It would be unreasonable to assume every Japanese player would want to join the Red Sox.

Yusei Kikuchi, an 18-year-old Japanese pitcher, is not joining the Red Sox, or any other Major League team. He made the announcement at a press conference, the news of which occurred during my long commute home from NECN Headquarters.

He had the choice of entering the NPB Draft or signing with an MLB team, but opted to forego the latter. By signing with an NPB team, he will be required to go through the transfer process to make the jump to the majors — the same process that brought Daisuke Matsuzaka to Boston. Or he can wait until he becomes a free agent, which is years away.  So maybe Red Sox fans see him down the road some day.

A mainstay in Boston’s bullpen for the past three seasons, Hideki Okajima has reportedly made a move to facilitate his re-signing with the Red Sox.

Okajima has switched to Boston-based agent Joe Rosen after experiencing difficulty with former agent Peter Greenburg, according to NPBTracker.com.

“The agent and I were not on the same page regarding contracts,” Okajima told a Japanese news agency, according to Ryo Shinkawa’s translation on NPBTracker.com. “There was no specific communication done and I struggled to understand.”

The report included a quote from Okajima in which he said that signing with Rosen would enable him to better involve himself with the Boston community. Aside from minor league and basketball players, Angels outfielder Chris Pettit is the only other Major League Baseball player represented by Rosen’s Orpheus LLC.

Okajima’s ERA has increased each of his three years in Boston — 2.22, 2.61, 3.39. Still, he has been a trusted arm for Terry Francona out of the bullpen, making at least 23 holds per season. He made $1.75 million in 2009 as a club option.

Now all that waits is a decision from the 18-year-old Japanese pitcher on signing with an MLB team or being drafted by an NPB team. It’s like picking a college, but way more important.

Keeping their hands close to their chests, both the Red Sox and Yankees offered no comment on their respective meetings with Yusei Kikuchi, a promising lefthanded pitcher who may jump directly to Major League Baseball a la Junichi Tazawa — except he’s 18 and not a 22-year-old Industrial League player.

Via NPBTracker.com:

“My manager and parents both said ‘we’ll leave it up to you’, so I want to come to a conclusion without regret.” — Yusei Kikuchi

As referenced before, college is a relatively simply decision compared to this one. Does he play in his native country, or leave for the best league in the world only to disappoint Nippon Pro Baseball?

This video captures Yankees Mariano Rivera in the act of spitting. Maybe the ball insulted him. Maybe Roberto Alomar was a hero of his. Maybe he’s spitting saliva to the ground. Or maybe… he’s preparing a spitball.

It would seem pretty unbelievable that Rivera could be the best closer in the game for 13 seasons all because of a spitball no one has ever noticed him throwing before. For years, it has been the famed cut fastball that has made him nearly unhittable.

But one cannot blindly refute this evidence. With the introduction of hi-definition television, more is seen than ever before. Remember the 2006 ALCS, where Kenny Rogers was lights out for the Detroit Tigers? And then screenshots showed a funny brown smear on his pitching hand, likely pine tar and not a lack of toilet paper.

Because FOX was cutting away to another shot as the spit was either landing on or passing by the ball, it is impossible to tell exactly what is going on here. It is hoped that FOX kept all its tapes from yesterday’s Game 3, so that it can either confirm or deny this conspiracy theory.

For those with more interest in this internet hotfire story, Kevin Kaduck of Yahoo! Sports blog Big League Stew cuts through the sarcasm to bring us some reason.

As NPB teams court Japanese high school pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, 18, prior to the upcoming NPB Draft, two Red Sox pitchers share their thoughts on Kikuchi potentially jumping to an MLB organization.

NPB Tracker’s Patrick Newman translated quotes from both Nikkan Sports and Sanspo articles in which Red Sox pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Junichi Tazawa spoke on the potential of Kikuchi moving directly to MLB from high school.

According to Newman’s translation, Matsuzaka once considered making such a jump himself, but decided against it.

“I thought about it (going to MLB after high school) too, but I didn’t yet have what it would take to make the decision, and I thought I would go after getting results in Japan,” Matsuzaka said, as translated by Newman. “If he has confidence that he can do it, either way is good.”

While Matsuzaka was acquired by Boston via the posting process, Tazawa was a trail blazer of sorts — he signed with the Red Sox after NPB imposed a new rule suspending any player who attempts to return to NPB after first dodging its Draft to play overseas. To him, it was the right decision, but he would not go as far as to suggest a similar path for Kikuchi.

