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11/04/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Hawks Fans Nuke Daiei Office Phones with Irate Calls About Kokubo; Hillman Hears from MLB Teams"
Banker Warns Daiei on Consequences of Team's P.R. Disaster
The fallout from the shocking and downright insane dealing of third baseman Hiroki Kokubo to Yomiuri brought over a thousand angry phone calls to the Hawks main office Tuesday, more than 100 an hour at one point, according to Sports Nippon. Many of them even demanded the resignation of owner Nakauchi, who concocted that abortion of a transaction. It reportedly took ten employees just to handle all the calls, which went on well into the early evening hours. Some of the disgruntled fans even rang up to cancel their season seats.
And it didn't stop there. Those who were frustrated by busy signals to the ballclub's office resorted to dialing up Fukuoka branches of the Daiei supermarket and department store chain to register their dissatisfaction. Other members of the Hawks faithful have taken to creating petitions that request the firing of Nakauchi and other officials and will go to local train stations to gather signatures on the 8th and 9th. And that's before you get to the messages left on a bulletin board on the Hawks website.
Yep, it's a full on public relations disaster for a team whose parent corporation is in dire finanical straits. Company bigwigs indeed are afraid of an ad hoc boycott of their outlets and are scrambling to devise a way to alleviate public's sense of betrayal. A local banker relayed through the press that Daiei had better think hard on how this will affect the values of their stock and assets in handling this situation.
Team Reports
Hanshin The team has announced that Aichi Gakuin University southpaw Kazuya Tsutsui is now under contract for the upcoming draft. He will pull in about $140,000 in 2004 while banking a $900,000 signing bonus. Tsutsui had also been sought by the Chunichi Dragons....The team is said to have changed its mind about veteran righthander Keiichi Yabu, who, it was assumed, would be let go. However, they have since given him a $200,000 raise and he will be in the rotation for the Osaka side next year....Hanshin will pay exhibition games against the A's and Mariners on March 28th and 29th respectively, according to Sankei Sports. Even with NPB intending to shutdown for a couple of weeks for the Athens Olympics so that it can send a dream team to that event, they will open their regular season in April for the first time in five years, making the "open sen" against the big leaguers possible....New manager Akinobu Okada is going to work shortstop Atsushi Fujimoto out at second while second baseman Makoto Imaoka will see some time at third in order to lend him more options in case someone gets injured. The starting shortstop's job will likely go to number one draft choice to be Takashi Toritani. Both third baseman Atsushi Kataoka and first baseman George Arias can swap places if necessary. Okada is also gong to do away with the Shinjiro Hiyama at first experiment implemented by predecessor Senichi Hoshino in 2003 and relegate him exclusively to the outfield.....Speaking of Hoshino, whose new position with the team is officially titled "special director," essentially an executive consultant, on comedian Sanma Akashiya's tv show, he blasted Giants owner Tsuneo Watanabe for statements the Yomiuri bigwig made about wanting to get his hands on Tuffy Rhodes. "He shouldn't have said that," Hoshino asserted, going on to say that there are rules against tampering and they should be enforced. Rhodes will be under contract with Kintetsu until the end of November.
Yomiuri Lefthander Yusaku Iriki threw 35 pitches in the bullpen Tuesday, as he attempts to comeback from a bad hamstring injury.
Yakult Closer Shingo Takatsu is jumping ship. Hochi Sports thinks that San Diego might still be interested in Japan's all time saves leader, but he would have to be willing to take a setup role while Trevor Hoffman will, as usual, be the game finisher. The Yankees are also mulling Takatsu as a setup guy while who knows what the Rangers, who scouted Takatsu last year, have in mind. Takatsu still says that he would like to stay with the Swallows, providing that they meet his demand for a multi-year contract. In rejecting that club's proffer, he will likely take a 75% cut to go stateside....Catcher Atsuya Furuta, who had made noises about going free agent himself, has "largely agreed" to a new two year pact that could pay him as much as $4 million a season....Lefthander Masanori Ishikawa tied the knot with flight attendant Satoko Yamada on August 29th, he revealed. The couple will hold the actual wedding ceremony and reception next month. They met as juniors five years ago at Aoyama Gakuin University. Yamada has quit her job and will devote her time to being a housewife. In addition, teammates Munehiro Shida and Hajime Miki have also submitted their paperwork to get hitched. Shida and his new wife Mieko Kudoh met seven years ago while they were seniors at Sendai Ikuei High School. Miki and his bride, Aya Takada, have been legally married since March. They will also hold their rites in December.
Seibu The Lions have locked up 5'8" 154 pound Heisei Kokusai University lefthander Satoshi Yamazaki for the upcoming draft. Yamazaki reportedly has a fastball that will occasionally hit 93mph. He will earn about $140,000 next season after pocketing a $900,000 signing bonus.
Daiei Manager Sadaharu Oh, not a guy who tends to stay angry long, is still steaming about the Hiroki Kokubo matter. In a team meeting before a fall camp workout session, though, Oh merely said that while it won't be easy replacing the veteran slugger, he wants the younger players to think of this as a chance to show what they can do in endeavoring to take Kokubo's place....Centerfielder Arihito Muramatsu has ankled a 125% raise offered by the team and will declare his free agency. And in an example of the righthand not knowing what the lefthand is doing, Hochi Sports ran one article disclosing Muramatsu's intentions to flee Fukuoka while on the same page another indicated Muramatsu was staying put. The paper's editor is going to hear about that one from his colleagues at other sports publications for a while, I think. Orix, which has cooled on the idea of courting Tsuyoshi Shinjo, will apparently pursue Muramatsu, as will Nippon Ham. Muramatsu has no apparent preference....The Hawks had their victory parade in Fukuoka Sunday, with more than 350,000 people turning out to view it along the approximately two mile parade route.
Nippon Ham Manager Trey Hillman is rumored to have received an offer from the Texas Rangers. He used to run their minor league system. Hillman says that Texas made an offer to him before the beginning of this past season and admits that he is interested in skippering an MLB nine. At this point, though, he emphasized that he will fulfill the second year of his two campaign agreement with Nippon Ham....On the afrementioned Shinjo, his agent isn't a lawyer as is required under Japanese rules, so he isn't allowed to negotiate on Shinjo's behalf. What nonsense.
Orix Jose Ortiz will be moved to first base from second. He was originally positioned at third when he joiined the Blue Wave, but he proved to be a sieve there defensively and was inserted into his accustomed second base slot....Makoto Suzuki will play in the Puerto Rican winter league. It has been six years since the former Mariner and Royal has pitched in offseason ball.
Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament Scouts from ten MLB teams are in Sapporo right now mainly to checkout shortstop Kazuo Matsui, Korean slugger Seung-yeop Lee and will he jump or won't he Yomiuri ace Koji Uehara. An Orioles scout was quoted by Sports Nippon as saying that Matsui's skills are worth all the attention. San Francisco also sent somebody, though an official from that outfit had said earlier that they were unlikely to make Matsui an offer, so it could be that they want to diagnose the superstar infielder's weaknesses if he ends up with the Dodgers.
In the News
Hideki Matsui: "I Had a Good Year"
See story at: Mainichi Shimbun Article
Tigers Fans Celebrate with a Parade
See story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
Bobby V Returns to Japan
See story at: NY Post Article
See related story at: Newark Star-Ledger Article
See another related story at: NY Times Article
Japan Begins Athens Bid
See story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
Former Hanshin Tiger Secrist Makes Class-y Move
See story at: The Spectrum Article
