Boston Red Sox: Junichi Tazawa signs with the Miami Marlins
By Tyler Mason
Former Boston Red Sox reliever Junichi Tazawa has agreed to a 2 year deal with the Miami Marlins.
Like Lebron James once said, Junichi Tazawa is “taking his talents to South Beach”.
According to multiple media reports, Tazawa has agreed to 2-year deal worth $12 million with the Miami Marlins.
The former Red Sox reliever has been struggling the past two seasons, posting an ERA of 4.14 in 2015 and 4.17 in 2016. But Red Sox Nation should not forget that Tazawa was the go-to guy manager John Farrell would call out of the bullpen during the 2013 championship run.
But throughout the next few seasons, Farrell’s decision to call Tazawa out of the bullpen night in and night out began to come back and haunt him.
During the end of the 2015 season, Tazawa had to get shut down for the rest of the year because of concerns of fatigue.
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Also, in the middle of the 2016 season, Tazawa was placed on 15-day DL due to having an impingement in his right shoulder. For those who don’t know the causes to this specific injury, it occurs when you simply overwork your shoulder.
If you were to compare Tazawa in 2013 with the pitcher he is today, the velocity on his fastball has decreased dramatically. When he entered the league, Tazawa was a flame throwing reliever out of the bullpen pumping his fastball up to 95-96 MPH. Nowadays, you see him throwing it up to 92-93 MPH. Now it’s normal for a pitcher’s velocity to decrease, but not this early into their career. This happens when pitchers are overused.
Since 2013, Tazawa has made 256 appearances, fourth-most among American League relievers after Bryan Shaw (299), Cody Allen (290) and Kelvin Herrera (273). So with Farrell deciding to constantly use Tazawa, you can see why he got hurt and why his numbers were trending downward.
If we’re being honest, it was only a matter of time for Tazawa to part ways with the Red Sox. It came to the point last season where the coaching staff wasn’t comfortable to put Tazawa into a game unless it was a blowout.
Also, with the addition of Tyler Thornburg and Carson Smith returning from Tommy John surgery, there simply wasn’t enough room in the bullpen for Tazawa.
It seems like Tazawa has hit his peak years ago, but since he is only 30 years old, the window for success is still open, but closing quickly.
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All of Red Sox Nation, especially me, hopes nothing but the best for Tazawa because if it wasn’t him, we may not have a World Series championship in 2013.