Posted by Michael Street on Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 11:48 pm

As 2009 draws to a close, let’s take a look back at the biggest Asian MLB stories of the year, from the best to the worst. To keep up the suspense, let’s start with the worst five stories—next week, I’ll cover the best stories of 2009.

5. Akinori Iwamura’s injury. Tampa Bay surprised all of baseball by getting to the 2008 World Series, and an early indication that they wouldn’t return there in 2009 happened in late May, when they lost 2B Aki Iwamura for the season.

A career third baseman, Iwamura had only shifted to 2B in 2008; the lack of experience might have played a part when Marlin Chris Coghlan barrel-rolled into him to break up a double play. Aki had planted his left leg and couldn’t protect it when Coghlan slid into him, and Iwamura blew out tendons in his knee and ankle.

While not as big a piece of the 2008 puzzle as Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena or James Shields, Aki’s steady presence at the keystone and at the top of the lineup was a huge help to the Rays’ amazing season. His .389/.421/.722 performance in the first round of the playoffs was a huge boost to a team that many expected to just be happy to have made the playoffs.

Amazingly, Iwamura did end up returning to the team at the end of August, playing in all 25 of the team’s remaining games. His .250/.310/.355 line was enough to convince the Pittsburgh Pirates to trade for him in the offseason, where he can hope to electrify a new team—and avoid another season-ending injury.

4. Chien-Ming Wang’s season. Just as Aki’s injury foretold a downturn for the 2009 Rays, Wang’s 2008 injury was the first of several losses that spelled the end for the Yankees. After tearing a tendon in his foot while running the bases in a game against the Astros, Wang’s season was finished.

But in 2009, New York hoped that Wang could return to his sinkerballing dominance. Because it was a foot (not an arm) injury, few people expected Wang to struggle, but he did from the moment he took the mound. He gave up 7+ ER in all three of his first starts, only escaping the first inning in one of them (his first, when he reached the fourth inning).

The Yanks put him on the DL with a strained hip adductor, conveniently diagnosed by A-Rod’s hip surgeon right around the same time that the third baseman was recovering from surgery to his hip. Some suspected the DL trip was merely a pretense to yank Wang and figure out what had slipped with his mechanics.

When he came back a month later, Wang looked good coming out of the ‘pen, but then ran off another string of starts that only looked good in comparison with how poorly he’d begun the season. This time around, he gave up 3+ ER in six straight outings, reaching the fifth inning in four of them.

Still, this wasn’t the Wang of old—one might say it was the wrong Wang—and after a visit to The Dreaded Dr. Andrews, New York found out he had a torn ligament in his right shoulder capsule. He had season-ending surgery, and the Yanks non-tendered him in December, making him a free agent.

He has an excellent upside, but a 1-6, 9.64 ERA season (along with the fact that he only began throwing from a mound shortly before the Yanks failed to offer him a contract) will keep his price much lower. Wherever he ends up—and he could remain with New York—we wish him well.

3. Kenji Johjima’s abrupt departure. Along with many Mariners fans, I had questioned the wisdom of the whopping 3 year, $24M extension Bill Bavasi had given Johjima in 2008. Johjima had declined offensively in each of his MLB seasons and struggled with calling the game for his pitchers; plus the Mariners had former first-round pick Jeff Clement chomping at the bit to get behind the dish.

Johjima had value as a catcher who could hit a little and catch a little, and was a trailblazer as the first catcher to make the move from NPB. But he didn’t have the value that Bavasi paid for him (which could be said of virtually every signing of the former Seattle GM), and the move didn’t make organizational or financial sense.

Seattle had its problem solved for them when Johjima abruptly announced at the end of the season that he would finish his baseball career in Japan, forfeiting the final two years of his deal. The strain of living so far from his family and his country had finally caught up with him, and it’s possible that his pride suffered because of his part-time role.

Though the Mariners have a certain measure of relief after his decisions, it’s sad to see Johjima leave on such a low note. He entered as a slugger determined to shake the notion that a foreign catcher couldn’t adjust to the MLB game after so many years in NPB. Unfortunately, he didn’t deliver offensively or defensively, meaning it may be a long time before we see another veteran backstop imported from Japan.

