Pink Sox signal aid mug Hirokazu Sawamura

The Red Sox announced the signing of right-handed Hirokazu Sawamura on Tuesday to a two-year contract with a double club / player option for the 2023 season. Lefty Jeffrey Springs was appointed for the contract to open a place on the 40-man roster. Sawamura, a 10-season veteran of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, is represented by JBA Sports.

Reports from last week showed that Sawamura and the Sox were discussing an affordable two-year contract that The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal recently tied for a $ 3 million guaranteed amount of money. The details are not yet known, although Rosenthal indicated that Sawamura’s deal could be valued at approximately $ 7.65 million.

Sawamura, 33, played nine and a half seasons with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan in April before joining the Chiba Lotte Marines in early 2020. He had gotten off to a difficult start with his longtime club and completed nine runs in his race, first 13 1/3 frames, but Sawamura turned things around with the Marines. In 21 innings on the track, he achieved a flawless score of 1.71 ERA while defeating 29 of the 82 batters he faced (35.3 percent). Sawamura went down to 10 (12.1 percent) during that time – far more than was characteristic of his NPB career, but the promising ending has likely allayed some of the MLB clubs’ concerns about a possible decline.

Overall, Sawamura has recorded 868 1/3 innings in his NPB career, working on a 2.77 ERA with a strike rate of 22.1 percent and a gait rate of 7.3 percent. He began his career as a starter before getting closer to the Giants in 2015 – a role he held for two years.

Sawamura scored 73 saves as the primary option for the Giants’ ninth inning from 2015 to 2016 before missing the 2017 season due to a shoulder problem. That missed season came after a bizarre scene where a minor shoulder problem was mistreated, resulting in wider nerve problems that bogged him off for months. According to reports, the president of the team, GM and medical staff apologized to Sawamura after the incident. He has been a setup man since his return in 2018. Since his return in 2018 he has mainly had setup functions.

Sawamura has been sane since that unfortunate sequence, giving the Red Sox an intriguing hurler that may eventually turn out to be a late inning option. The right-handed player has a fastball that can reach 97 mph, a 90s sliver that acts as his primary out-pitch, and a lesser-used slider to round out a three-pitch arsenal.

If that $ 3 million is indeed the final guarantee, it means a luxury tax hit of $ 1.5 million for the Red Sox regardless of how those dollars are paid out. Such a commitment fits snugly into a rapidly shrinking window between Boston’s luxury ledger and the $ 210 million tax threshold.

Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez now has a little less than $ 2 million respite, making additional deals unlikely unless the Sox suddenly give up their preference to stay south of the barrier, put together another trade to improve their financials Reduce commitments or cut any of them to their referee-able players during spring training. (Unless expressly negotiated otherwise, arbitration proceedings are only partially guaranteed up to the opening day.)

If he turns to the 28-year-old Springs, he will now be available to other clubs either through a total waiver, trade, or simple publication. The Red Sox have a week to decide which route to take. The 2020 season was Springs’ first with the Red Sox and it proved to be a battle. In 20 1/3 frames, the former Rangers southpaw was marked for a 7.08 ERA. He knocked out 28 percent of his opponents at a rate of just seven percent, but five of the 99 opponents Springs faced hit him deeply. He has an ERA of 5.42 and a FIP of 4.66 in 84 2/3 innings at the major league level between the Texas and Boston organizations.