“It’s his own life so I want him to make a choice he won’t regret,” Tazawa said, as translated by Newman.

Be sure to check out Newman’s post titled Kikuchi’s First Day of Meetings for further comments from the two pitchers concerning Kikuchi and their respective time in Boston.

The Red Sox are reportedly one of four teams scheduled to meet with Kikuchi on Monday. The meeting would be the first step in bringing his eephus pitch to the organization:

Like what you see? This is Japanese High School pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, 18, a potential follower on the path blazed by Red Sox pitcher Junichi Tazawa.

The information about Boston’s reported interest comes from our friend Patrick Newman over at NPB Tracker, whose latest report contains the word “update” in the headline:

This is the first mention I’ve seen in the Japanese media of the Red Sox being in the mix. According to Nikkan, Boston had scout Craig Shipley at Koshien, observing in deep secrecy.

Deep secrecy makes the reported pursuit of Kikuchi sound even cooler than it likely is. And while one cannot assume that the pitcher is wont to sign with a Major League Baseball team, Boston can be seen as a major player in any deal involving an NPB player or prospect. With Daisuke Matsuzaka — a favorite among certain up-and-coming Japanese prospects — Hideki Okajima and Junichi Tazawa in the organization, the Red Sox have establish a — for lack of a better word — pipeline with Japan.

Although the Red Sox saw a quick adaptation to American baseball by Tazawa in 2009, it would be unfair to expect such an adjustment from a high schooler like Kikuchi. Still, as Boston has done with Tazawa and his 3-year deal (plus arbitration rights pending MLB service time), signing Kikuchi could set the team up well for the future.

A look at the expiration dates on the team’s current members of its pitching staff shares a glimpse as to when Kikuchi would fit into Boston’s plans, should he first decide to take his game to MLB and then choose the Red Sox as his destination.

Final year under contract:

• Josh Beckett, 2010
• Junichi Tazawa, 2011 (plus 6 years MLB service time arbitration control)
• Daisuke Matsuzaka, 2012
• Jon Lester, 2014 (club option)
• Clay Buchholz, 2014 (pending MLB service time alloted for purpose of arbitration control)

A similar deal to that of Tazawa would put Kikuchi under the organization’s control long past the days of Beckett, and potentially in position to serve as a back end of the rotation replacement for Matsuzaka, should he leave via free agency after the 2012 season. Of course, all these hopes hinge on the world not ending on December 12, 2012 as the Mayans predicted with that fancy calendar of theirs.

Having only seen Kikuchi on YouTube, I can’t offer a sound scouting report. Be sure to check out that which is provided by Newman on his site. It includes metric conversions, because who knows if 144 km/h is as fast if it sounds? Beyond his performance on the field, Newman shares some insight into the persona of Kikuchi, which is important when importing a player who holds a language barrier, as Red Sox fans learned through the mid-season absence of Matsuzaka due to his resistance to adhere to the team’s fitness guidelines.

It’s clearly early in the process, as the player is simply meeting with team’s at the start of next week. But when a team’s season ends early, these are the types of rumblings about which fans can get excited. It would behoove Red Sox fans to prevent themselves from getting overconfident in the pursuit of Kikuchi, as there is no telling what he is trying to get out of a prospective move to MLB.

Well I never saw that coming, did you? The Red Sox season is over, just like that. I was about as stunned as the 36 or 37-thousand who nervously watched those final two innings at Fenway Sunday.

The previously perfect Jonathan Papelbon failed to do what he had done so many times in the postseason: finish off the opposition. His scoreless innings streak, cobbled together over previous Octobers, ended in ugly fashion. Three times, Papelbon was just a single strike from packing the park for today’s scheduled Game 4. But he couldn’t get number 9 hitter Erick Aybar, then lost Chone Figgins on a 3-2 pitch. Bobby Abreu also got a 2-hit base knock, using a defensive swing to somehow find the Green Monster. That was the first run – and sadly not the last –  Papelbon surrendered.

After an intentional walk to Torii Hunter, the sacks were packed and Papelbon had no room for error. His first pitch fastball was exactly what Vlad Guerrero was looking for, and Vlad laced it into centerfield . Two more runs scored, and the Fenway crowd, so apprehenesive for much of the day, went eerily silent, save for the few hearty souls who booed Papelbon. The closer’s line: 1 IP, 4 H’s, 3 ER. An utter disaster when the Sox could least afford it.

