wanted to ask you about a different player, a different player in the league, a player that Ben wrote about several months ago, a player that has no United States equivalent. I'm going to quote your former teammate Jason Standridge talking about Takuya Nakashima. This is a direct quote from Standridge. I would never want to be a guy that wanted to bash another player, but I hate facing the guy. All he wants to do is foul off pitches to get deeper in the count. He doesn't look to hit, which bothers me. He just irritates me when he comes up to bat. He just fouls off pitch after pitch. Like I said, I'm not meaning to bash the guy's game, but man, he's annoying. Have you had the pleasure of facing Takuya Nakashima in a game?

Oh, Nakashima. Let me tell you something about Nakashima. I had an 18-pitch at bat against him this year in the Tokyo Dome. And it's a runner on second. We're up by one. There's two outs. And it's like, this guy's got to be kidding me. Like he doesn't try to get a hit. He literally, if you watch his batting practice, I don't think he hits one ball out of the cage. And it's almost, it's like, it's like embarrassing. It's like, please stop doing that. Just go ahead, do what you got to do and just strike out. So I, I finally figured him out this year. You know, after that at bat, I said, I'm over. I'm done with this, and I know what I've got to do. I have to pound this guy in. And so since I've done that, I just realized he's afraid of the ball.

He doesn't want to get hit. So he just slaps the ball the other way because he doesn't want guys to pitch him inside. And so now if you pitch him in, he just swings through it. So it's actually funny that I found out his weak point. But he is a pain. I love Jason Standridge, and I agree with him 100%. I hate guys that are just going to get your pitch, especially for a closer. If I get to face him the first batter of the inning and I throw 18 pitches to him, that just ruins my day. Especially if you

don't get him out. If you get him out, okay, you can deal with it. But if you don't get him out, that's just a real big pain. He's a really nice guy. I'm i'm not gonna he's a really nice guy well he'd better be because otherwise he might get himself in trouble i noticed that this year nakashima was not hit by a single pitch in his entire career he's only been hit four times now you can imagine if they were a player like this trying to play in the united states pitchers might find some means of of taking their anger out on them but i'm gonna guess that that culture doesn't exist in Japan. You know, sometimes it does. It doesn't really exist, but you'll see some guys get heated,

and it's funny to see. Like, yeah, I like this, you know? But then a guy will steal second base up by seven in the eighth inning, and they don't do anything. So it's not in the culture. They kind of just let it go. But in the States, if that guy pitched, if he was in the States, then he would definitely get pitched in. He would definitely get drilled. I know that for sure. So we do have to wrap up with an Otani question. And I know that you're the 2017 Pacific League MVP. He's the 2016 Pacific League MVP. So he's sort of yesterday's news, but he is also today's news in a different way. And we looked up your head-to-head stats with some help from Delta Graphs and one of our listeners, Kaz Yamazaki, and you have apparently held him to a two for 11 line. He has tripled off you, but you have struck him out five times and have not walked him.

Some of that's going back a few years, but you also faced him a bunch in 2016 as well. So give us the scouting reports on Otani, just your impressions from having faced him and any insight you can give us into what he could be capable of in the majors next year. Well, first of all, that triple that he hit off me

was about two feet off the ground all the way to the wall. And he was standing on third before the guy got it in. I was like, how did he do that? Watching him, I played on a couple of all-star teams with him, talking with him. He is humble. He is a great kid. He smiles every day. He loves playing baseball. And I know it's so cliche. You hear it all the time. Guys that are that good. They love playing. Of course they like playing baseball, but he's genuine. He could

totally stay in Japan, live in the limelight for the next two years, and sign for $200 million. Obviously, he's foregoing that, and he's coming over now. I respect that. I saw guys like Josh Hamilton hit BP in Camden Yards. I saw these guys, you know, Nelson Cruz. I played with Nelson. I saw him hit balls on top of warehouses across, you know, in Oklahoma City. Otani has some of the best power I have ever witnessed in my entire life.

Playing with guys like Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Ricky Weeks, all the way to guys, like I said, against those other guys. I've seen him mess around in BP and go front foot, back leg up, and flip balls out to left field in the gap, 400-foot homers, and just joking around and just smiling about it. His bat speed is unreal. I've said it from day one. When I saw him, I said, I think he's going to be a better hitter than he is a pitcher. I don't know why people always think I'm crazy when I say that. He's 102, his fork

ball is 91, and he's got a decent slider. I think he's a better hitter. I think he can be a griffin. I think he'd be 30-30, possibly 40. He can steal bases. If you put him in the outfield, he can throw guys out. I mean, he's got an amusing arm, possibly 40. He can steal bases. If you put him in the outfield, he can throw guys out. I mean, he's got an amusing arm, obviously. His speed and awareness of the game is off the charts. He's going to be worth every penny of whatever someone gives him. It's crazy to think. I wish that he was free to sign for as much as he wanted

because you would just see an outlandish contract. It would blow Tanaka's, Dice K's, Darvish's out of the water. It wouldn't even be close. His ability to be what he is is off the charts. Now, can he do both in the big leagues? Man, it's going to be tough. You know, they baby him in Japan. You know, when he starts, the two days before he starts, he doesn't play.

