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02/10/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Millar is No Curt Flood"
Hot Shots....
The Yomiuri Giants are going to convert pitcher Taka Miura to a third baseman, according to Sports Nippon. Miura was in 49 games in 2001, but spent most of the season in the minors last year, getting into just three games at the big club level. On April 30th, 2002, Miura beaned Hiroshima centerfielder Koichi Ogata and was reportedly psychologically shaken by it to the point to where he became no longer viable as a pitcher. However, he is such a good athlete, that they decided to see what he could do in another position. The fact that they picked third is yet another indication that Akira Etoh's days in Tokyo are numbered....All three of Yomiuri's foreign pitchers threw batting practice today. Reliever Rodney Pedraza delivered 70 pitches while Cory Bailey tossed 64 and Gary Rath 65. Pitching coach Yoshitaka Katori pronounced all three to be looking good....First baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara slammed 18 homers in 63 swings today in front of 20,000 fans who stopped by to view the team's workout, but his hamstring continues to bother him and he will be examined by a doctor Monday....Hiroshima Carp outfielder Jimmy Hurst is doing damage again. Today, he blasted a shot completely out of the park to leftcenter, the ball eluding a pair of men stationed in front of a beauty parlor who were hired to flag down any shots heading toward that salon and striking the roof of a car belonging to the shop in a parking lot an estimated 508 feet away. It left a dent and, according to Sankei Sports, could cost as much as $400 to fix....In all, Hurst went yard eight times in 49 swings ...Former Kintetsu and Elmira Pioneers pitcher Shigeki Sano was signed by Orix today for a salary of about $125,000 after being invited to spring training with the Kobe nine.....Centerfielder Yoshitomo Tani turned 30 today. He also announced that everytime he steals a base or cracks a double this season, he will contribute 10,000 yen (about $85) to charity. He hopes to be able to place 1 million yen (approximately $8500) in charitable coffers....Lions righty Daisuke Matsuzaka is reportedly working on a big overhand curveball. He was in the bullpen once more for 91 pitches today and attempted to snap some off, but so far he is hanging it a lot. If he can master that pitch, look out....Shortstop Kazuo Matsui can swing harder now from the lefthand side than he can from the right despite not becoming a switch hitter until after turning pro, according to Nikkan Sports. From the right side, the speedy infielder puts the bat through the zone at 84.5mph while from the left he torques it up to 87mph. That may be why he had 27 of his 36 homers last season batting lefthanded....Lions Taiwanese righthander Chang Chia-chiah is working on acquiring a knuckle ball, though by the way Hochi Sports describes it, it may be a knuckle curve since he is looking for a big drop from the pitch as opposed to erratic movement....Setup man Shinji Mori for his initial 2002 bullpen work and threw 170 pitches....Yakult tenth round draft choice Satoshi Kubota, a lefthand hitting refugee from Kawasaki Seitetsu's Chiba branch in the industrial leagues, is going to get a shot at winning a job in the outfield after slugging 17 homers in a 90 swing batting practice, three more than leftfielder Alex Ramirez. A Yomiuri scout says that Kubota reminds him of another Swallows outfielder, Atsunori Inaba. Kubota, who goes to all fields, has tentatively been penciled into the starting lineup for a game against the Yokohama Bay Stars on February 22nd and Chunichi Dragons on the 23rd....Third baseman Akinori Iwamura creamed 30 homers in 117 swings, all with a 45 ounce bat....Rookie Yuhei Takai was in the pen again for 85 pitches while throwing only at around 80% of total strength and was getting excellent movement on his deliveries....Kintetsu closer Akinori Otsuka is still undecided on his future....Righthander Jeremy Powell got in his first throwing after leading the PL in wins last season, running 50 pitches plateward while focusing on working the corners. Powell will start opening day....Reliever Motoyuki Akahori had his first bullpen session of the spring today and said that he hasn't felt this good in years. Akahori has been a frequent