Let it be known that Red Sox Chief “ Baseball “ Officer Chaim Bloom will leave no cheap ass stone unturned in his pursuit of mediocrity. The latest rumor circling the webmosphere is Bloom's interest in Koudai Senga. Senga has pitched for Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball League for 11 years. putting together an impressive career. As he heads east he carries in his bags a 104 and 51 record with a 2.59 ERA and a 1.115 WHIP. add to that he K’s 10 per nine and gives up just over half a HR per nine and you can see why bloom might show interest. The reason he might show real interest is cost.
Senga comes to the states as a true free agent. Meaning there will be no posting fee paid to his former Japanese team. This put Koudai right up Bloom's ally. Low investment high upside is after all Chaim Blooms love language. That being said Senga has many greedy American and National league GMs wringing their hands at the prospect of bringing in the Japanese star. The Mets - Cubs - Dodgers and Yankees all have contacted and some already met with the Right Hander.
Senga gained a bit of attention back in 2017 pitching with Shohei Ohtani in the World Baseball Classic. While most were oohing and ahhing over Ohtani and his fastball, a lot of folks were talking about Senga and his electric splitter AKA the "Ghost Fork". You thought I was going to say gyro ball, didn't you ? we could only wish. One of the reasons Senga is coming on “the cheap” if you will is his lack of a third pitch. Some GM’s feel that even with his splitter and a fastball that can hit triple digits without a true third pitch to depend on he will have trouble here in the states as a starter. ( Hell, I could teach him to throw a curve or a changeup.) By the way, on the cheap is a deal in the 4 or 5 year 60 to 75 million dollar range.
Is Koudai Senga anything close to Ohtani ? hell no. but he could be another one of the Blooming onions number three arms. And right now that isn't such a bad thing when you look at the Red Sox rotation.
As always you can follow/give me grief on Twitter @Tmurph207