This is Why I Hate the Winter.

It’s not just the cold. It’s not just the darkness (tonight’s sunset is 4:14 PM) . It is the waiting. Even in these blessed days for Boston sports, when we have three teams worth paying attention to, there are still days like yesterday. Sure, reading about the Pats’ destruction of the Wildcat offense in Miami in the paper was a good start to the day, but after that it went down hill. No Celtics game, no Bruins game, Monday Night Football game that I could not have cared less about, and still, no real Sox news. 

I'm so bored that this future Portland Sea Dog is the most important thing that happened in sports over the last day and a half.

The only Item of note with a day still until the local teams take the court/ice again, is the Red Sox pursuit, and apparent capture, of Japanese right handed pitcher Junichi Tazawa. He will supposedly make his announcement of having signed a three year, $6 million offer from the Sox, spurning the Braves, Mariners (who have Japanese owners and a Japanese catcher) and the Rangers (who reportedly offered more money and more years). Sooooooo, what does this mean for the 2009 Sox? Abso-F@#$ing-Lutely nothing. Tazawa is 22, pitched last year in Japan’s Minor Leagues (the semi-pro Industrial League) and will likely need at least one if not two years of seasoning in the minors here before becoming a contributor to Theo’s dream of an all Japanese pitching staff. He was able to avoid the posting process (and the $51.1 Million that everybody counts as part of Daisuke’s salary, even though it was more of an investment in the Japanese market, and helped land us Tazawa, who idolizes the Wiggler) because he never was even drafted by any of the twelve teams in Nippon Professional Baseball (thats what the Japanese leagues are called) after making it clear to them that he wanted to follow his hero to the States. 

On the field he will be (hopefully) a decent middle of the rotation kind of guy after he has had some more experience. He has a well spotted fastball(low 90′s), a plus curve and the same forkball type pitch that all young Japanese hurlers learn. His experience (and 175 lb body) is thin, having only faced competition of the quality that he will see in triple A when he threw two innings of perfect ball in the last World Baseball Classic against Cuba. The questions on this guy will probably never truly stop until he actually shows what he has against Major League hitters a year down the road. But for now he’s great in my book because gave us something to think about during the boring, angry, cold, dark winter. 

85 Days. 

Go Sox.

Done.

Update: Conflicting reports out of SI, Extra Bases, and the Herald have the Indians also interested in Tazawa, and also a splitter and a change in his repertoire. This is why I like this guy so much; for all we know, he may actually be a Japanese robot (we all know Sony is building one right now), or some type of talking super gerbil.