visitor to the disabled list, causing him to lose his closer's job to Otsuka....Lotte ace Tomohiro Kuroki threw 54 pitches in the bullpen, mainly working on his weight transfer. Nonetheless, the earliest he may get into a game is expected to be sometime in April....Saburo Omura, who hit .286 last year, will be the starting centerfielder this season, says Lotte skipper Koji Yamamoto, who expects Omura to post a .300 average. Omura himself states that he wants to steal at least 20 bases....Reliever Takashi Kawai threw 170 pitches in his first bullpen work of the spring....Shigeo Nagashima and manager Daisuke Yamashita gave some special instruction on fielding to young third baseman Shuichi Murata and Katsuaki Furuki. Furuki, if he has a good season in his first full campaign, could end up being a candidate for the Japanese olympic team....Chunichi number three draft choice Yoshimi Sakurai has been promoted to the big club, as was number one draftee Ryosuke Morioka. Sakurai cleared the fences nine times in 73 swings, earning "full marks" from manager Hisashi Yamada....Nippon Ham hurler Satoru Kanemura caught a cold and will skip a scheduled appearance in Monday's intrasquad game, which will go six innings. Carlos Mirabal and Tsutomu Iwamoto will get the starting assignments in that tilt and eight moundsman in all will get some action in, with each man limited to 25 pitches. However, to avoid injury, nobody will be allowed to steal....Hillman got a good look at outfielder Tomochika Tsuboi during his 42 pitch batting practice session and commented that he was good, though it was still too early to give an overall assessment....Hanshin righty Hideki Irabu came down with a fever and missed today's workout....Tigers hillsman Shinji Taninaka is experiencing some discomfort in his right calf.... New addition Hiroshi Ishige was impressive in batting practice, as he faced nine men and allowed just one hit thanks to throwing a lot of cutters.... Centerfielder Osamu Hamanaka busted 17 homers in 103 swings today in batting practice and had an RBI double in a simulated game before 15,000 fans....Manager Senichi Hoshino, after the simulated game was over, balled his players out for displaying little life in the dugout.... Daiei rookie Tsuyoshi Wada threw batting practice and saw catcher Kenji Johjima murder one of his pitches 425 feet away into a net above the back of the ballpark in left. That was the only ball that was hit hard, though, off of the Waseda University grad and pitching coach Takao Obana loved the tilt on Wada's offerings....While we're on the subject of Johjima, he says that he wants to play every inning of every game and attain the "triple three (.300, 30 homers and 30 steals)" this season. If he does succeed in his quest to play every minute of all the Hawks contests, he will be the first backstop in 40 years to do so, the last one being Hall of Fame inductee Katsuya Nomura....Outfielder Chen Wen-bin mortared a 455 foot rocket off of the scoreboard, causing second baseman Tadahito Iguchi to crack, "that's going to cost you 300,000 yen (about $2500) Mr. Chen"....Matt Skrmetta, who is a candidate for the closer's job, got taken deep to center a total of three times during his 24 pitch batting practice outing to rookie Ryuji Ono. Now let's see what he does when Matt, who was laying fastballs down the middle, gets serious. He cancelled a Monday round of golf in order to rest....Japanese pro golfer Kasumi Fujii visited the Daiei camp. He is good friends with first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka.... Hiroshima Carp lefty Ken Takahashi threw 100 pitches in the pen today, field boss Koji Yamamoto standing in the batter's box to get a closer look at the final 20 deliveries. Yamamoto was reportedly pleased. Rookie Katsuhiro Nagagawa is endeavoring to add a forkball and threw it for the first time today with guidance being provided by Hall of Fame hurler Kazuhisa Inao. He apparently had it working pretty good, as it was reportedly sinking almost two feet. He will throw in an intrasquad game on the 16th....Hideki Matsui worked out today in Yankee Stadium, hitting off of a tee and then held court for reporters at a nearby fast food outlet, where he also signed autographs between questions.....Yankees scout John Cox was back at the Yomiuri camp today to watch pitchers Hiroshi Kisanuki, Hiroki Sanada and Yuya Kubo.
