Koji Uehara

Background
The Orioles signed Japanese RHP Koji Uehara to a 2-year $10 million contract, with incentives that could bring the value to as much as $16 million. Uehara will be 34 in April and has spent his entire career with the Yomiuri Giants, making 8 all-star teams. He has been both a starter and a closer in Japan, but the Orioles are treating him as a new member of their rotation.

Stats

Year	Tm	G	W	L	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
2008	YOM	26	6	5	1	89.2	90	43	38	11	16	72	3.81	1.18
9 Yr		276	112	62	33	1549	1354	558	518	183	206	1376	3.01	1.01

ND's Take
It's hard to tell how Japanese players will transition to the Majors. It has long been thought that Japanese baseball is considered to be roughly equivilent to AAA. The best Japanese players, therefore, can make the jump with no problem, some even reaching all-star status.

From 1999-2004, Koji Uehara was definitely an elite player in Japan. His pinpoint accuracy and range of pitches made him every bit the equal of Daisuke Matsuzaka, the star Japanese import on the Red Sox.

The problem is that Dice-K is 28 years old, and has been injury-free his entire career. Uehara is going to be 34 come Opening Day, and he's battled shoulder issues the past 3 years, bringing his numbers back to Earth.

Uehara is certainly capable of being a #3 starter, if he's healthy, if he's not starting to lose velocity, if he's not plagued by the gopher ball in the friendly confines of Camden Yards. The Orioles, with gaping holes in their rotation, certainly have nothing to lose with this signing.

In fact, many will point to this signing as a milestone, the first Asian player in an O's uniform, the breaking down of the barrier to the East. Maybe so.

I don't really think such a barrier ever existed, though. More likely, the O's just didn't invest in scouting the Pacific Rim, and this is the first fruit of last year's commitment to such an effort. It's not like all of a sudden the next Ichiro is going to decide to sign with us instead of the Yankees because of this signing. Japanese players are no different than American ones. They go where the money is, where the fans are good to them, and where they have a chance to win (and, if you're Mark Texeira, where your wife tells you to go, ya whipped Spankee sellout).

Maybe if we also sign Kenshin Kawakami, the other 33-year old Japanese pitcher on the market this winter, a case could be made that we've really opened the door to recruiting Japanese fans, which will lead to future Asian signings.

In the meantime, Uehara is a middle-to-end-of-the-rotation guy who we got for a decent price and for not much of commitment considering his age. As seems to be the case with all our recent signings, if we keep our expectations to that, no one gets hurt.