Koji Uehara won’t be facing the free agent market after all, as the veteran has agreed to a two year extension to remain a member of the Boston Red Sox. WEEI’s Alex Speier reports that the deal will pay him $18 million.
#RedSox today signed RHP @TeamUehara to a two-year contract through the 2016 season. EVP/GM Ben Cherington made the announcement.
— Red Sox (@RedSox) October 30, 2014
Two years, $18M for Koji Uehara.
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) October 30, 2014
Since signing with Boston as a free agent prior to the 2013 season, Uehara has been a mostly dominant force at the back of the team’s bullpen. He’s posted a 1.75 ERA and 0.728 WHIP during his tenure with the team, saving 47 games. This past season, however, things began to slip. Uehara started the year off strong before running into trouble in the summer months. Arm fatigue was generally cited as the chief concern behind the struggles and the team would ultimately shut him down late in the year once they were eliminated from contention.
At 39 years of age and with free agency looming, it was a move that made sense on all sides.
Uehara has, however, become a popular figure in the Boston clubhouse and with the fans in part due to the dominance he displayed during the team’s World Series run in 2013. That postseason he appeared in 13 games, allowing just a single earned run on just seven hits while striking out 16 batters.
BoSox Injection
Boston was expected to pursue a new contract with the right-hander, but it was unclear just how willing they’d be to spend big in order to retain his services. A qualifying offer (valued at $15.1 million this year) was considered a possibility, but it appears the team was able to find a middle ground on what should prove to be a good contract so long as he can remain healthy over the next two seasons.
Uehara pitched for ten seasons in Japan before coming to the Major Leagues, spending most of them as a starting pitcher for the Yomiuri Giants. There he posted a 3.01 ERA, 1.007 WHIP, and 8.0 K/9 in 1,549.0 innings of work before leaving as an unrestricted free agent. Uehara signed with the Baltimore Orioles prior to the 2009 season and was traded two and a half seasons later to the Texas Rangers (a deal that brought Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter to Baltimore).