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12/06/2002 Archived Entry: "Hanshin Showing Impatience With Nakamura"
Hanshin Issues Ultimatum to Nakamura
According to Sports Nippon, the Hanshin Tigers front office is tired of waiting around for Kintetsu Buffaloes free agent third baseman Norihiro Nakamura and are saying that they will negotiate with him on the 17th. If he doesn't make a decision at that time, the club may withdraw its offer and forego attempting to add him to their roster.
Nakamura, who arrived in L.A. earlier today on a trip that will eventually take him to New York to meet with the Mets, kind of shrugged his shoulders at the Hanshin comments in away that Tigers executives took as "high handed." However, the fact is that Hanshin needs the burly slugger much more than he needs them, especially since he has a long multi-year standing offer from Kintetsu and the Tigers are short on run production.
Hanshin manager Senichi Hoshino will be part of the next negotiating session with Nakamura. It will be interesting to see how the hard charging field boss approaches dealing with the strong willed Nakamura.
Hot Shots....
Seibu Lions pitchers Shinji Mori and Kiyoshi Toyoda will train in Guam in January.... Yomiuri righthander Masumi Kuwata signed a new one year contract with the team for $2 million plus an $800,000 signing bonus. Sports Nippon is saying that Kuwata would still like to play in MLB even though he personally said it would be impossible for him....Kuwata's teammate, Takayuki Saito, saw his pay more than double from about $130,000 to about $270,000....The team's third baseman, Akira Etoh, absorbed a more than $150,000 salary reduction after slumping most of the past season and now pulls in about $2.1 million....Yomiuri southpaw Yusaku Iriki was angered when the Gianta front office slashed his salary by $65,000 to around $650,000. Iriki was hampered by injuries this past year, reducing his victory total from 12 in 2001 to five....Despite missing the final two months of the season due to needing shoulder surgery, Orix reliever Kazuo Yamaguchi had his bottom line enlarged by about $110,000 to approximately $250,000. He will also change numbers from 14 to 18.....Another Orix hurler, Iwashita, who came back from Leukemia to toss 18 games with the big club in 2002, accepted an $8,000 salary increase to $88,000....Yokohama third baseman Katsuaki Furuki, who came up from the minors in late August to bang nine homers in 34 games, will make around $130,000 next season....Bay Stars reliever Masao Morinaka was upset at having his pay shrunk by $50,000 to about $250,000....Nippon Ham reliever Tsutomu Iwamoto took a 22% hit and signed for a reduced salary of $550,000 after an elbow problem limited him to four games.... Meanwhile, Fighters starter Satoru Kanemura received a 60% boost to $650,000....Lotte reliever Takashi Tanaka got married in Hawaii to Japan Air Systems flight attendant Aki Otsubo, who was born in that state and lived there until she was eight. The two were introduced by mutual friends in April of 2001. Tanaka also got himself $30,000 more in his pay packet for 2003 for a total of around $65,000....Kintetsu centerfielder Naoyuki Omura saw $80,000 taken out of next year's salary, which will see him earn nearly $600,000....Buffs reliever Daisuke Miyamoto was bestowed with a $30,000 increase to about $90,000....Lotte submariner Shunsuke Watanabe, who should be pumping gas somewhere considering a terrible 2002 campaign, will stay in a Lotte uniform for approximately $90,000, a decrease of $10,000....Chunichi Dragons reliever Shigetoshi Yamakita was awarded a salary increase of more than $120,000 to around $210,000. That team's number one starter, Shigeki Noguchi, who missed most of the season due to a bad shoulder, was victimized by a $240,000 pay cut to around $900,000....Yokohama ace Daisuke Miura checked out of the hospital after having elbow surgery....Yakult reliever Ryota Igarashi was given a nearly $250,000 salary increase to $560,000 after making 64 appearances this past season....
Kazuo Matsui: Fast, Smart and on the Fence
See another excellent Jim Allen story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
Ichiro Staying Put in Leadoff Role
See story at: Seattle Times Article
SF Giants Indifferent to Nakamura
See story at: Japan Today Article
