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01/19/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Chunichi Dragons President Slams Boston Globe Report; Nankai Submariner Ogami Dies"
Hot Shots....
Chiba Lotte Marines first baseman Kazuya Fukuura, the 2001 Pacific League batting champ, admitted today that he had trouble with the new high strike zone last season and has made a couple of minor adjustments to his hitting style in hopes of alleaviating them. He has shortened his stance slightly and will be hodling his bat a bit higher....Seibu manager Haruki Ihara has forbidden his charges to talk to opposing players before games.... Lions ace Daisuke Matsuzaka revealed that he will go to Arizona next offseason to take some tips in how the Big Unit trains.This was apparently suggested by Johnson's agent, Alan Nero, who may be angling to represent the righthander when he finally jumps to MLB....And the shortstop for the Tokorozawa nine, Kazuo Matsui, followed his five hour workout yesterday with another one of similar length today, telling the press that his preparation for the campaign is going smoothly....Hanshin pinch hitting specialist Hiroshi Yagi says that he wants to hit .400 this year when he steps in for another batter. Last season, he posted a .271 mark as a pinch hitter and drove in a career high 19 runs during such opportunities.... Sankei Sports printed an absolutely hilarious article today about plans by the Boston Red Sox to put in an area above the Green Monster from where fans can watch the game. They attempted to say that this was so that the Bosox could exploit Hideki Matsui's coming to MLB. What a joke....Ichiro Suzuki spent the day at an Orix workout facility taking 150 swings in batting practice. He also had a 15 minute chat with Japanese soccer star Kazuyoshi Miura....Daiei Hawks owner Nakauchi visited a workout for the club's rookies today and pronounced himself impressed with the attitude of number two choice Nagisa Arakaki. Nakauchi rarely even appears at games, so his appearance at the workout raised some eyebrows....A little league tournament is being organized for Osaka Dome in late November and will be called "The Norihiro Nakamura Cup," according to Nikkan Sports. The kids will also be treated to a baseball clinic given by the Kintetsu slugger. Ichiro has a similar event named for him in his native Aichi Prefecture.
Condolences
We here at Baseball Guru.com would like to express our best wishes to the family of former Nankai Hawks submarining righthander Taketoshi Ogami, who died January 16th of stomach cancer at a Fukuoka area hospital. He was 70 years old.
A native of Fukuoka, where he was born on November 1, 1932, Ogami played with Hakata Industrial High School and then moved on to Toyo Koatsu's Omuta subsidiary in the Japanese industrial leagues before he joined the Hawks in 1952. After going 8-5 with a 3.15 ERA his debut season, he lead the Pacific League in winning percentage the following year, when he won 19 games and lost eight with a 2.23 ERA in 261.1 innings over the course of 43 games. Ogami then notched another 14 victories in 1954 against seven defeats with a 2.27 ERA, but fell to 3-1 3.93 in 54.1 innings in 1955. He was then in one game in 1956 with no record and then was done at age 24. I attempted to research as to why he retired at such a young age, but couldn't really find anything, so that part of his life remains a mystery to me for now. If anyone knows, please write in.
His career line reads:
G 130 W 44 L 21 IP 639 H 542 HR 31 K 268 BB 240 HBP 21 CG 27 SO 8 ERA 2.59
Ogami averaged 3.77 K/9. The league hit .229 against him.
After retirement, he managed the baseball team at Fukuoka University.
Ogami is survived by his wife, Sachiko.
Epstein's Inept Handling of Millar Matter Continues
What the heck is going on here? The Dragons team president says that Millar will remain with them. That should be the end of that. Christ, what is Theo Epstein doing? Trying to emulate Dan Duquette? Duquette left Boston a disaster area and Epstein's work here hardly does him any favors either. See story at:
NY Times Article
Peter Gammons has a little different spin on the Millar issue, saying that the Bosox were going to send the Dragons Alex Ochoa, but then MLB stepped in and put the kabosh on that deal. What Gammons doesn't say, though, is that nowhere has Ochoa's name come up in Japanese press reports. Furthermore, according to Chunichi Sports, which is owned by the same firm that runs the Dragons, team president Junnosuke Nishikawa angrily commented, "the Boston Globe" (which is probably the source for some of the Gammons piece) "doesn't know what it's talking about. Millar is under contract and therefore a Dragons player." But anyway, see story at: ESPN Article
Baseball Guru.com readers should also note that the reporting in Japan of all of this toing and froing is being taken from U.S. media outlets and there is no indication at all from Japanese sources that Chunichi intends to cede Millar to Boston. Kevin himself is quoted in Chunichi Sports as saying that he can see himself finishing his career with the Dragons. So the facts right now are very fluid and it appears that some of the U.S. media reports about the Dragons supposed flexibility on this issue are being made up out of thin air. Of course, they could indeed be true, but there is little evidence that I've seen from Japanese sources to indicate that they are.
One thing that doesn't seem to be in dispute is that Millar would prefer to play in MLB and that, if his quotes are accurate, Florida may have lied to him about his desirability from other MLB teams. That would mean that Florida told Millar what it did solely to avoid arbitration and, in fact, turn a profit from the sale of his contract to Japan. There should probably be an investigation begun by Commissioner Bud Selig into this and it should also probably engender a grievance to the Player's Association. If Florida really did what Millar is said to be claiming they did, they have to be spanked, with the confiscation of the Chunichi money for starters and maybe the removal of a draft choice. Each of those steps would be reasonable penalties for treating Millar, a pretty honorable guy, in that manner and setting off a charade that has left MLB with yet another black eye.
Replies: 1 Comment
Was wandering who you think may be the best bets to jump to the US to play in the majors besides Kazuo Matsui. I would like to say you have by far the best website dedicated to Japanese baseball.
Posted by JT @ 01/19/2003 07:26 PM EST
