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10/29/2002 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Free Agent Bidding Heats Up"
Chunichi Offers Petagine $25 Million
According to Sankei Sports, the Chunichi Dragons are prepared to offer Yakult Swallows free agent first baseman Roberto Petagine a three year deal with a total base of just under $25 million. The proposed deal has stunned the Hanshin Tigers, who thought that they had the inside track on the 2001 Central League MVP with a two year pact worth $6.5 million a season plus incentives.
Moreover, the competition for Kintetsu Buffaloes third baseman Norihiro Nakamura has heated up, too. The Osaka based Buffs have upped their proposal to the burly slugger to four years at approximately $5.25 million a season while Hanshin has floated a five year contract at about $5 million per.
Hanshin owner Shunjiro Kuman reacted to the fat deals by saying, "when it comes to Japanese players and the monetary aspect, there isn't anybody we can't get." So this bidding war could become hotter and Petagine, Nakamura and Hiroshima Carp free agent leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto will be the beneficiaries. Of course, that will also ratchet up the pressure to perform from the lively and plain spoken Tigers fans, who made slumping third baseman Atsushi Kataoka's life miserable after Hanshin spent nearly $2 million a year to aquire him from Nippon Ham via free agency.
Where this leaves George Arias is anyone's guess right now, as club officials wouldn't comment on that issue. But this also provokes a question: if Yomiuri owner Tsuneo Watanabe is Japan's answer to George Steinbrenner, is Kuman its Tom Hicks? For his sake, Kuman had better produce greater results than his Texan counterpart.
Japan Series Draws Huge Rating
While the World Series between the Anaheim Angels and San Francisco Giants that just concluded had trouble drawing eyeballs, the same cannot be said for its Japanese counterpart, as the first game of the Japan Series drew a nice big 30.5% share. So much for the fears of a decline in the popularity of the sport in that country.
The second game was no slouch either, as it harvested 28.8% of the available households. Methinks baseball will live long and prosper in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Uehara Wins Sawamura Award
In a unanimous vote, Yomiuri Giants righthander Koji Uehara was given his second Sawamura Award Monday, as he tied for the Central League lead in wins with 17, boasted a fine 2.60 ERA and struckout 180 in 204 innings with eight complete games. He was selected over Hanshin lefthander Kei Igawa as well as the Kintetsu Buffaloes' Jeremy Powell.
The award is Japan's equivalent of the Cy Young, though unlike the MLB trophy, where the best performers are picked with no set criteria, the Sawamura Award requires that a pitcher fulfill at least one or more of the following standards: 15 wins, 2.50 ERA, ten complete games, 200 innings pitched, 150 strikeouts and at least 25 appearances. Due to those requirements, there have been four years where nobody was deemed worthy of the prize (1971, 1980, 1984, and 2000).
Uehara, after rejecting an offer from the Anaheim Angels, won 20 games as a rookie in 1999 to earn his first Sawamura, named after a Yomiuri Giants great who died during World War II. Three pitchers have won three to tie for the most such awards received in history. Kokutetsu Swallows Hall of Fame inductee Masaichi Kaneda is one of those and they were consecutive (1956, 1957, 1958), the only man to do that ever in Japanese annals, winning 84 games over that span with an ERA in the 1.50 range. Shigeru Sugishita won three in four seasons with Nagoya, a precursor to the Chunichi Dragons, to come closest to Kaneda's accomplishment.
One note: between 1950 and 1980, only CL moundsman were eligible. Still, no Pacific League pitcher earned one until Hideo Nomo in 1990, when he went 18-8 with a 2.91 ERA for Kintetsu. Since then, three other PL hurlers have been so honored.
See related story at: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20021029wo51.htm
Yakult Hangs on to Hodges, Ramirez
Yakult Swallows leftfielder Alex Ramirez loves the team he plays for and his teammates love him. However, he wasn't sure if the Swallows front office was going to make it worth his while to stay after two solid campaigns in Tokyo.
Former Mariner Kevin Hodges was in the same boat after tying for the Central League lead in wins with 17 this year, as he was very unhappy that he didn't get a raise over the approximately $300,000 salary that he made last season, when he joined in mid-season and won five games. Whether one believes that Hodges is lucky to be making that kind of dough as opposed to what he would take in stateside in the bushes, that has all been resolved now, as Swallows president Yoshikazu Tagiku has announced that the club is putting the finishing touches on new deals for the two men.
They are also waiting for a response from Roberto Petagine about the offer they made him, but that will probably be in vain, especially in light of the recent deals the former major leaguer is contemplating from Hanshin and the Chunichi Dragons (see
above story). How Yakult fills in the yawning hole left by Petagine will make or break
the Swallows' 2003 march.
Arakaki Signs With Daiei
Kyushu Community College righthander Nagisa Arakaki got his wish Monday, as the Daiei Hawks fattened his wallet by more than $800,000 just for pressing his hanko (a stamp Japanese use as their signature) to a contract. In addition, he will receive a base salary of $125,000 with incentives for another $400,000. Now let's see what they offer Tsuyoshi Wada.
In other coll.ege related news, Tokai University righthander Yuya Kubo declared that he wants to go to the Giants, who have already racked up Asia University's Hiroshi Kisanuki. Meanwhile, Hosei University saw three of its players say that they intend to go pro. Infielder and two time Tokyo Big Six University League batting champ Taketoshi Goto will join Seibu while neither Ryutaro Doi nor outfielder Yuki Kohno have stated any preference. Doi just says he wants to open the 2003 regular season on some pro team's roster.
Orix scouts paid a visit to Kanagawa University pitcher Daisuke Kato earlier today and it appears that they will be able to sign him.
Lions Look to Regain Bite at Home
See Yomiuri Shimbun story at: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20021029wo52.htm
Rockies' Jennings Backed Out of MLB Japan Tour
See Rocky Mountain News story at: http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/sports_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_83_1507054,00.html
Paranoid Cubans Back Out of Tournament
See Cybercast News Service story at: http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=%5CForeignBureaus%5Carchive%5C200210%5CFOR20021028d.html
Today in Korean Baseball History
This report is for October 28th and while nothing happened in Japanese baseball history, in Korea, the Korean pro baseball league (KBO),is organized on this day in 1981 and began play the following spring.
