Chicago Cubs rumoured to have signed Japanese reliever Kyuji Fujikawa - MLB News
Mystery surrounds the rumoured deal between the Chicago Cubs and Japanese reliever Kyuji Fujikawa and its status. It is suggested that the two parties have inked in a two year deal worth $9.5 million with a potential option to be added between $5.5 million
and $6 million.
The Chicago ball club has so far not talked much about the pitcher or the deal. There have been reports that the deal is all but finalised and the wait is only for the results of the physical of Kyuji. The breakdown speculated is a $1 million signing bonus
and $4 million salaries for 2013-14.
Cubs have already added free agents Scott Feldman and Scott Baker to their pitching rotation. The team has also re-signed Shawn Camp, a free agent pitcher as the only addition to the bullpen.
A meeting between Fujikawa and Jed Hoyer, the Cubs’ general manager has already taken place and Jed said that he was quite impressed by Fujikawa. The club has previously signed Kosuke Fukudome in similar circumstances for a $48 million, four-year deal in
2007.
The 32-year-old represents the Hanshin Tigers in the Nippon Professional Baseball League and has made 220 career saves. His last year in the league was particularly good, posting a miserly ERA of 1.32, better than his excellent 1.77 career ERA in a career
that spans over 12 seasons.
Jed Hoyer made it clear that Carlos Marmol will remain the team’s main closer, even if one or more experienced closers were added to the line-up. The idea behind getting more guys in the bullpen is to have a good back-up should the need arise.
The club is willing to trade Carlos if they get a suitable deal though. A deal with the Los Angeles Angels for Dan Haren fell through because of Haren’s physical reports.
"If we bring in someone who has closing experience, or a number of guys who have closing experience, that's no knock on Carlos," Hoyer said. "I think every team in baseball wants to have an assortment of guys back there who, if the need arises, can pitch
in the ninth inning. Hopefully we can do that."
Chicago Cubs may not be the only interested teams in the right-handed pitcher. Some other teams, including the Angeles and Baltimore Orioles have shown interest. Kyuji, who has a general pitching speed in the early 90’s, will certainly be a highly sought
after pitcher during the Winter Meetings in Nashville this week.
However, if the Cubs have indeed signed a deal with the Japanese, they certainly have added a top quality relief pitcher that should be able to perform well in tough closing conditions and can be a big plus for the Chicago team, giving them a lot of flexibility
in the bullpen.
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