Archived Weblog Entry - 01/14/2003: "Japanese Baseball News: Hanshin Welcomes Thurman, Pote"

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01/14/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Hanshin Welcomes Thurman, Pote"

Former Expo and Angel Changing Addresses to Osaka

The Hanshin Tigers scooped up Cleveland Indians righty Mike Thurman, according to Sports Nippon. The 29 year old Oregon native was a number one choice out of Oregon State in 1994 by the Expos and won nine games as a member of that club's rotation in 2001 while losing 11. In all, he has racked up a total of 26 MLB victories against 36 defeats with an ERA of 5.05. Thurman will be used in middle relief. Sports Nippon also says that Hanshin made a run at Kevin Millar, but lost out.

And in something of a surprise, the Anaheim Angels have reportedly sold the contract of reliever Lou Pote, who they had been contemplating as their closer of the future until the emergence of Francisco Rodriguez, to Hanshin as well.

Pote, a 29th round 1990 draftee for San Francisco, has been dogged by injury and it will be interesting to see how well he adapts to the more hard charging Japanese style of handling pitchers. Manager Senichi Hoshino also thinks that Pote may be more suited to close for them, which would put another acquisition, Jeff Williams, into a middle relief role.

Hot Shots....

Ken Rosenthal over at the Sporting News is saying that among the incentives built into the deal Kevin Millar, who will wear number 22, signed with Chunichi are raises for going above 20 homers, 60 RBIs and a .280 batting average. By the way, in that article, Ken has a good discussion of possible MLB team roster moves Here. According to Sports Nippon, Dragons skipper Hisashi Yamada wants to meet with Millar as soon as possible....Incidently, are we now going to see the player personnel picture in MLB resemble the fan infuriating nonsense that goes on in the NFL? I hope not....Hideki Matsui, according to the Bangkok Post, unexpectedly ran into Yankees owner George Steinbrenner when he went to the team's home park to have his physical. ``I was surprised just meeting him and when I continued to bow my head, he told me `You don't have to bow your head','' the paper quotes Godzilla as revealing....Down in my neck of the woods, the Puget Sound area of Washington state, The Olympian newspaper is quoting NHK big boss Katsuji Ebisawa as stating that his outfit could double the number of its MLB broadcasts thanks to Matsui's defection to the states. Now if only someone in my local area, which has a large Japanese and Asian-American community, would get a clue and broadcast pro yakyu here....If anyone in the press wants to create a Shane Spencer-Hideki Matsui rivalry, we can start with the fact that Spencer will have a press conference in Cleveland announcing his signing Tuesday, the same day that Matsui will be introduced to the press by the Yankees, according to the NY Post ....Ethan Skolnick at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, after rightly hacking Shaquille O'Neal down to size for a racist remark the big dumbbell made about Yao Ming, then went on to step into a big tub of goo (with apologies to Terry Forster) himself: "Systems are becoming more flawed as leagues woo foreign fans. Ichiro Suzuki of Japan has rightly earned a starting spot for two seasons, but he'll likely be the American League right fielder the next decade no matter what he hits [due to voting from Japan]." Ethan, three words: Cal Ripken Jr. You will also note that Tsuyoshi Shinjo didn't receive that much fan support in Japan for an all star berth and that even without the Japanese vote, Ichiro would still have been the AL starting rightfielder anyway....Shidax in the Japanese industrial league formally announced that former Cuban national team members Antonio Pacheco and Orestes Kindelan will be back in the team's lineup this year. they are expected to hit Japanese soil once again in mid- February and will participate in a tournament in March. Shidax hired Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Katsuya Nomura as its manager late last year. The Japanese Amateur Baseball Federation also eased its rules regarding colored bats, as it will now permit red and yellow whooping sticks....Yomiuri hurler Masumi Kuwata and first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara say they want to play in the Athens Olympic Games....At the Seibu Lions dormitory, where the club's rookies just settled in, they will be serving up organic vegetables in addition to rice. Nice....Yokohama ace Daisuke Miura is taking along fellow hurlersYuji Yoshimi and Atsushi Kizuka on a training trip to Guam....Orix fireballing reliever Kazuo Yamaguchi, who is rehabbing a surgically repaired shoulder, will give 10,000 yen (about $85) for everytime he hits 155km/h (approximately 96mph) or more on the radar gun to the Kobe Children's Village, he announced today....One thing you may not know about Matt Skrmetta is that he gives annual baseball clinics for kids 7-14 in Satellite Beach, Florida....20 is the age of majority in Japan and Yakult youngster Yataro Sakamoto is one of those hitting that number this year. Monday at a "seijin no hi (becoming an adult day)" ceremony in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, the righty said that he would like to follow up his promising 2002 campaign with at least 11 victories in 2003....One of the Swallows draftees, Takanori Komori, did his university senior thesis on the properties of yogurt and came up with four of his own recipes for it. Yakult, of course, is a yogurt company, a nice coincidence.... Yomiuri is having its prize rookie, Hiroshi Kisanuki, work with ace Koji Uehara in hopes that Uehara will provide a good model to pattern himself after. But even though Yomiuri has plans to insert Kisanuki into the rotation this season, he may start the regular schedule in the minors as concerns over a sometimes problematic elbow compels them to take it easy on him. By the way, Uehara made another reference on a TBS program about wanting to play in MLB one day. Manager Tatsunori Hara also urged his players not to put pressure on themselves attempting to compensate for the loss of Hideki Matsui. One of those with the heaviest burden in making up for Matsui's bat is new cleanup man Kazuhiro Kiyohara. The big slugger says his injured leg is still only about 60% and he hopes that dropping his weight from 237 last season to 220 pounds this spring will help take some of the strain off of that bad hamstring. He is also taking massive doses of vitamin C and is changing his spikes from metal to plastic. Kiyohara needs just one more HBP to tie the all time Japanese record in that department, so he is going to wear an armguard, too....Seibu righthander Fumiya Nishiguchi, who has twice lead the PL in wins, said that he would like to add an ERA title to his resume, though Sports Nippon thinks that would be difficult given the fact that Nishiguchi is zero for the last six years against Nippon Ham on the Fighters home turf with an ERA of 7.30 in his last nine Tokyo Dome starts against them....Satoru Komiyama may have a problem finding another job in pro yakyu if he doesn't return to Yokohama, since he has been in MLB less than two years and thus any club that gets him would have to pay compensation to the Stars. If he can't clear that hurdle, he could theoretically be forced into retirement unless he goes to Taiwan, Mexico or Korea. Yokohama manager Daisuke Yamashita says that he isn't inclined to have the 37 year old veteran rejoin the team since it would hinder his development of a young pitching staff.

Money, Marlins Cheapness Put Millar in Japan

See story at: Covers.com Article

Millar Bringing Dog to Japan, Too

See story at: Palm Beach Post Article

Shinjo and Mets Almost Have a Deal

See story at: NY Times Article

Matsui, Nomo Swear By Japanese Trainer Ichikawa

See story at: North Jersey.com Article

Ex-Yankee Knight Off to Japan

See story at: Corpus Christi Caller-Times Article

Twins Academies in Latin America Prove Fruitful

See a terrific story at: Minneapolis Star-Tribune