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Letter To Koji: It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It

By Johnny Carey, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- On Wednesday night in Fort Myers, soon-to-be-41-year-old Koji Uehara decided to experiment with a cut fastball.

To the surprise of no one, including Uehara himself, the spring showcase didn't go smoothly.

"That was the pitch that I wanted to work on tonight,'' said Uehara through his translator, per CSNNE's Sean McAdam. "So I threw it a lot. I knew up front that I wasn't going to throw any splits today, so I had a feeling it might be like this."

Throwing predominantly cutters, Uehara faced seven batters and allowed four runs on four hits and a walk. He recorded only two outs before being pulled.

Uehara's rough outing isn't the end of the world by any means, especially considering that he's played around with a cutter in spring training before.

What makes last night's performance more concerning than it otherwise would have been, though, is Uehara's plan to utilize the cutter in the regular season.

They say (I'd still like to find out who "they" are at some point) you can't teach an old dog new tricks, and generally, I'd disagree with that sentiment. But I'd only disagree if there were any reason for the old dog to learn that new new trick.

Koji Uehara doesn't need to learn this new trick.

While spring training results mean absolutely nothing in the long run for a veteran with a secure roster spot, there simply is no need for Uehara to add another pitch to his repertoire.

Koji has been just about as close to un-hittable as they come throughout his tenure in Boston. Over the past three seasons in a Red Sox uniform, Uehara has posted a 1.86 ERA, a 0.771 WHIP, and recorded 72 saves.

Still, Uehara believes that the addition of a cutter in the spring will give hitters something else to worry about.

"I know that they think of me as a fastball and a split guy,'' said Uehara. "So I just want to embed that idea that I have a cut fastball.''

Uehara is just a fastball and split guy, though, and that's more than OK. Until batters figure out how to hit his fastball and splitter, there's no problem at all with being a two-pitch reliever.

Uehara's splitter-fastball combination is nothing short of legendary, as for years it has been able to make major league batters look like washed-up dads attempting to relive their JV baseball days.

Here's proof:

He has provided Red Sox fans with some unforgettable moments, thanks to that lights-out fastball-splitter combo and hilarious personality.

These are just a few quick reminders of Koji's greatness:

Koji fans Carpenter, Sox win World Series by MLB on YouTube
Uehara picks off Wong for final out by MLB on YouTube
Koji living dream, son Kaz to party crazy by MLB on YouTube

Koji, you're great just the way you are.

The idea that adding another pitch will create more confusion for hitters makes sense in theory, but in reality, hitters already have more than enough to worry about against the dominant reliever. If the past few years have shown us anything, it seems unlikely that hitters will be able to figure Koji out until he has nothing left in the tank.

At that point, Uehara has assured us he'd be done pitching.

"If I do terrible and no team wants to take me, I will retire. But not until then," Uehara said in February.

The Red Sox are banking on Uehara not to fall off that cliff in 2016, but as everyone knows, Father Time is undefeated. There were widespread rumors that Boston was shopping Uehara at the trade deadline last year before he missed most of the final two months of the 2015 season with a fractured wrist. He's still supremely effective, but the writing's on the wall (and on his birth certificate) that Uehara is most likely coming toward the end of his run of dominance.

It's part of the reason Boston brought in Craig Kimbrel to take over the closer role.

In order for Uehara to keep pitching at a high level, he needs to stick with what has always worked. If he does, the late inning trio of Carson Smith-Uehara-Kimbrel should be right up there with Dellin Betances-Andrew Miller-Aroldis Chapman among the best bullpens in the league.

For someone still so valuable and still so effective this late in his career, there shouldn't be an incentive to make major changes. Hopefully Uehara will leave the cutter in Fort Myers come April, but if not, the now set-up man's third pitch is something to watch moving forward.

Johnny Carey is a senior at Boston College. You can find him on Twitter @JohnnyHeights.

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