Japanese reliever Yoshinori Tateyama has signed a one-year contract with the Rangers that also includes team options for 2012 and 2013.
Unlike higher-profiles Japanese players such as Hisashi Iwakuma and Tsuyoshi Nishioka there was no “posting fee” required to negotiate with Tateyama, as he’s a 35-year-old veteran who was simply a free agent following 12 seasons in Japan.
A side-arming right-hander with a high-80s fastball, Tateyama had a 1.80 ERA, .212 opponents’ batting average, and 59 strikeouts in 55 innings this season and has a career ERA of 3.43, including a sub-4.00 mark in eight of the past nine years.