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12/06/2002 Archived Entry: "Kintetsu Closer Otsuka At The Post"
Otsuka May be Posted Next Week
According to Hochi Sports, Kintetsu Buffaloes officials are quoted as revealing that 30 year old closer Akinori Otsuka could be posted as soon as next week. At least six MLB teams are thought to be interested in the righthander with the low 90's fastball and devastating slider. His overall record is 13-20 with 120 saves, racking up 418 strikeouts in 308 lifetime innings. He would be the third Japanese to use the posting route to the big leagues.
Hot Shots....
Hideki Irabu and Hanshin have agreed on a one year contract for $2 million, which includes incentives, and will add him to the roster once he passes a medical check in the U.S.....Tigers third baseman Atsushi Kataoka had his pay cut by $160,000 to just under $1.3 million in the wake of a bad year in which he hit an anemic .228.... Reserve Hanshin outfielder Koji Hirashita signed for around $170,000, an improvement of over $60,000....Daiei phenom Hayato Terahara signed a new contract for $240,000, a $120,000 increase....Nippon Ham reliever Yoshinori Tateyama was granted a $96,000 raise to around $260,000 ....Yakult reserve infielder Hajime Miki grabbed a $40,000 raise to around $140,000....Swallows righty Yuya Kamada had his pay packet ratcheted up by a similar amount to a little over $110,000. Reliever Takahiko Hagiwara eeked out a $1600 increase (no, that isn't a typo) to $65,000....Yokohama outfielder Kazunori Tanaka took home a $72,000 raise to just short of $190,000. His teammate, catcher Ryoji Aikawa, accepted an $8,000 rise to $189,000 while pitcher Kuniyuki Taniguchi was awarded an additional $16,000 to just over $125,000....Orix signed former Daiei moundsman Masahiro Doi, who will make $88,000 and wear number 36....The Kintetsu Buffaloes have bought pitcher Tomokazu Teramura from Yakult. He originally came up as a number two draft choice with Lotte in 1998 and then went to the Swallows last season. He is 2-1 in 47 lifetime games....Yomiuri lefty Hisanori Takahashi, who had his best year as a pro in 2002, was the recipient of a $240,000 salary increase to $640,000.... Giants ace Koji Uehara, Hanshin number one starter Kei Igawa and Lotte hurler Tomohiro Kuroki were among six Japanese league stars who visited an Ikeda, Osaka area elementary school where eight second graders were stabbed to death and 13 were injured by a mentally ill 38 year old man in June of 2001, basically playing with the kids for two hours....Chunichi Dragons pitcher Takashi Ogasawara banked a $95,000 raise to about $225,000....Seibu Lions starter Takashi Ishii will make what he did this past season, $640,000 after posting an 8-3 record with a 3.11 ERA. Lions infielder Hiroshi Hirao was jacked up by $24,000 to the $275,000 neighborhood....Orix starter Hisashi Ogura will repeat his $600,000 salary next season....Kintetsu infielder Yosuke Takasu was eased up by $44,000 to over $125,000.
Starbuck's, Ichiro Linking Up for Charity
See story at: Tacoma News-Tribune
Tamura to Announce Engagement to Orix Outfielder Tani
See story at: Japan Today Article
