Showing posts with label ohka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ohka. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Feature: Red Sox Scouting in Asia

Dan Duquette was obsessed with finding the diamond in the rough. He struck gold with Tim Wakefield in 1995 and he attempted to replicate that success for the rest of his tenure as the Boston Red Sox general manager. After Hideo Nomo exploded onto the scene in 1995 with the Dodgers and Korean right-hander Chan Ho Park came later, Duquette, and several other general managers, decided to try to mine the Japanese baseball leagues and other Asian leagues. Duquette may have been the most active, but his efforts were not met with a ton of success.

Below is a list of the players that made it to the Major Leagues with the Red Sox. As you can see, there is not much success here and Duquette did not find his diamond in the rough in Asia.

ROBINSON CHECO
Checo was the first of the Red Sox Asian efforts to make the Major Leagues in 1997. Though Checo was not of Asian ancestry, he was Dominican, he had been pitching in Japan when he was signed. He was expected to be a good starter or reliever with high strikeout potential. Checo spent parts of two seasons with the Red Sox, going 1-3 with a 5.57 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 21 innings. He only pitched in seven games for the Red Sox in all.





JIN HO CHO
Cho had the most hype of any of the Red Sox Asian signings and was expected to be a good number two or three starter. Cho pitched in 13 games for the Red Sox over two seasons from 1998 to 1999. He went 2-6 with a 6.52 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 58 innings.








SANG-HOON LEE
Lee was something of a free spirit, with long, bleached hair. He only pitched for the Red Sox in nine games as a reliever and had a 3.02 ERA and six strikeouts in 11.2 innings.









SUN-WOO KIM
Kim stuck around a little bit longer, although his status as a starter or a reliever was never made clear. He pitched in 35 games for Boston from 2001 to 2002, starting four. His record was 2-2 with a 6.50 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 70.2 innings. He did go on to a reasonably long career, pitching in the Majors through 2006.






TOMOKAZU OHKA
Ohka was the most successful player from this group, but that is not saying much. He pitched parts of the 1999, 2000, and 2001 seasons, mostly as a starter. He went 6-13 with a 4.61 ERA and struck out 85 in 134.2 innings. He was unusual in that he never pitched in the professional leagues in Japan and was brought over to the US as an amateur.






Also signed were Seung Jun Song, Takayasu Kato, and Byeong Hak An, though none of them made it to the Major Leagues.

About the best thing that can be said about the Red Sox efforts is that they made great trade bait. Ohka was traded along with another minor leaguer to the Expos for Ugueth Urbina, who was an All Star closer for the Red Sox in 2002. Kim and Song were traded to the Expos as well, but for slugger Cliff Floyd who helped the Red Sox during the 2002 stretch drive. An was traded along with another minor leaguer to the White Sox for reliever Bobby Howry.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

My Favorite Pack Pulls: Non Game-Used/Autograph Edition

I wanted to start with this one. There is nothing quite like the feeling of finding an elusive Red Sox card in a pack, well at least when it comes to this hobby anyway. There are definitely better feelings out there in the world, but not within this hobby. Anyway, I'm rambling and hopefully my fiancee is not fuming mad right now.The feeling is even better when the card is an insert or a parallel. Those are often my favorite pulls. I have pulled a handful of game-used or autograph cards of the Red Sox, but not nearly as many as inserts and parallels. The game-used and autograph cards will get their own post at a later date. We are here today to talk about the inserts and parallels. Here, in chronological order, are my ten favorite inserts and parallels I have gotten in packs:

1. WADE BOGGS: 1992 DONRUSS DIAMOND KINGS
I have previously mentioned my affinity for Diamond Kings. This was the first year the Diamond Kings were an insert set, and not a part of the base set. This was the very first insert card I ever pulled. It was also in my first pack of 1992 Donruss. I also got the base card of Boggs in the same pack. THAT is a good pack.

2. NOMAR GARCIAPARRA: 1999 HOLOGRFX STARVIEW
This is just a cool looking card. It was also one of the first decently valuable Red Sox cards I had pulled from a pack. The pack only had three cards in it.

3. SANG-HOON LEE/TOMO OHKA: 2000 ULTRA GOLD MEDALLION
I remember being initially disappointed with this. I saw the back first after buying this pack at the same time that I bought a bunch of Red Sox singles, including the Lee/Ohka base card. I thought I was going to pull a double. It turns out this was the parallel version of the card I previously bought. Sigh of relief. The Red Sox efforts at scouting in Asian countries will be a topic soon, I promise.

4. PEDRO MARTINEZ/NOMAR GARCIAPARRA/TROY O'LEARY: 2000 PACIFIC DIAMOND LEADERS
Do I really need to discuss why this card was so cool to pull from a pack?

5. RICH GARCES: 1998 INVINCIBLE GEMS OF THE DIAMOND
I bought packs and packs and one box of this stuff looking for this card in particular. I was a big fan of Rich Garces during his time with the Sox. Look for a post on that too. Anyway, I finally pulled it in the retail box. Oddly, the Gems of the Diamond came four to a pack while the base cards only fell one to a pack.

6. ANASTACIO MARTINEZ: 2002 TOPPS CHROME TRADED REFRACTOR
To date, this is the only Red Sox refractor I have ever pulled from a pack.

7. JOHNNY DAMON: 2003 TOPPS 205 SOVEREIGN GREEN
I really like the Topp 205 sets, particularly the minis. I have pulled several decent minis. This is my favorite because it is a parallel to a parallel.

8. NOMAR GARCIAPARRA: 2004 LEAF SECOND EDITION EXHIBITS 1939-1946 BEST WISHES RIGHT
These were odd cards. There were about 60 variations on this. Still, this is a pretty cool card, and it came from a retail blaster.

9. JAMIE BROWN: 2004 UPPER DECK ETCHINGS FUTURE ETCHINGS
Not really an insert or a parallel. This one gets mentioned because it is the only rookie serial-numbered short print I have pulled in a pack. It was also from an expensive pack that I only bought one of. Getting a good Red Sox pull usually means I do not continue to try my luck.

10. CARL YASTRZEMSKI: 2005 STUDIO THROWBACK THREADS SEPIA
Similar to #8 above. There were lots of variations in this. I pulled it from a hobby box. It is also the lowest serial-numbered Red Sox card I have ever pulled from a pack.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
CARLOS QUINTANA: 1993 PACIFIC JUGADORES CALIENTES
Only an honorable mention because I got it in a blister pack and it was showing on the front of the packaging, so I knew I would be getting it. That takes out a little bit of the surprise.

PEDRO MARTINEZ: 2000 INVINCIBLE ACES OF THE DIAMOND
NOMAR GARCIAPARRA: 2000 INVINCIBLE KINGS OF THE DIAMOND
Two cards from the same pack. There was only one other card in the pack. THAT is a great pack.