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12/14/2003 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Sikorsky May Land in Tokyo; Buffaloes for Sale?"
Team Reports
Hanshin While talking to reporters during the Tigers victory vacation to Australia's Gold coast Sunday, manager Akinobu Okada revealed that leftfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto may bat fourth in 2004 while Mike Kinkade may end up in the three hole with Norihiro Akahoshi penciled into the number two slot. Okada hopes that Kinkade, who he sees as a middle distance hitter, will be adept at hitting behind the runner. What is being unsaid here, though, is that using Kinkade means that last season's third baseman, Atsushi Kataoka, would sit on the bench. In any event, Okada is going to look at two or three possible combinations in the top half of his order....In the hope that a gold medal at Athens can help re-energize the popularity of pro baseball in Japan, Tigers special consultant Senichi Hoshino called on team owners to allow more than two players per team to participate in the olympics. "We have to think about the long term impact on the game," Hoshino urged. Lions owner Yoshiaki Tsutsumi has said in the past that he would be willing to send as many as four of his players. However, the other owners weren't so quick to be so generous, so we'll see how this plays out....The son of former Hanshin pitcher Kazuhiko Kudoh, Kazuki, is attempting to get a job as a CL umpire. He took the written and oral examinations recently, but no word as yet as whether he passed that phase of it. The final test will be conducted around the first of the year.
Chunichi Rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome said that it is 200 million yen (a little over $900,000) or bust during his negotiations with the Dragons front office.
Yomiuri According to Sports Nippon, reliever Brian Sikorsky, who was released by Lotte this offseason, has largely reached agreement with the Giants on a deal that would bring him back to Japan. The 29 year old righty became a backup measure when Yomiuri couldn't come to a satisfactory meeting of the minds monetarily with Expos hurler Rocky Biddle. Sikorsky was recommend by his former Lotte boss, Koji Yamamoto, who is now a minor league coach with the Tokyo side....Yomiuri now has more problems with its pitching staff, though, as a trade they cut with Nippon Ham that would send lefty Yusaku Iriki to Nippon Ham is being held up by Iriki's demand that the Fighters be willing to post him, presumably after this coming season. While Iriki ostensibly says that he will honor the trade, he is still having his agent haggle over the posting issue. Dude, just because you're a lefty doesn't mean you belong on an MLB mound. Just ask Terry Mulholland *smirk*....Then former Giants infielder Masahiro Kawai laid some verbal leather on Yomiuri's younger players, telling a reporter that he was disgusted that none of them were at Giants Stadium working out in preparation for trying to win a regular job next season while he went through his workout Sunday for his first campaign with Chunichi. "It's an insult to baseball," the sac bunt king grumbled. Indeed, only two kyojin were breaking a sweat there, backup outfielder Takahiro Suzuki and utilityman Mototsugu Kawanaka....Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo will wear a special knee brace during spring training that has ceramic fibers in it that will help keep his knee warmer during the cold early Japanese spring....Lefthander Kimiyasu Kudoh, who may try to win an MLB job in 2005 as a 42 year old, has a bad cold, but still got on a plane and headed to Arizona to train anyway....Nukmber seven draft choice Sato will run in a marathon in Hawaii and then return to Japan Thursday.
Yakult After going to the wrong airport and then thinking that he was booked on a different airline, soon to be second year pitcher Yuhei Takai left for Phoenix, where he will prepare himself for spring training. His menu will reportedly consist of doing a lot of running and weight training in order to pack on a little more muscle and improve his stamina. He also intends to take in an NFL game....Brazilian-Japanese infielder Tsugio Sato, who was cut loose by the Swallows this season, will join Shidax in the industrial leagues. Shidax is managed by former Yakult skipper Katsuya Nomura. Sato batted cleanup for the Braziilian squad during the Latin American olympic qualifying tournament, drilling a pair of homers....Southpaw Masanori Ishikawa and wife Satoko had their wedding ceremony Saturday with 350 guests in attendance at a Tokyo area hotel. He averred that he hopes to win 15 games next season....Free agent closer Shingo Takatsu has left for Hawaii to train with Kazuhisa Ishii. Still no word on whether anyone in MLB is interested in Japan's all time saves leader.
Hiroshima Veteran pitcher Shinji Sasaoka absorbed a $180,000 pay cut. He then told reporters that at this point in his career, using him in relief might be the way to go. Sasaoka did rather well in that role and it may help the Carp plug a glaring hole in their staff. Unfortunately, they are still a bit short in the rotation.
Yokohama Leftfielder Takanori Suzuki held his wedding ceremony Saturday, with Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kazuhiro Sasaki being among the 250 well wishers.
