Dodgers Sign Takashi Saitoh

It's official, the Dodgers have signed Saitoh to a minor league contract, Tuesday(February 8). [Full MLB.com Article]

If Saitoh performs well in Spring traing, will he be on the active roster?

Beat writer for L.A. just told me lefty Kelly Wunsch has a better shot of making the opening day roster against Takashi or even Aaron Sele.

So far Saitoh is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in 6 games this Spring. He also has 1 BB and 12 Ks. [MLB Stats]

Saitoh was optioned off to the Dodgers' minor league camp, Thursday.

Saitoh went 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in 6 games this spring. [Full Japan Ball Story] [Spring MLB Stats]

Saitoh has been moved up to a bigger role after Gagne was sent to surgery. Gagne's surgery was a success, and he could return as soon as two months from now. In the meantime, however, expect Saitoh to be an occasional setup man before handing the final inning to Dannys Baez.

I was watching the game on replay tonight and Saitoh was warming up in the bullpen alongside Taiwanese pitcher Kuo in the bottom of the 6th inning vs. the Phillies. The camera zoomed in on Kuo, Saitoh, and Seo. Kinda nice having that Asian representation for the Dodgers.

Saitoh pitched in his MLB debut, Sunday in the first game of yesterday's Dodgers-Phillies doubleheader, Saitoh pitched a perfect two thirds of an inning.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=20060409&content_id=1391619&vkey=wrapup2005&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Saitoh , 1.1innings 3hits 2k's 0 walks 0runs.

He's been nicknamed "Sammy" by the club.

Takashi Saitoh has really good movement on his fastball even though he's only throwing 90-91.

from dodgers.com

Saito's roles: Manager Grady Little has liked Takashi Saito from early in Spring Training, and he likes him so much now, he's using him in two roles.

Little said Saito will be used sometimes as a setup man for closer Danys Baez and sometimes earlier in games to extricate the club from jams with runners on base.

"Sometimes you save the game in the sixth or seventh inning," said Little. "We just have to be careful we don't use him too much."

Little used Saito on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and was hoping to stay away from the Japanese import Sunday night. He said left-handers Hong-Chih Kuo and Tim Hamulack could assume the setup role when Saito is unavailable.

Saitoh hit the mound tonight and pitched 2 lights out innings against the Cubs. 6 straight retired batters with 4 K's then got the win when J.D. Drew hit game winning rbi single. It's crazy to see him flirt with the meat of the strike zone facing guys like Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez.

Little's going to be even more high on him now.

I saw that very nice work and i love Saito's pitching windup and Saito can be the next Ohtsuka.

I just got back from that game, and it was wonderful. Great, great game, and seeing Saito strike four out in two innings was awesome. The crowd really got behind him where I was sitting.

Saito has another great night, a scoreless 1.1, 1 hit, 1 BB 2Ks.

Saito is officially Garciaparra's new best friend.

Saito will be an All-Star if he keeps it up. Another scoreless inning with a strike out. He's been throwing hard to 93-95mph with his fastball.

He mostly had decent years in Japan, and had good strike out rates most years, so maybe it shouldn't be so much of a surprise. But he sure flew under the radar. Hopefully he can keep it up all year!