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01/14/2004 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Daiei Nears Deals with Mercado, Gulin; Nakamura vs. Mets?"
Team Reports
Hanshin Southpaw Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi worked out Wednesday at a pro wrestling dojo with a pro wrestler buddy of his. Exhausted after the hour long regimen, Shimoyanagi told reporters that he hopes to win 20 games this coming season and face Daiei again in the Japan Series for a little bit of revenge. However, he refused to answer questions from Hanshin beat writers, instead only talking to tv and radio interviewers. The scribes are uncertain about what lead up to that. The reason the lanky moundsman does this is to increase his aerobic capacity and stamina....In addition to being without centerfielder Norihiro Akahoshi for the Athens Olympics, they could also end up short one Jeff Williams, who might ask permission to particpate as part of the Aussie contingent to the games. A spokesman for the Australian club averred that Williams may be their closer if he is allowed to be with them.
Yomiuri Young lefty Masanori Hayashi was working out Wednesday and starting fooling around with a changeup. According to catcher Shinnosuke Abe, Hayashi was getting some action with it, so it could become part of his repetoire....Number one draft choice Tetsuya Utsumi ran the 3000 meters in 10:15 during his workout today....According to Sankei Sports, rightfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi has a chance to move into the top ten all time in fastest to 1000 career hits. If he can crack four figures within the next 120 games, and he needs 135 knocks to accomplish that, he will surpass former Hanshin great Fujio Fujimura for the tenth spot. If Takahashi can do it in 117 contests, he will eclipse former Yomiuri outfielder Noboru Aota for ninth quickest. Of course, as any Baseball Guru.com reader past the age of six can tell you in his sleep, Ichiro holds the all time standard by drilling number 1000 in his 757th lifetime pro match. Number two? Kampai to Boomer Wells, who was in his 781st Japanese tilt when he went tenth century. Ex-San Francisco 49er and Yomiuri Giant Wally Yonamine is third, pulling it off in 793 games and Kauzo Matsui fourth at 818. Leron Lee and Bobby Rose are fifth and sixth repectively, reaching that mark in their 821st and 828th Japanese games. Shigeo Nagashima is seventh at 849 and Hiroshima infielder Kenjiro Nomura, the only other active player on this list, is eighth at 857.
Yakult New addition Satoshi Sato announced that he is attempting to add a screwball to his arsenal. What should be even more fun for hitters dealing with that is that he will deliver it from a near submarine position, using his wrists and fingers to generate the needed torque. He hopes that it will help him against lefthanded hitters....Lefthanded reliever Hirotoshi Ishii and his agent still haven't come to terms with the Swallows on a new deal, but Ishii indicated that he hopes things will wrap up pretty soon....Pitching coach Akimitsu Itoh said Wednesday that the rotation for the opening series of the regular season against Yokohama is likely to be Masanori Ishikawa, then Jason Beverlin and, in game three, Yuya Kamada. Ishikawa is thought to be a "Yokohama killer."
Hiroshima In something that perhaps demonstrates the mindset of the Japanese baseball establishment vs. that of MLB, fifth round draft choice Satoshi Nibe was diagnosed with a rotten tooth that will have to be pulled and may miss, now get this, two months!! Why you ask? Because it will take time for him to be fitted with a false tooth to replace the one that will be extracted. In MLB, a player would scarcely miss a day unless there is some complication. But even for a country where relatively long hospital stays are the norm, this seems ridiculously overly cautious.....And that's not all. Fourth rounder Yoshinori Ogata has eight bad teeth while second rounder Toshimitsu Higa has five. No word on what they intend to do with that pair...First round draft choice Yuta Shirohama came down with a fever and received an IV treatment at hospital and missed Tuesday's workout.
Yokohama Draftee Shigeki Ushida said that he wants to talk to former Bay Star Kazuhiro Sasaki for some tips on gripping the forkball. Ushida reportedly already has a good splitter, but would like to gain a further edge by talking to Japan's number two all time saves leader....Officials from the team met with industrial league pitcher Yasuhiro Ichiba Wednesday to express their interest in acquiring him for the November draft. Ichiba's fastball reportedly tops out at about 95mph.
Daiei The Hawks announced they are close to acquiring Dodgers farmand Lindsay Gulin, a 6'2" 175 pound southpaw, as well as Phillies pitcher Hector Mercado. As could be expected, both men are headed for the bullpen to strengthen one of the few weak points the birds of prey have. Gulin posted a 10-10 record with a 4.85 ERA at AAA Las Vegas last season in 28 games, mostly as a starter.
Seibu Leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada revealed that his goals for 2004 are a .350 average and 40 homers....The Lions are seeking a nickname for their 3-4-5 combo of Wada, first baseman Alex Cabrera and third baseman Jose Fernandez....Seibu is now jumping into the battle for Shidax pitcher Takahiko Nomaguchi, according to Hochi Sports, as they visited with him Wednesday. "He's a pitcher who we can slot into our rotation right away," asserted a Lions scout.
