Looking For a Sign From Koji

An age-old question: when does a pitcher start suffering from old age?

It can happen at any time, and seemingly and especially with relievers who are unpredictable to begin with, it happens suddenly.

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On Saturday, the Red Sox were working to teach an old dog new tricks as Koji Uehara, who will be 40 in a few weeks, gave up a run on three hits while striking out one in one inning of spring training meaningless in-game testing. Manager John Farrell explained that Uehara was trying to throw more cutters in in certain counts as opposed to his splitter that he usually uses when finishing off a hitter. His ERA this spring is 6.00 and his WHIP is 2.333.

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As Uehara has experimented this spring, he’s pitched three innings and faced 15 batters, seven of whom have gotten hits, two runners have scored and Koji has struck out three.

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On Tuesday, Uehara strained his left hamstring doing conditioning drills. “He’s day to day with that,” Farrell said. ‘It’s going to be a few days before we test him again and before we get him back in a game. This isn’t a situation where we’re jeopardizing the beginning of the season or anything like that.”

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At the end of last October, the Red Sox signed Uehara to a two-year $18 million deal that nearly doubled his expired two-year, $9.25 million contract. The deal is similar to the two-year, $20 million contract the Tigers gave to the 38-year old closer Joe Nathan prior to the 2014 season.

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Age suddenly hit Nathan, about as hard as hitters did last season. In his All-Star 2012 and 2013 seasons for Texas, at the ages of 37 and 38, Joe Nathan had an ERA of 2.09 and a WHIP of 0.977 as he recorded 80 saves. In 2014 for Detroit, at the age of 39, Nathan had an ERA of 4.81 and a WHIP of 1.534 as he recorded 35 saves. This spring, Nathan has an ERA of 7.71 and a WHIP of 1.929.

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In his 2013 season for Boston, at the age of 38, Koji had an ERA of 1.09 and a WHIP of 0.565 as he recorded 21 saves. In 2014 for the Sox, at the age of 39, Uehara had an ERA of 2.52 and a WHIP of 0.917 as he recorded 26 saves.

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But there’s more to the story. From the start of the 2013 season to June 20, 2014, no pitcher in baseball, starter or reliever, who threw at least a hundred innings, had as low an ERA as Uehara’s 1.01. And, no pitcher had as low a WHIP as Koji’s microscopic 0.598. His .140 BAA was also the best in baseball. Not only did Uehara have a nine-inning strikeout rate of 12.11, no pitcher had as large a strikeout-to-walk ratio as his 11.08.

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Here’s more of the story. From June 21, 2014 to the end of the regular season, in 32 games, Uehara’s ERA was 4.26, his WHIP was 1.168; and his BAA was .264 BAA (the same as Nathan’s). Uehara still had a strong nine-inning strikeout rate of 10.52 and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 9.25.

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And, a little more of the story: “From a health standpoint, he had a little lower back issue at the end of the year, but that was resolved and wasn’t really a concern going forward,” GM Ben Cherington said when he announced the new two-year contract for Koji.

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One final bit of the story: Last April, Koji felt tightness in his right shoulder during a pregame long-toss and admitted it reminded him of the same feeling he had had when a strained lat muscle put him on the DL for a couple of months when he was with the Texas Rangers. The 2014 ache proved to be nothing more than a scare.

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Koji gets a little nervous: When the injury occurred last April, Koji was very worried about missing time. Today, when he was asked about his future availability, he responded through interpreter C.J. Matsumoto, “I feel that it might be a close call but I should be ready,” when asked if he thought he would be ready for the April 6 opener.

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In the history of baseball there have been only 10 seasons in which a reliever who is at least 40-years old has recorded at least 25 saves in a season. Only five pitchers have pulled this off: Dennis Eckersley did it three times from when he was 40, 41, and 42. Mariano Rivera did it three times when he was 40, 41, and 43. Trevor Hoffman did it at 40 and 41, Doug Jones did it at 40, and Hoyt Wilhelm did it at 41. And that’s it.

You have to wonder:
Question marks abound in the Red Sox rotation, but there is one question the Red Sox absolutely need a “Yes” answer to:

“Will Koji Uehara be effective and healthy enough to return to his previous effectiveness to be a lights-out closer?”

It’s a question for the ages.