Why did it take 20 years for the Nationals to sign their first free agent from Asia?
“That market is a market that is built on relationships,” general manager Mike Rizzo said. “You can’t go down there and just pick and choose a guy you want to scout and try and sign him. That market, I dabbled in it when I was with Arizona a few times. And here, we’ve tried at several Asian players. And it’s just … you’re always on the outside looking in, because you don’t have the network there, the groundwork there, that you need to have to create these relationships.”
The Nats finally broke through Friday when they signed Shinnosuke Ogasawara to a two-year, $3.5 million deal (plus a $700,000 posting fee to the Chunichi Dragons). The Japanese left-hander thus became the first free agent to ink a deal with this franchise directly from Asia, a long-awaited development some thought might never come to fruition.
Three Asian-born players have appeared in games for the Nationals over the last two decades, but all joined the club after playing professionally for other major league organizations.
Japan’s Tomo Ohka originally signed with the Red Sox in 2001 before getting traded to the Expos in 2004 for Ugueth Urbina and ultimately making nine starts for the Nats in 2005.
South Korea’s Sun-Woo Kim also originally signed with the Red Sox in 1997 before he was traded to the Expos in 2002 for Cliff Floyd, then pitched in 12 games for the Nats in 2005.
And Taiwan’s Chien-Ming Wang, the most prominent Asian player in Nationals history, spent a decade with the Yankees before signing as a free agent with the Nats in 2010, and then twice re-signing with them while pitching in 21 games from 2011-12 when he wasn’t dealing with one of several injuries.
Every winter, we hear about other MLB franchises making bold overtures to top Asian players looking to come to America. Some of those free agents command massive contracts, but many more have come here on far more affordable deals. Yet not once did we hear the Nationals mentioned as serious bidders for anyone.
Why was that? It mostly boils down to how much an MLB club wants to invest in that part of the world. The Nats have scouts who send in reports to the front office about Japanese and Korean players, but they haven’t devoted the same kind of manpower some other clubs have devoted to the region.
It’s not just about having good scouting eyes on these players, though. It’s about having the kind of reputation that opens doors to players and agents long before they announce their intentions to come to the major leagues. The Nationals have that reputation in Latin America, which has led to a number of significant signings over the years, headlined of course by Juan Soto.
“We scout these players every year,” Rizzo said. “We scouted Shinno this year, the last couple of seasons in Japan. And we’ve liked players in the past. We just didn’t have the relationship and the background to sell these players to come to D.C.”
The Nationals did finally have an established relationship this time to be able to get in the front door with Ogasawara. Among his representatives with WME Sports is Bryan Minniti, who was Rizzo’s assistant general manager from 2010-14 and later worked for the Diamondbacks and Phillies before moving into the agent business in recent years.
That connection gave them the ability to meet with Ogasawara and make their pitch for the franchise and the city. And it ultimately allowed them to seal the deal and sign the pitcher, who isn’t nearly as big a name as some other Japanese players who have come to the United States the last few years but is nonetheless viewed as a big leaguer who will have to chance to make the Opening Day rotation.
You have to start somewhere, of course. And the Nationals’ hope is that this signing could pave the way for more in the future. If Ogasawara has some success here, and if he speaks highly of Washington, others may be interested in coming here as well.
“It’s a fertile market,” Rizzo said. “You can’t eliminate any market, because talent is such a luxury. You need to be open to all ways of acquiring players. We’ve had a presence there, we just didn’t have the ground game and the relationships. As we’ve begun the process of becoming more active there, with this particular player, we did have that advantage of some relationships with the agency.”
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