Today's Pictures
Kazuhiro Kiyohara Drives One Out in Batting Practice
Daisuke Matsuzaka on the Hill Again
Tomohiro Kuroki in Today's Workout
Chang Shows the Grips of His Changeup and Forkball
Hamanaka During Simulated Game
Trey Hillman Signs Autographs for Little Leaguers and also Feeds Then Pizza in Nago, Okinawa
YanKees Scout John Cox Greets Yomiuri Manager Tatsunori Hara
Millar and Kaigoroshi
This comes from the Boston Globe. Full article is Here
This observation on the Kevin Millar situation from reader Kae Lee of Newton: ''I am an avid baseball fan who comes from Japan, and have followed your articles on Kevin Millar with a great interest. One thing I want to point out is the feudalistic way players are treated by Japanese owners, which is best illustrated in the Japanese word, kai-goroshi [keep to kill]. Kai-goroshi is just to retain the player's contract for the purpose of not letting him play for any teams, including his own. The kai-goroshi tactics are very commonly employed by Japanese owners to ruin the baseball careers of players who are not loyal to them, or who may damage their teams if they are allowed to play for other teams. The president of the Chunichi Dragons has expressed repeatedly to the Japanese media his intention to do kai-goroshi on Millar if he does not play for Chunichi. Chunichi does not gain anything by doing kai-goroshi, but the goal is to punish Millar for insulting them by not honoring the contract. The way they treat players in Japan is worse than the way American players were treated before Curt Flood."
My Comment: Lee is right on the money for the most part about kai-goroshi, though it needs to be said that it is seldom employed. But the equation of the Millar and Flood cases is wrongheaded. Millar signed two different documents binding him to the Chunichi Dragons, a voluntary act, while Flood was a victim of the reserve clause, which was un-American in that it forbade a player to sell his labor freely on the open market as is the practice in our capitalistic system in addition to creating a rigged labor market. Moreover, in corporate America, barring some kind of settlement between the conflicting parties or the dissolution of a contract by a (generally) state court, anyone who has been bound by a contract is limited in where and when they can seek other employment until the stipulated duration of the pact ends. Consequently, Millar is not being victimized by what is indeed an almost feudal Japanese baseball system, but by the Florida Marlins, who weren't honest with him in how much he was in demand, as well as his own actions. In failing to make that distinction to his readers, the writer of the above article, Gordon Edes, allows a misbegotten analogy to slip through that, in this case, unfairly indicts Chunichi.
The closest previous instance akin to the Millar case in MLB that sticks out in my mind was that of the Don Clendenon matter in 1969. He was traded from Montreal along with Jesus Alou to Houston for Rusty Staub, but he didn't want to play for the Astros, so he refused to report. Clendenon said he was going to retire, then changed his mind, saying that there were several other clubs he would be willing to go to. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn asked the two sides to rework the exchange. Fortunately, at least for Clendenon's sake, Montreal took him back and instead sent former Dodger Jack Billingham, Skip Guinn and $100,000 to Houston to complete the deal for Staub. Clendenon was subsequently moved to the Mets, with whom he won a World Series MVP that season.
Edes, though, does roughly get it right as to the ultimate consequences of the Millar dispute.
Matsui the Bargain of the Year?
Jon Heyman of Newsday on Hideki Matsui:
There's already talk among American players that Matsui won't top 20 home runs. If true, the Yankees wasted a lot of time and effort. But I don't think so. Two spring trainings ago, scouts were coming out from behind their radar guns to badmouth Ichiro Suzuki. Fortunately for them, those scouts didn't have the courage to use their names, or they'd be out of work now. Suzuki is one of the 15 best players on Earth, one of the three most exciting. If Matsui is half that good, the Yankees have the bargain of the winter.
Matsui Key to Yankees Season
See article at: New Jersey.com Article
Women Recall League of Their Own
See article at: South Bend Tribune Article
Replies: 1 Comment
re: Millar's no Curt Flood: yea, and you're no Jim Murray......
Posted by cal @ 02/10/2003 03:17 AM EST
