But he did.
When injuries hit Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield, and the team gave up experimenting with John Smoltz and Brad Penny, the Red Sox had seen the perfect storm of personnel changes to pave the way for Tazawa in 2009. He made his debut on Aug. 7, coming out of the bullpen in front of a packed Yankee Stadium (a night that didn't end too well), and he appeared in five more games for the Red Sox over the course of the next month.
Tazawa arrived in the major leagues confident, poised and ready to be a solid contributor for a contending team. Unfortunately his numbers (7.46 ERA, 2.05 WHIP, .374 batting average against, 13 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings) proved otherwise.
After taking a step backward this August, Tazawa has some work to do to prove he's still a big league pitcher — and he might not prove that point right away.
Using Tazawa at the major league level will not be the Red Sox' Plan A for 2010. They have a fairly clear rotation entrenched in the form of Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Matsuzaka and Wakefield. The offseason is still young, and there's no telling how much pitching talent the Sox still could add this winter. Barring a miracle, you'll see Tazawa in Pawtucket next April, again forced to work his way back up.
It will be a long climb for Tazawa back to the major leagues, and he won't make it overnight, but you'd better not count him out for all of 2010.
The Red Sox know it better than anyone: Stuff happens. Only the absolute luckiest of ballclubs go from wire to wire with the same five guys carrying their starting rotation. Injuries, slumps and trades are facts of life.
Tazawa is still only 23. He's still got time to put together a breakout season in the minor leagues. Remember what happened with Buchholz a year ago — everyone thought he was destined to spend his entire 2009 in the minors after a disappointing '08, but plans changed when he blew everyone away in Triple-A. Buchholz went 7-2 with a 2.36 ERA in 16 first-half starts, and he was back in Boston by mid-July. He didn't turn back.
Tazawa has the raw talent to be that kind of success story with the Red Sox. His stuff has big league quality, and he's the kind of smart, crafty pitcher that can find success in the American League. He just needs some time to develop first.
At 23, he's got plenty of time. When Buchholz was 23, he was getting battered around in the major leagues, putting up a 6.75 ERA in 15 starts in 2008. When Matsuzaka was that age, he was still back in Japan.
So if Tazawa doesn't pan out right away, it's not the end of the world. He's certainly on the radar as a contingency plan if anything goes wrong with the team's original starting five, but beyond that, he's just another promising prospect in Triple-A.
Not everyone is a wunderkind like Beckett or Lester, skyrocketing to the major leagues and dominating on day one. But that doesn't mean that Tazawa is without promise. Whether it takes a month, a year or maybe even more, Junichi Tazawa has a promising future in Boston.
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NESN.com will be answering one Red Sox question every day in November.
Monday, Nov. 16: Can Clay Buchholz live up to expectations?
Wednesday, Nov. 18: Should Mike Lowell start at third base?
