Just one day after announcing Brian Schlitter would not return, the Saitama Seibu Lions have reportedly reached an agreement to bring back Brian Wolfe for 2018 on Wednesday afternoon.
Wolfe, who will be 37 at the end of the month, will be entering his 9th year in NPB. He was originally with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters from 2010-2013 as a starting pitcher. Wolfe dealt with injuries during his two year stint with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks from 2014-2015, but he won two championships.
The Lions brought Wolfe as a midseason pickup during the 2016 season. He went 4-0 with a 3.04 ERA in four starts. Last year, he stayed in the rotation for majority of the season and made 23 starts, going 9-4 with a 3.73 ERA, where most of his quality outings were in the first half.
By pitching 125.1 innings, it was his highest career total since 2013. Wolfe could potentially reach the 9th year of service time (free agency status) by 2019 if he were to continue playing, which would make him a Japanese player on the roster by 2020.
Wolfe will once again be part of the Seibu Lions rotation which includes Yusei Kikuchi and Ken Togame. Others in the mix should be Shinsaburo Tawata and Kona Takahashi. Ryoma Nogami is a pending domestic free agent.
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Other note:
-The Lions hired Ming-Chieh Hsu to be part of the ni-gun pitching staff. He will join Kento Sugiyama as ni-gun pitching coaches. Hsu will focus on the right handed pitchers while Sugiyama will coach the lefties. Hsu played for the Lions from 2003-2013 as a reliever.
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