He doesn't DH, he doesn't do anything. So the day he throws his bullpen, he's off that night. The next day he's off, and then he prepares the pitch. What a slacker. Yeah, what a slacker, right? I was like, I can barely get through one day of practice. This guy's off and then he prepares the pitch so what a slacker you know what a slacker right i was like i can't even i can barely get through one day of practice this guy's hitting and pitching and i'm like i don't know how he does it i think that's gonna wear him out over time i think he eventually he's gonna have to pick i play with brooks kieschnick back when i was really young

with the brewers and you know brooks wasn't no superstar like otani he was a good player he could hit a little bit he could he's a good relie was a good reliever. He doesn't have the ceiling like Otani has, but if he can do it for a couple of years, I think it would be fun to watch. But I think eventually he's going to have to pick one, and I hope he picks hitting. When you guys watch his batting practice and you just watch him in the game, he is just fun to watch. He's going to change the atmosphere. Like I said, he's a good person. He's a good kid. I think he's going to struggle at first with fastballs in, you know, I don't think he's been hit. Look at his stats for getting hit. He might've been hit once in his last four years, the Japanese players, they have a huge respect for him. So I think I might be one of a few pitchers that pitch him in because they're

just afraid to hit him. You know, you don't want to hit him in the right arm, right elbow. You know, he does wear the arm gear, but I think guys are just afraid to drill him the golden child. He is going to be fun to watch. I wish him all the best. I hope he has a career that everyone, like Ichiro, I hope he just goes over there and just blows it out because that's just going to make Japanese baseball look that much better. You know, he's good, but there's other guys that can pitch in Japan that are just as good. Doesn't have the fastball like him, but can pitch.

Norimoto with the Eagles, I think is by far the best starting pitcher in Japan right now. I think if you put him in a rotation in the States, he would be unreal. Senga, a guy on my team, he would be unreal. So I think he's going to put Japanese baseball on there and say, there are some good players in Japan and they're going to come. How did you get Otani out? Did you have a specific approach? Fork balls. So I throw high heaters or I would go ahead, fastballs away, start them off.

A couple of times I started them off first pitch fork, but I would always, the times I struck them out were always fork balls. He always chased, but he's gearing up

for 96, 97, and then anytime guys like him get in the box, my velocity goes up. Any foreigner that goes in the box, my velocity, like Valentin or Lopez,

my velocity's always higher. But when he gets in the box, my velocity, like Valentin or Lopez, my velocity is always higher. But when he gets in the box, you know, I mean, especially for me, it's a one-run game. I'm not going to get beat by him. I'd rather just walk him and face Laird or Natata, whoever they had hitting after him. But, yeah, the times I got him out was a lot of fork balls. I know I beat him a few times in and he popped it up.

But, yeah, the triple, I definitely remember. I mean, that ball was hit so hard. And it was a fastball just to get me over first-pitch fastball, and they popped it up but yeah the triple i definitely remember i mean that ball was hit so hard and it was a fastball just to get me over first pitch fastball and he smoked it but a good good player man he is going to be good he's going to be fun to watch i think the best thing you know you hear about judges bps but i mean this kid hits some memos and it's just gonna it just the ball comes off his bat just a little bit different. Yeah. All right. Well, we really appreciate all the time you've given us today. It's been fascinating for us, I think, after Jeff wrote about you recently, just to kind of catch up on what you've been up to for the last several years,

because it's really impressive, obviously. And people can admire your stats on their own time. They can find you on Twitter at DSarfate. And we wish you the best for next season. And if all goes well, maybe you'll be one of the more intriguing free agents a year from now. So we'll see. We'll see Jeff, Ben. I think, I thank you guys a lot for listening to me. Oh no, absolutely.

With how often do we get to talk to a league MVP, right? No, not often. All right. Thanks very much. I appreciate you guys. All right. All right. Bye-bye. Bye. All right. That'll do it for today. By the way, I found a fun fact earlier that I want to share with those of you who don't follow me on Twitter. This just boggles my mind. It's not prompted by anything. It's not particularly topical, but I got curious because I was reading about Earl Coombs, thinking about how many amazing Yankee centerfielders there have been. Since 1925, which was Earl Coombs' first year with the Yankees, Yankee centerfielders there have been. Since 1925, which was Earl Coombs' first year with the Yankees, Yankee centerfielders have averaged 5.2 fangraphs a war per season.

Carl's Correa's 2017 war was 5.2. So Yankee centerfielders have averaged Carl's Correa's war just as a baseline over a span of 93 seasons. That's amazing to me. It's obviously one of the most storied positions in the sport and going from Coombs to DiMaggio to Mantle to young Bobby Mercer was an incredible run, but still 5.2 wins average over 93 seasons. I've been thinking about that fun fact for about 12 hours now. I just have to keep telling people. You can support the podcast on Patreon by going to patreon.com slash effectively wild. And five listeners who've already done that include Shane Shuby, Michael McDonald, Benjamin Litvin, Tom Dwyer, and Reed DeWolf. Thanks to all of you. You can join our Facebook

group at facebook.com slash group slash effectively wild. And you can rate and review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Facebook group is very Otani heavy right now. So if you want to go somewhere where you can get responses and feedback to any Otani and Stanton news before Jeff and I can talk to you about it, go to the Facebook group. It's a great place. Thanks to Dylan Higgins for editing assistance. You can keep your questions and comments for me and Jeff coming via email at podcast at pangrass.com or via the Patreon messaging system. If you're a supporter, we will talk to you soon. To go home I feel like going home