Junichi Tazawa signs with Miami Marlins (12/15/16)

Its official, the Orient Express is now no more. With Koji Uehara going to the Cubs and now Junichi Tazawa is headed to Miami. This brings the end of an impressive tag-team that terrorized American League batters from 2013-2016.

                                                              So long Orient Express

Tazawa was undrafted out of high school in Japan before joining an independent league over there. At the end of the 2008 season he decided to try his luck in the USA. He signed with the Boston Red Sox and made his pro debut in 2009 with the Portland Sea Dogs.

                                              Portland's best pitcher in the first half of 09

Tazawa was quickly brought up to Pawtucket and then on August 7, he was sent to the majors to replace the ineffective John Smoltz....yeah, remember that? Tazawa had a very eventful rookie season. He was pressed into emergency service that night in extra innings against the eventual world champion New York Yankees. Alex Rodriguez hit a walkoff two run bomb against him. Welcome to the big leagues. 4 days later he got his first major league start against Detroit and it ignited a very famous brawl. Tazawa hit Miguel Cabrera on the hand and Tigers starter Rick Porcello started headhunting Kevin Youkilis, causing him to charge the mound and get both of them thrown out. Tazawa got his first pro win. He ended the season with a 2-3 record and a hideous 7.46 ERA in 4 starts and 2 relief appearances.

                                                    Giving up walkoffs and starting fights

It turns out Tazawa's arm was hanging at the end of the 2009 season and he ended up having Tommy John surgery in early 2010, wiping out not only his 2010 season but most of his 2011 season as well. He appeared in just 3 games at the end of 2011.  During the embarassing 2012 season, Tazawa came back to be one of the team's best relief pitchers, giving up just 7 runs and striking out 45 in 44 innings. This display of effectiveness led Taz to become a primary set up man for the next 4 seasons. His shining moments came in the 2013 playoffs where he absolutely dominated Miguel Cabrera, setting up the 6 game series win over the Detroit Tigers. He allowed just 1 run the entire post-season in 7 1/3 innings as the Sox won the World Series.

Tazawa had an even better 2014 season for a declining Red Sox team posting a 2.86 ERA. Then his arm started to fall off again. So many innings took their toll on Tazawa as he fatigued down the stretch in 2015 and parts of 2016. With the addition of Tyler Thornburg and the impending return of Carson Smith, the Sox felt that Tazawa was all washed up and let him go. Its a shame it had to end like this but that's the nature of the game. Hopefully he'll do well with Miami in 2017. Thanks for the memories Taz.