2. Uehara’s and Dice-K’s injuries. Koji Uehara and Daisuke Matsuzaka were superstars in Japan, among the best pitchers in NPB for most of their careers. Both were signed to fairly substantial contracts, though Uehara’s two-year, $10M deal pales in comparison to Dice-K’s $100M price tag, which includes the nearly $50M posting fee Boston had to pay just to negotiate with him.

Dice-K has been good without being great in MLB, with a debut season that saw good secondary but weaker primary stats, and a 2008 that saw just the opposite: strong primary numbers supported by eroding secondary ratios. After another WBC that saw him lead Team Japan to the championship, Matsuzaka didn’t seem ready for the season.

Like Wang, he struggled early, putting up a 1-5, 8.23 ERA, 2.20 WHIP record in his first eight games, before the Red Sox put him on the DL. According to them, his preparation for the WBC wasn’t sufficient to prepare him for MLB, and his record showed the poor conditioning that resulted.

They sent him to Florida for what amounted to a complete retraining, and he returned three months later to finish the season with a respectable 3-1, 2.22 ERA, 1.40 WHIP record in four starts. If he can’t bounce back in 2010, we may have seen the last big-dollar deal for a veteran NPB starter.

Koji Uehara’s contract may have reflected the diminished expectations brought on by Dice-K, although Matsuzaka’s career and skills were also much better than Uehara’s. And Koji delivered on those diminished expectations by proving his detractors right.

Though he was very good at times, he only finished the seventh inning once, and only twice cracked 100 pitches. After one short stint on the DL for a strained hamstring, Uehara returned for three starts before reporting elbow problems. This time, it was a torn elbow flexor tendon, and Uehara would not return.

Now, it looks like Uehara will return to the bullpen, yet more proof that the best place for a pitcher coming over from Japan isn’t as a starter. This may be the reason for the #1 worst 2009 story. . .

1. What import market? After 2007’s Dice-K frenzy and the 2008 contracts of Uehara and Kenshin Kawakami, the market in Japanese imports has cooled considerably. Position players may still find a spot—though nobody significant has come over since Aki Iwamura—but starting pitchers are electing to stay put. In fact, more MLB pitchers went to Japan than the other way around.

The one big plum this season was Ryota Igarishi, signed by the Mets to a two-year, $3M deal, and Igarishi is a reliever. This can be attributed to talent, timing, the economy, or a variety of other causes, but it’s undoubtedly true that disappointments from previous pitchers like Kei Igawa and lesser letdowns like Uehara and Matsuzaka are contributing factors.

Yu Darvish, the best pitcher in NPB, has repeatedly said he has no desire to go to MLB, and Yusei Kikuchi decided not to take the Tazawa Route to the majors. On the other hand, such MLB pitchers as Chris Bootcheck and Ryan Sadowski have gone from East to West, Bootcheck to NPB and Sadowski to Korean baseball. And there may be more: the Chiba Lotte Marines are making a serious push for Dodger pitcher Eric Stults.

This has gone on for a long time, but it’s usually been guys who couldn’t make it in the majors or who were too old who went to Japan, as a kind of AAAA league they could earn a living in. Some guys—like Tuffy Rhodes or Alex Ramirez—went on to be superstars, while others—like Colby Lewis or John Bale—returned to baseball after honing their skills in NPB.

So while this is tops the bad-news list for 2009, it might actually be good news in the long run, at least for MLB. The more players that go back and forth between the two leagues, the more it will pull them together, reducing the differences in playing styles.

The current relationship, however, only strengthens NPB’s position as a kind of super-minor (or AAAA) league, instead of an MLB equal. That will give MLB teams more development opportunities, but it will never give Japanese fans—or NPB fans—the equality they feel their baseball league deserves.

Until we know what will happen from all this, those of us who watch Asian players make their way over to the States have to see the diminishing market in Eastern imports as bad news.

But never fear, there’s plenty of good news to come. Check back next week for the Top Five Asian MLB Stories of 2009!