Boston Red Sox agree to one year $2.5 million deal with Koji Uehara – MLB News
In 2012, Boston Red Sox finished at the bottom of American League East Division standings table, which by far was their worst performance in nearly 50 years. Despite having some of the finest pitching and hitting talent on their big league roster, the Red Sox were unable to live up to the expectations.
As soon as the season ended, the Red Sox fired Manager Bobby Valentine and replaced him with John Farrell, who has been looking to add depth and variety to the Red Sox starting rotation since joining the club.
With a bunch of solid arms in their bullpen, the Red Sox are ready for action in the next season. However, adding another arm with a history of success can only add to their strength. According to overthemonster.com, the Red Sox agreed to a one year $4.5 million contract with Koji Uehara.
Although the team has not made any official announcement as yet, WEEI’s Alex Speier believes a deal is close. There is no denying the fact Uehara has outstanding throwing abilities. Over the last few years, he has shown the baseball world the stuff he is capable of. His only flaw is that he misses a large number of games with injuries.
In his four years in Major League Baseball, only twice he has thrown more than 60 innings, which shows that he is unreliable. However, whenever he is on the mound, there are only a few pitchers who can outperform him.
Despite spending his entire career in the American League East and American League West, with conditions favouring the hitters, Uehara has earned an exceptional 2.89 ERA while striking out just under ten batters per nine eyes. However, what is most eye popping is the fact he has punched out eight times as many hitter as he walked.
The right hander had a decent time on the mound for the Texas Rangers last season as he posted an incredible 1.75 ERA in 36 innings pitched. Striking out 43 batters against three walks, he proved to be a dominant force. It will be interesting to see if he can overcome his fitness issues to bring some sort of consistency in his results.
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