Seibu Closer Kiyoshi Toyoda is angry at the $275,000 increase he was offered, seeing as how both Kazuo Matsui and Daisuke Matsuzaka were each given much bigger salary rises and that he is the premier game finisher in the Pacific League. During his next negotiating season, Toyoda plans to emphasize how often he pitched in non-save situations this past season in endeavoring to grab a bigger paycheck....Speaking of Matsui, he saw a Knicks game this weekend at Madison Square Garden and was besieged by autograph seekers between quarters. Matsui is a big NBA aficianado and commented that, "such big guys can move so quickly is amazing."
Kintetsu Are the Buffaloes for sale? The team's owner denied it while also firmly stating that they absolutely have to find a way to stanch the flow of red ink that has dogged the Osaka outfit for years and that the solution would start with winning. According to Hochi Sports, the Kintetsu nine has lost more than $14 million this year. Rumors of offloading the squad to another entity has floated around the Buffs for at least the last three years. The latest round of whispering was spurred by a remark that a bigwig with the parent firm made about how owning a ball team isn't as lighthearted an enterprise as dallying with a geisha, an utterance the press took as an indication of an intent to remove dead weight on the bottom line. Actually, they may want to think about, depending on what their Osaka Dome lease will allow them, moving the team to another locality, since they are deeply in the shadow of the Hanshin Tigers in Japan's second city. It would be interesting to see what a pro team would do in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, since Shikoku will be the only one of Japan's four major islands without a team next season. Matsuyama has seen many pros pass through its high schools and, like the Daiei Hawks on Kyushu, they would have no competition in the region.
Lotte New signing Lee Seung-yeop may be bringing his wife, model and university student Lee Song-joon (I hope I've transliterated that correctly), to Japan with him with the aim of her perhaps finding some commercial or modeling work there. Hochi Sports asserted that the couple are Korea's answer to the Beckhams.
Nippon Ham Former Fighters catcher Nobuaki Arai has been hired by the team to market Tsuyoshi Shinjo, who they see as the only player on the club with star quality charisma. Wouldn't it be better to have an outside agency do that if Shinjo's is such an important advertising asset than using someone who has no previous p.r. experience? Meanwhile, Sports Nippon disclosed that Shinjo may be added to the Japanese olympic baseball squad as a defensive specialist. Certainly, if you put Kosuke Fukudome in left, Shinjo in center and Yoshinobu Takahashi in right, you have three excellent outfield arms who can also all really go and get the ball. However, he would be taking Kazuo Matsui's spot on the roster and, at least for now, the Japanese contingent is short on infield help. So either somebody has to go while a Tadahito Iguchi, Hiroki Kokubo, or Akinori Iwamura is added, which would allow Shinya Miyamoto to return to short from the second base he played in the recent Asian olympic qualifier, or Shinjo or Yoshitomo Tani would have to stay home.
Miscellaneous Usually, it is the umpires who are taking the guff and not dishing it out, but that isn't the case this winter, as CL arbiters are objecting to what they see as a chintzy 3% raise offered by the owners. It is now unlikely that they will come to any kind of agreement before the new year....The Cardinals have picked up some pitching this weekend, but now they will need outfield help with J.D. Drew being shipped off. According to Hochi Sports, So Taguchi and Kerry Robinson may platoon in right and they will trade for a leftfielder while installing Albert Pujols at first base permanently. It's hard to see Tagichi hitting enough to keep even that job, though....Hochi is also positing that Hideo Nomo will be the Opening Day starter now that Kevin Brown looks like he will be a Yankee. While there are rumors of Nomo perhaps eventually being traded to Boston, that appears to be looking less and less likely with the moving of Brown....It finally looks as if the Japanese High School Baseball Federation is going to soften its ban on schoolboy players taking instruction from either current or retired professionals, though the changes appear that they will be incremental. It's about time....According to the Palm Beach Post, former Hanshin third baseman Masayuki Kakefu was in Miami earlier this week with an NTV crew shooting footage for a Japanese program. Kakefu is reportedly a Dolphins fan.
In the News
Mets Hope Matsui Can Help Change Fortunes
See story at: Reuters Article
Japanization of Taiwanese Pro Ball "Terrifying"
See story at: Taipei Times Article
A Note to You Readers
There is less and less happening as the year comes to an end and I have a really big project that I'm desperately traying to get done, so this will be my final article for 2003. I will be back taking up more bandwidth on January 3rd, again with the proviso that something really interesting doesn't happen in the meantime. Thank you so much for your interest in Japanese baseball and my articles. Please have a peaceful and safe holiday season and we'll reconvene back here in about three weeks.
Replies: 1 Comment
I love these articles and the witty remarks that accompany them, but today there was a glaring mistake. Yusaku Iriki is not a lefthander. Both he and his older brother, former NPB All-Star Satoshi (now playing in Korea), are righthanders.
I just wanted to point that out, but otherwise, I really enjoy this site and hope that you continue to keep up the good work.
Posted by Ken @ 12/15/2003 12:27 AM EST
