Brewers win negotiating rights to Japanese OF Norichika Aoki for $2.5 million. Latest: signs 2-yr deal

[PrinceEatMeat]

http://www.rotoworld.com/...9/baseball-headlines?r=1

 

Wow didnt see this coming. Not typical Melvin move.

[brettac1]

Awesome!

[mrpackersfan1]

Hope we can work out a deal. Seems like a great player

[statman0007]

Assuming we sign him, what role does he take? Is he protection against a Braun suspension or does this mean that Nyjer or Gomez are going to be traded?

[ilovebeer]

nice sounds good to me

[Invader3K]

Kind of a surprise after they didn't bid on that shortstop recently.

[And That]

[RockCoCougars]

He looks like he has a three fourths Counsell going.

[And That]

[Kelbysdaddy]

ok, if he plays left for the first 50 games..........what the hell do we do with him the rest of the season

[DHonks]

Seems like a #2 hitter with bat control

[theavrock]

ummm ok. this has to be the precondition to something else. This guy isn't going to ride the pine is he?

[miggs721]

My view is that there may be a trade of Plush forthcoming!!! Or Hart possibly

[RyDogg66]

Is he as good as Fukudome? Because Fukudome stinks.

[Bnowell4evr]

Is he as good as Fukudome? Because Fukudome stinks.

A fangraph article from a year ago said he was the best hitter Japan has produced since Ichiro.

[chickinbrickin]

Anyone have a link to his Japanese stats?

[Funketown]

"NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman (writing for Fangraphs) said in August 2010 that Aoki was "the best pure hitter Japan has produced since Ichiro" and has good defensive range, though a weak throwing arm will probably limit Aoki to left field in the majors. "

 

Stats through 2010:

http://www.baseball-refer...ayer.cgi?id=aoki--001nor

 

From 2007-2010, he put up an aggregate .339/.421/.497/.918. I think he struggled last year to the tune of .260/.350/.360 or so.

 

I like this move, should be fun if he actually makes the trip over.

 

Edit: Season dates.

[theavrock]

"NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman (writing for Fangraphs) said in August 2010 that Aoki was "the best pure hitter Japan has produced since Ichiro" and has good defensive range, though a weak throwing arm will probably limit Aoki to left field in the majors. "

 

Stats through 2010:

http://www.baseball-refer...ayer.cgi?id=aoki--001nor

 

From 2007-2010, he put up an aggregate .339/.421/.497/.918. I think he struggled last year to the tune of .260/.350/.360 or so.

 

I like this move, should be fun if he actually makes the trip over.

 

Edit: Season dates.

292/.358/.360 was his slash line last year.

But he is one of four Japanese players to get 200 hits and has ab average slash line of .336/.411/.472

[logan82]

How do his slash stats compare to the rest of Japanese baseball players. I know how good he would be if he was playing in MLB but what is a typical and good slash line for a Japanese player?

[theavrock]

3 time batting champion, 7 time all star and 6 time gold glove award.

 

The guy is a decorated ball player in Japan.

[RyDogg66]

3 time batting champion, 7 time all star and 6 time gold glove award.

 

The guy is a decorated ball player in Japan.

Yeah but so are Tuffy Rhodes and Tom Selleck.

[reillymcshane]

Remember the Japanese league changed balls last year and stats went down for most everyone. The ball is a bit smaller. Oaki's drop was pretty consistent throughout the league.

[chadomac]

Maybe Doug is planning to know the results of the Braun sitch before the negotiating period would end with Aoki, so he's just making sure this option is available if he does get suspended?

Either way, on paper it seems like it'd be great to add this guy even with his noodle arm. Those stats are very promising and he could make Morgan expendable if he performs while Braun is out.

[reillymcshane]

Cool the team is looking at all angles to get better. Aoki sounds like an interesting player. Interesting to see how the team will use him.

[Oldcity]

Nothing on this anywhere else as far as I can tell... The source seems to be some Japanese journalist. I wonder how reliable this is?