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11/30/2002 Archived Entry: "Whew! It's Shapiro, Not Boras!"
Matsui Chooses Ripken's Agent Over Parasite Boras
Completely contradicting earlier Japanese press reports that Hideki Matsui was going to hire Scott Boras as his agent, Sports Nippon is now saying that he has selected Cal Ripken's representative, Ronald Shapiro. Shapiro is also reported to have a strong relationship with the Orioles, one of the teams interested in signing the 28 year old outfielder. Boras was, though, apparently one of three finalists seeking to front for Godzilla.
According to USA Today, Shapiro is one of the most respected agents in the business. Moreover, the Sporting News has referred to him as one of the 100 most powerful figures in sports. He is a graduate Haverford College and Harvard Law School as well as a founder of the Shapiro Negotiations Institute and is president of Shapiro, Robinson and Associates Inc. They have also represented Eddie Murray, Brooks Robinson and Kirby Puckett in addition to Ripken, among others, having worked on more than one Billion dollars in contracts over the years.. He has taught law school and served as a Maryland State Securities Commissioner. It sounds like Godzilla is in good hands. You can find more info about Shapiro at: Shapiro Article
Nakamura Going to U.S. December 4th
According to Sports Nippon, Kintetsu Buffaloes free agent third baseman Norihiro Nakamura and his wife Hiroko are journeying to New York to negotiate with an unnamed MLB team (which I would take to be the Mets) to scope things out. Moreover, his agent has been named, that being Masami Shigeta of Aspen Incorporated, which is mostly involved in music education and artist management. Nakamura's wife is said to favor staying in Japan. Shigeta will also be attending the MLB winter meetings.
The thing is, the Mets and any other MLB team that is thinking about courting Nakamura need to be careful since, as with Kimiyasu Kudoh and Kenjiro Kawasaki, he could be using them to wring a bigger offer out of a Japanese team.
Braves Give Up on Saito
According to Sports Nippon, the Atlanta Braves have given up on acquiring Yokohama Bay Stars free agent closer Takashi Saito. That leaves the Dodgers right now as the only other ballclub that has displayed formal interest, though the righthander's agent believes that more will make proposals once the winter meetings are done with.
Hot Shots....
In the wake of a career year, Yakult Swallows third baseman Akinori Iwamura could see his pay almost doubled from its current $700,000 to $1.2 million. Many other Swallows players arein line for raises, especially since Roberto Petagine and his $5 million salary have gone to Yomiuri....Speaking of the kyojin, manager Tatsunori Hara says that Akira Etoh, who has been the starter at third the last couple of seasons, will have to battle for that post with Takayuki Saito, who seems to be coming into his own while Etoh slumped most of the season....New Lotte addition Toshio Haru will wear number 8 next season and will receive a $550,000 salary ....The Chunichi Dragons are reportedly considering taking on former Nippon Ham DH Sherman Obando.... According to Sports Nippon, there has been no interest by MLB teams in George Arias, so he is likely to remain with Hanshin....Hanshin has tripled Trey Moore's salary to $900,000 from the $300,000 he collected in 2002 while also nudging righthander Taiyo Fujita's salary up by $25,000 to $120,000. Reliever Yuya Ando saw his pay stay the same....New Chunichi Dragons manager Daisuke Yamashita lambasted his front office earlier today, saying that their courtship of Ivan Cruz, late of the Cardinals minor league system, isn't what the team needs. Furthermore, Yamashita asserted that Cruz can't hit breaking balls....Orix Blue Wave outfielder Yoshitomo Tani was named an honorary ward police chief in Kobe earlier today, giving the press a chance to corner him and bombard him with questions about his relationship with olympic judo gold medalist Ryoko "Yawara" Tamura, who is a national hero among women in Japan. Without giving away any real details, Tani said that things are going smoothly and hinted that marriage will soon be in the offing. However, he will be avoiding a tournament that "Yawara-chan," as Tamura is often affectionately referred to, is participating in to avoid creating a media circus. He also revealed that he is seeking more than $1.6 million for next season.... Swallows reliever Ryota Igarashi and four of his teammates, pitchers Hirotoshi Ishii, Masanori Ishikawa, Yataro Sakamoto and backup catcher Tomohito Yoneno, will be training with Blue Jays third baseman Eric Hinske starting the first week of December in Phoenix for a month. this arrangement was apparently concocted by Yakult's conditioning coach....Future Hall of Fame inductee Atsuya Furuta, the Swallows starting backstop, says that he wants to play in a qualifying tournament for the Athens olympics....Kazuhisa Ishii took part in a Japanese player's association golf event earlier today, posting an 85....Kazuo Matsui will have his pay pushed up by about $800,000 for his record breaking season to around $2.8 million. He also showed up at a UNICEF event with Yomiuri ace Koji Uehara in tow and between them contributed $30,000 to a fund for child victims of the war in Afghanistan....Chunichi isn't renewing the contract of its U.S. scout, Joe Alvarez, who was hired by previous field boss Senichi Hoshino....Shin-Nihon Seitetsu has done away with the industrial league team of its Hachiman branch, as Japanese companies continue to trim spending due to the stagnant economy.... Former Yomiuri Giant Ko Okamoto is running for a seat on the Fujiidera, Osaka city council as an independent conservative.
