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Anonymous
Masahide Kobayashi (?? ??, born May 24, 1974 in ?tsuki, Yamanashi, Japan) is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cleveland Indians.
From 1997-2007, Kobayashi played in the Nippon Professional Baseball league for the Chiba Lotte Marines.
He was a member of the Japanese Olympic baseball team for the 2004 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal.
He led the Pacific League in saves in 2005, and made his 200th save in 2006, becoming the third player in Japanese baseball to reach the mark, after Kazuhiro Sasaki and Shingo Takatsu.
After the 2007 season, he became the only pitcher to record 20 or more saves seven straight years.
On November 2, 2007, he declared his Free Agency and expressed his interest in playing for a major league club for the 2008 season.
On November 20, he signed a two-year, $6,250,000 deal with the Cleveland Indians. The deal included a $3.25m club option for a third year.
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