Quite frankly, the Sox deserved to get swept. They couldn’t touch John Lackey or Jered Weaver out in Anaheim, which nullified their big edge coming in: Jon Lester and Josh Beckett. Then their bulletproof bullpen crumbled in a deciding game, at Fenway no less. Just stunning, but fitting. Everything we thought we knew about this team, that we favored about them heading into the ALDS, proved false. Now the Angels move on, while the Sox brass ponders how to build a better team for next year. Just 4 more months until spring training.

With their backs up against the wall, the Boston Red Sox could not respond with a complete nine-inning effort, losing 7-6 to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in its exit from the 2009 postseason.

After getting two quick outs to start the ninth inning, it all started to break down for closer Jonathan Papelbon, who started the inning with a 6-4 lead.

He allowed two runners to reach base before Bobby Abreu drove one in with an double off the Green Monster. The Red Sox remained up by one run, needing only one out to move on to Game 4. An intentional walk of Torii Hunter loaded the bases for Vladimir Guerrero.

Guerrero singled home two runs in his at bat, putting the Angels ahead for good at 7-6. Papelbon was pulled from the game in favor of Hideki Okajima, who got the final out of the inning. Boston’s bats went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning, exiting the playoffs quietly.

“It kind of happened real fast, but we played as hard as we could,” Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. “Tough way to end. Obviously, we all think of this year as a failure. Best thing we could do is work extremely hard in the offseason and get ready for next year.”

Pedroia, though, said that the team wanted the ball in no one else’s hands but Papelbon.

“That’s why that’s the toughest job in baseball. If you save it out, you’re supposed to do that. If you don’t, everyone points the finger. There’s no one we’d all rather have (with) the ball than him,” Pedroia said.

The Angels advanced to the ALDS with the win.

In recent years, the Red Sox have been on the other end of games like this. But now fans remember how much these losses hurt.

Entering the ninth inning of Game 3 of the ALDS, the Boston Red Sox led the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 6-4. When the game ended, it was the Angels walking off the field with a 7-6 win, earning a spot in the ALCS.

After two quick outs to start the inning, it all started to break down for closer Jonathan Papelbon.

“I think things happened quick, more than anything, and I wasn’t able to really stop the bleeding,” Papelbon said.

He allowed two runners to reach base before Bobby Abreu drove in one with an double off the Green Monster. The Red Sox remained up by one run, needing only one out to move on to Game 4. An intentional walk of Torii Hunter loaded the bases for Vladimir Guerrero, not quite the dangerous hitter he once was, but still effective.

Guerrero singled home two runs in his at bat, putting the Angels ahead for good at 7-6. Papelbon was pulled from the game in favor of Hideki Okajima, who got the final out of the inning. Boston’s bats went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning, exiting the playoffs quietly.

“I definitely feel like a lot of this is on me,” Papelbon said. “My team fights to put me in that position and you do it all season long — you’ve done it time and time again in the postseason previously — and I just wasn’t able to come out ahead this time.”

With the team’s postseason run cut short, the All-Star closer said he might have this outing playing on the television in his weight room during the offseason as motivation.

“I’m just going to use this for fuel to motivate this offseason and come back next year,” Papelbon said.

Returning to Fenway Park trailing 2-0 to the Angels in the ALDS, the Boston Red Sox will look to get an early start on Sunday — literally. Game time is 12:07, a tough schedule considering the team flew back to Boston from the West Coast following its 4-1 loss to Los Angeles of Anaheim on Friday night.

But playing a 162-game schedule that features plenty of jetlag, Red Sox manager Terry Francona said on Saturday that the team has a remedy in store for Sunday’s game.

“We’ll show up tomorrow, do what we always do on early games — have 12 pieces of bacon, a Red Bull and go get ‘em,” Francona said.

More than the pork and energy drink combination, the Red Sox play their best brand of baseball at Fenway Park — sporting a (56-25) on the home diamond during the regular season.

“I think first and foremost, this is an intimidating place to play. You come in here, the atmosphere, crowds and what have you — that gives us a little bit of an advantage,” left fielder Jason Bay said.

Taking the mound for the Red Sox is Clay Buchholz, the promising young starting pitcher who was exiled to the minor leagues after a poor start to the 2008 season. After being called up halfway through 2009, he claimed the No. 3 spot in the playoff rotation from Daisuke Matsuzaka, who spent much of the season strengthening his shoulder.

“It’s do or die now, you’ve got to win now or go home,” Buchholz said, noting that the Angels need to win once more to advance to the ALCS.

Boston now turns to a pitcher who started the year in Triple-A Pawtucket to extend its postseason — plus the bacon and Red Bull, of course.