The Quest For Relief: Far East For Tazawa

The Detroit Tigers had been rumored as one of several teams looking at signing 22-year-old Japanese sensation Junichi Tazawa.  General Manager Dave Dombrowski confirmed his team's interest over a week ago to the Detroit media.  Now, the Tigers have made that curiosity official by sending one of their scouts to meet with Tazawa on Monday.  (Also visiting with Tazawa was a scout from the Cleveland Indians, which makes you wonder who felt like the third wheel during the get-together.)

Jason Beck cited a story in the Kyodo News, which reported that Tazawa met with the Tigers and Indians while he's participating in the national corporate championship:

"Today it was just basically an exchange of greetings but it was good to be able to listen to that they had to say,’’ said Tazawa, who met with the scouts at an Osaka hotel after the first round of the national corporate championship at Kyocera Dome.  ‘‘The most important thing at the moment is this tournament,’’ the Nippon Oil pitcher said of the national meet.

According to NPB Tracker, Tazawa plans to negotiate his contract with a major league team during the tournament, which started on Monday.  He'll be eligible to sign any deal after the competition ends on November 24.  (At least that's what Nikkan Sports supposedly says.  I can't really read the report, but I'll take NPB Tracker's word on it.  Maybe you can.)

Tazawa's manager says four teams have now spoken with him.  Besides the Tigers and Indians, the Atlanta Braves and Seattle Mariners met with Tazawa a couple of weeks ago.  Also reportedly interested are the Cubs, Red Sox, and Marlins.  Rumor has it that the Braves have already taken the step of offering a major league contract to Tazawa, but neither the Tigers nor Indians made any such offer during their meeting.