Major League Baseball has its own form of recycling: the signing of another team’s free agents who are over 35.  Not a practice without costs, the 2011 season has produced its share of suspect reclamation projects:

However, sometimes recycling can be beneficial.  Adam Kennedy, Henry Blanco, and Miguel Batista have been serviceable,

while players like: Lance Berkman, Orlando Cabrera, Barton Colon, Scott Downs, Kyle Farnsworth and the timeless Arthur Rhodes all have been valuable acquisitions.

It is interesting to note that aside from Berkman and Cabrera, the hitters from the recycling class of 2011 have been sub-par, while the pitchers by and large have continued to hold their value.  Assuming that we are past the quarter-pole of the 2011 MLB season and that the players noted above continue to perform in line with their existing arc, it appears that ballplayer recycling has about a 33% success rate.  Some players from the 2011 free agent class failed to make teams and others landed on the DL with too many old parts.  Which brings us full cycle… right back to where we started…in Japan.

With Japan’s robust recycling system, what about ballplayers who spent years in the Japanese League and then came West in their 30s?  The 2011 free agent signings of Hisanori Takahashi and Takashi Saito have been less than stellar.  The Angels signed 36 year old, Takahashi for $3.8M.  Takahashi is 1-0 with a 4.74 era and a dreadful 1.68 whip.  Saito (41) who signed for $1.75M remains on the DL after pitching 2 innings this year.  Saito’s ‘end of useful life’ signing is reminiscent of quite a few Hiroshi-Come-Latelys.

• the Orioles post-prime acquisition of injury-plagued Koji Uehara (34 at signing) in 2009;
• Takhito Nomura (33) and his 8.86 ERA in one year in Milwaukee;
• Norihiro Nakamura (32) who hit .128 with the Dodgers;
• Masumi Kuwata (39) who went on the DL at 0-1 with 9.43 ERA in 2007 in Pittsburgh; and
• Kazuo Fukumori (32) who landed a two year, $3M deal with the Rangers and pitched for about five minutes in the Majors recording a 20.25 ERA.

Maybe the imports are not quite what we thought they were.  And clearly, although the Japanese recycling system is overachieving in its span of implementation and return on investment, the lion’s share of baseball players who sign with Major League teams after a lengthy careers in Japan belong in the scrap heap.

Which leads us to this year’s predictions.  The easy pick here is the Red Sox versus the Phillies in the 2011 World Series.  All 44 of ESPN’s pundits forecasted Boston to win the AL East, 39 of them predicted that Boston would represent the AL and 33 of those folks expect the Sox to win the World Series.  That’s really going out on a limb gang.  Even Harpo – the silent Bench Jockey – is of the opinion that we will be watching Lester against Halladay in the Fall Classic.   However, I say, when something seems so obvious, do the opposite.  I like the young arms in Oakland to emerge from a weak AL West and shock the so-called “experts.”  Need I say anything other than the Texas Rangers in 2010?  In the NL, San Francisco is essentially the same team that won in 2010 except now they have some self-confidence in their ability to win.  Half the US doesn’t even remember they won it all last year, and the other half think it was a fluke.  Even in winning, they have a chip on their shoulders. 

So what does this mean for baseball in 2011?  The earthquake series redux.  It just seems like a fitting end.