Royals Sign Yabuta

The Kansas City Royals have signed Japanese right-hander Yasuhiko Yabuta to a 2-year, $6 million deal. Yabuta, who turns 35 in June, has spent his entire 12-year career with the Chiba Lotte Marines and been a fairly effective reliever over the past four seasons.

Yabuta emphasized new Kansas City manager Trey Hillman’s presence as a factor in his signing:

Mr. Hillman knows Japanese baseball and Japanese players. He knows my style. He understands me very well.

Hillman, of course, managed in Japan for several years and was very successful there. Related to Hillman’s experience on the other side of the Pacific, general manager Dayton Moore had this to say:

This signing [is] very important for us for two reasons. One, he’s going to impact our bullpen. And two, it opens more doors for us in Japan.

For a team like the Royals to become competitive, they need to be thinking like this. That said, I have a couple of concerns:

• Yabuta isn’t young and his strikeout rate has been in steady decline. That’s a scary combination.
• At the price he signed for, Yabuta isn’t the bargain that, say, Akinori Otsuka was a few years ago when he came to San Diego. Looks like the market is adapting again.