Kintetsu Third baseman Norihiro Nakamura indicated a desire to spend at least part of spring training with Los Angeles at Vero Beach and hopes to even play in an exhibition game or two, according to Sports Nippon. However, that is just something that is being talked about at this point. There is no word as to whether the Dodgers, with whom the Buffs have a working relationship, have been contacted about this. But the Japanese sports dailiy brings up an interesting scenario: L.A. is supposed to face off against the Mets on March 3rd, the club that Nakamura spurned to stay in Japan. They also have former Seibu rival Kazuo Matsui on their roster. So the dynamic here would garner lots of ink on both sides of the ocean.
Lotte The city of Kagoshima will have a welcoming ceremony in a park near city hall on the day that the ballclub checks into its spring camp, with the emphasis being on new skipper Bobby Valentine. The town hopes that the publicity over Valentine's re-signing with the Chiba nine will help bring in more tourist traffic during the pre-season.
Nippon Ham Outfielder Tomochika Tsuboi, talking to reporters after his workout Wednesday, revealed that his new teammate, lefthander Yusaku Iriki, who was Tsuboi's senior at PL Gakuen High, made Tsuboi wash his underpants as part of the usual hazing that goes on in Japanese high schools and colleges between upper classmen and their juniors. Tsuboi, who will also be reunited with former Hanshin teammate Tsuyoshi Shinjo, jokingly disclosed that he intends to keep an eye on the often ditzy himbo so that he doesn't get into any trouble....Orix GM Katsuhiro Nakamura claims that the best way to get all you can out of Shinjo is to kiss his behind stated that "since [Fighters manager Trey] Hillman is good at encouraging his players, Shinjo should improve." On the other hand, though, he also thinks that Shinjo still has a lot of defects that can be exploited and that he hasn't changed his approach much as a player since going to MLB.
Miscellaneous U.S. news media take heed: new Mets shortstop Kazuo Matsui told a meeting of the Foreign Correspondent's Club in Tokyo that while he "doesn't hate" the "Little Matsui" nickname, he wants to be called "Kaz" or "Kazuo." In addition, Sankei Sports revealed that when he changed the characters for his first name into the ones he uses now, they were selected by a friend of his grandmother who had gone to a fortune teller that specializes in judging whether a name is good luck or not. He also said that he wants to be the number one shortstop in MLB, even better than Alex Rodriguez. Furthermore, Sports Nippon quotes Matsui as intending to use the bunt much more as a Met than he did with Seibu. During a Q&A with reporters, once writer jokingly asked Matsui if he intended to buy Jose Reyes some electronics as a gift for taking Reyes' position and pushing him over to second....Before visiting with the diplomats, Matsui and Yomiuri hillsman Koji Uehara made friends and influenced schoolchildren, as they met with elementary and junior high students at their unnamed by the press schools....Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui spent his Wendesday in a six hour shoot making a commerical for condiments maker Kagome, who has become the eighth
company for whose products he is endorsing. His going price is reportedly $1.1-$1.4 million per deal, which means that he has now eclipsed the previous top commercial earners, Kazuhiro Sasaki and Ichiro Suzuki. Before he crossed the Pacific to play in MLB, Matsui's talent fee was roughly $575,000. The new spot will air beginnning in March. Last year, the lefthanded slugger made a reported $9 million just doing advertisements....Expos hurler Tomo Ohka is making it possible for more youngsters to get involved in baseball, as he is financing a Senior League team in Shiga Prefecture. Tryouts will be held on the 25th and the new club will formally be added on February 1st. The crafty righthander also stated that he may get involved in other sports-related activities in that locality....Speaking of Sasaki, he was running a slight fever, but worked out for an hour anyway Wednesday, doing some long tossing and running. "I feel better now than I did at this time last year [when he was rehabbing from bone chip removal surgery on his elbow]," the big righthander told reporters....And then there was this item about Sasaki in Japan Today: "During [actress Keira Knightley's] time in Tokyo, she got a surprise visit from Seattle Mariners closer Kazuhiro Sasaki, who admitted to being a big fan of Knightley's ? in roles where she is blonde, that is. "He must have seen me in 'Pirates,'" she quipped"....According to Chunichi Sports, the San Diego Padres' Akinori Otsuka has faced Ichiro 15 times while Ichiro was with Orix and Otsuka with Kintetsu. Ichiro went 2-9 with no homers, two strikeouts and six walks (Otsuka claims that some of those freebies were intentional walks ordered by the manager). One of the hits was a blooper just over shortstop for a single that Otsuka thinks should have been caught.
In the News
Matsui Wants to be the "Ultimate Weapon"
See story at: Japan Today Article
Pressure on Matsui will be Big
See story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
See related story at: Associated Press Article
In Praise of Ogi
See story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
Former Boston Hurler Lee Traded to SK
See story at: Korea Times Article
Aussie Teen Signs with Anaheim
See story at: The Age Article
Baseball Popularity Used by Taiwanese Pol
See story at: E Taiwan News Article
Chinese Team to Train in Taiwan
See story at: China Daily Article
