Fujii joins the Tigers

As expected Akihito Fujii signed with Tigers on a two year contract for 120 million yen. He will wear No. 50. This has to be described as short-sightedness - a has been catcher who is being signed mainly because he and Mayumi worked together at Kintetsu. Fujii does not possess a big bat meaning that the offense is weakened while Johjima is out and having seen him catch he is merely ordinary. This is where I have real problems with the Mayumi approach - Kanoh is brilliant and unorthodox and has the ability to get the best out of pitchers. However, Tigers have not spoken with him yet about whether he is needed for the outfield or as a catcher. At the very least this should have been cleared up. Basically Tigers have wasted money on a player they did not need - money which could have been put towards acquiring the real prize among free agents - Uchikawa. Buying in a second rate catcher when you have a first rate alternative who is kept out of the catching duties because he is better than his seniors does not engender confidence for the future. I do wish that Tigers would dump these superannuated old boys and get past the idea that they can somehow manage a baseball team. The prospective 2011 lineup is a regression from 2010.

Kanoh has indicated that he wants to play both outfielder and catcher next season. Certainly a wish to compromise but the club is presumably not interested. One sees a similar situation to that of Noguchi who was preferred as second catcher in 2008 over Kanoh. Noguchi was so poor Tigers were happy to see the back of him at the end of the season and he went to Yokohama as a free agent and disappeared without trace. A similar situation seems to pertain with Fujii who has not been Rakuten's first choice catcher for two years. Number of years seems to be the guiding factor here not ability. Even if this signing is only as a temporary backup it seems like an unnecessary waste of money.