SanDiego.Padres.MLB.com

By Mike Scarr / MLB.com

Akinori Otsuka talks with the media at Petco Park on Wednesday. (Tim Tadder/AP)

At a news conference held in the clubhouse of their new home at PETCO Park, general manager Kevin Towers and director of professional and international scouting Randy Smith joined Otsuka to announce the right-hander's two-year deal worth just less than $1 million.

"This completes one of my main priorities for this offseason," Towers said. "Re-signing [Trevor] Hoffman, re-signing [Rod] Beck and finding more bullpen help"

Otsuka is expected to be more than just bullpen help.

The 31-year old recorded 17 saves last season while playing for the Chunichi Dragons and has posted 137 saves in his career. He also established a Pacific League-record 35 saves in 1998 as the closer for the Kinetsu Buffaloes. He was named top reliever of the year.

"A lot of guys have the stuff but maybe don't have it inside," Smith said. "This guy's got some moxie and some competitiveness. I think he's got a very good chance to be successful over here."

Otsuka joins other Japanese stars like Hideo Nomo, Ichiro Suzuki and Kazuo Matsui, who recently signed with the Mets, to play in the Majors. But he is the first Japanese player to make it to the big club in the Padres system.

"This is an historic day here for this franchise," Towers said. "This is the first Japanese player with prior professional experience that this organization has ever signed."

At 6 feet tall and nearly 200 pounds, Otsuka is a power pitcher with control and a fastball that hits the mid-90s on the radar gun. His out pitch is a slider that Towers says presents more like a splitter.

"He's a strike thrower," Towers said.

Otsuka's numbers support Towers' claim. In his career, Otsuka has posted a four-to-one strikeout-to-walk-ratio and has fanned 110 while walking just eight batters since the 2002 season.

In San Diego, Otsuka will be part of a bullpen that already has 638 career Major League saves between Hoffman and Beck -- a pair that also makes its living in the strike zone.

Hoffman will return to the closer's role for the Padres after missing most of the 2003 season following two shoulder surgeries. Beck, who didn't join the Padres until June 2 last year, returns after going 20-for-20 in save opportunities last season.

With Hoffman in the ninth inning, Beck and Otsuka will share eighth-inning setup duties with occasional appearances as early as the seventh.

"We hope to have a bullpen that is not only the strongest in the NL West but the strongest in the National League," Towers said.

The Padres initially gained access to Otsuka through the U.S. Japan Player Protocol, which allows Major League teams to bid exclusively for posted players. The Padres posted a $300,000 bid, which now will go to his former club. Otsuka is the third player to sign with a Major League team under this system, joining Ichiro and left-hander Kazuhiro Ishii of the Dodgers.

For Otsuka, signing with the Padres underscored a major achievement.

"Today, my dream finally came true," he said. "This is a lifelong dream."

Otsuka then demonstrated obvious excitement when he was presented with a Padres cap and jersey and assigned No. 16.

"The man I respect, Hideo Nomo, his number was 16 when he first came across from Japan. In Japan, I was No. 11, which was Nomo's number when he played there," Otsuka later said through an interpreter. "So when I came here, I wanted to follow the pattern and wear No. 16."

In signing Otsuka, Towers thinks the Padres have placed opposing clubs at a distinct disadvantage.

"This league doesn't know him; there's that element of surprise," Towers said. "I've always felt it is easier on the pitcher than it is on the hitter. They don't really know what this guy has. It will take a year to two years for hitters to figure out what this guy has."

Towers gave credit to Smith for putting in most of the work on the deal. In the end, it proved to be too good for the club to pass up.

"There aren't many guys out there that are free agents and throw in the mid-90s who also have the strikeout-to-walk ratio for less than a million dollars," Towers said.

Mike Scarr is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.