Former Dodgers closer and Japanese pitcher Takashi Saito was scooped up by the Diamondbacks to a one year deal valued at $1.75 million. Saito came over to Japan and made his debut with the Dodgers where he pitched three seasons as the team’s closer. Since then, he’s bounced around and this will be his fourth team in four years.
Still, each of his stops have been solid although last year he threw only 26 2/3 innings for the Brewers. He’s also getting up there and he’ll turn 42 in February. Still, he has a career 2.18 ERA with 389 strikeouts and 103 walks in 326 innings. His strikeout rate was down considerable last year though so we’ll see if that’s a trend or a blip. Still, I like the deal and Saito should help out the Dodgers pen in 2012.
