[Previous entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Yomiuri Buys Nomura Because it Wants Somebody Else? Does 51 into 3 Compute in Seattle?"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Japanese Baseball News: To Hall of Famer Nomura, Kenny is Dead; Tadano Clears the Air---Again"]
01/26/2004 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: MLB Japan Opener Tix On Sale 2/1; Lee Advised by Haku"
Yankees-Devil Rays Japan Tickets Go On Sale February 1st
For those of you planning to attend the New York Yankees-Tampa Bay Devil Rays MLB opener, tickets will go on sale through am/pm mini-marts in Japan on February 1st. They will then be made available, and read this carefully, through E+ starting February 8th. After that, they will go on sale to the general public on February 14th at any Ticket Pia outlet (Lawson's convenience stores, for example) You can also buy tickets for the exhibition games against the Hanshin Tigers and the Giants.
E+ has a website (Japanese only) that you can get tickets through Here
If this seems too daunting to you non-Japanese speakers, when you book your Japan trip, you might try going through JTB, who might be able to secure tickets for you (I ain't guarenteeing it, though) as well as do your travel booking for you. Their english language site is Here
Team Reports
Hanshin Southpaw and CL MVP Kei Igawa and the team are still almost $500,000 apart on Igawa's 2004 salary. He wants about $2.4 million while Hanshin is offering in the neighborhood of $1.9 million. That means that a deal may not get done before spring training begins and Igawa may decide to attend it at his own expense....Reliever Ramon Morrell has arrived in Japan....Backup catcher Toshihiro Noguchi told reporters Monday that fans at Koshien Stadium, who are renowned for their rowdy heckling of opposing players, should keep their mouths shut when new Yomiuri leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes comes to the plate. Noguchi revealed that when he was with Nippon Ham, that team's players tried getting the former Cub's goat verbally and paid for it with some deep balls off of Rhodes' bat. Noguchi posits that Rhodes gets pumped up and concentratesmore when you get on his case, so it's better to let sleeping dogs lie.
Yomiuri Manager Tsuneo Horiuchi was at a party celebrating his ascension to that position in Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture Saturday. The governor of the prefecture was also there and hit Horiuchi up about perhaps having his team play a regular season game or two in their locality. Horiuchi apparently said he would do what he could. The mayor of Kofu also expressed hopes that if Yomiuri wins the pennant, they would have a victory parade in that city. Kofu is slowly being depopulated as its inhabitants have declined from over 200,000 to 195,000....Rookie pitcher Tetsuya Utsumi may reportedly already benefit from the trade that brought catcher Katsunori Nomura from Hanshin to the team, as Utsumi wants to quiz Nomura on how Tigers ace Kei Igawa works out the lower half of his body....Several Giants players have already arrived in Guam and you would think it was for an ASEAN meeting with all the security that is being provided to them. Apparently, Guam is afraid that there might be some terrorist blowback for the Iraq war on their island and they don't want to jeopardize their chances of drawing other Japanese pro teams and tourists there by having something happen to one Yomiuri players and/or staff. The hell with the average Guamanian. Gotta protect those ballplayers.
Yokohama Pitcher Takeo Kawamura, who has been mostly a starter during his career, has proposed going to the bullpen in a setup role if Kazuhiro Sasaki returns to the team. He has also started taking vitamin supplements for the first time.
Daiei Number two starter Tsuyoshi Wada said that he had a lot of ups and downs as to how he was performing last summer and wants to change his approach, aiming for about 80% of full strength by Opening Day and then hitting his peak down the stretch and for the olympics....20 game winner Kazumi Saito has returned to Japan from his training trip to Hawaii, where he worked out with former teammate Hiroki Kokubo....Catcher Kenji Johjima attended a children's charity auction Monday at a Fukuoka area hotel along with Wada and fellow pitchers Hayato Terahara and Nagisa Arakaki. Johjima put his uniform up for bid and it fetched about $800. Total, the festivities raised a little over $100,000.
Seibu Closer Kiyoshi Toyoda would normally go into spring training weighing in at around 170 pounds and then, after doing a lot of weight work would put on another 6-7 pounds before the season begins. This time, though, he will begin the spring at 187 pounds after working hard in the offseason in hopes that it will make him more injury resistant.
Kintetsu Pitchers Kenta Asai and Yasunari Takagi as well as outfielder Fumitoshi Takano and Daisuke Masuda and infielder Yasuo Nagaike took part in a festival at an Osaka area shrine Saturday.
Lotte First baseman Seung-yeop Lee arrived in Japan on the 25th and was mobbed by about 50 reporters as well as photographers and cameraman from Japan and Korea at Narita Airport. He then went to practice at a Lotte workout facility, taking some batting and fielding practice and doing some windsprints. He told the Korean press that he wants to come back to his native land after a season that will make him proud. Lotte expects that they will be dealing with about 50 Korean news media at their spring training camp. Lee has also been pumping Jinten Haku, who not only helped start the KBO but also played more than 1900 games in Japan with Nippon Ham and others, for advice and this is what Haku, whose Korean name is actually Paik In-chung, came up with, according to Sankei Sports: "1. Keep your swing compact; 2. Learn Japanese; 3. Quickly acclimate yourself to Japanese culture."
Nippon Ham Outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo is going to hire a personal trainer. He's already picked one out, a 27 year old named Ryutaro Furukawa, but no formal contract has been signed as yet.
Miscellaneous One facet that the U.S. press hasn't written about in the Shingo Takatsu signing is the role played by brothers Leon and Leron Lee. White Sox GM Kenny Williams is quoted by Sports Nippon as saying that he checked with both Lee's on Takatsu's ability as well as their opinions of pro yakyu and the mental attitudes of Japanese players. Bu the way, as you're reading this, Takatsu will be back in Japan and will hold a press conference on the 26th....Takatsu's former Yakult teammate, Kazuhisa Ishii, was happy at the news of his playing in Chicago, but he also warned that it is a city of climatic extremes, hot and humid in the summer and very cold in winter, so Takatsu will have to watch his conditioning to endure it.....This might go under the heading of "did he really say that?" Hall of Fame catcher and former Nankai, Yakult and Hanshin manager Katsuya Nomura, who is now running Shidax' industrial league ballclub, told Sports Nippon that he started leveling criticisms at then Yomiuri manager Shigeo Nagashima just to draw attention to himself and the Swallows. "If I criticized Nagashima, the media would pay attention to me and Yakult fans loved it because they were all 'anti-Giants.' Because I wasn't popular, I was using somebody who was. Nagashima understood that. But it wasn't how I really felt. When I resigned from Hanshin, I stopped it." He also admitted that he had been a longtime Giants fan. Now that his third son, Katsunori, will be in a Yomiuri uniform, a reconciliation seems underway. Nagashima and Nomura had apparently been very good friends before Nomura took the post with the Swallows. Unfortunately, this is all enough to make Yakult fans (such as myself) want to puke. "Nasakenai (pathetic)," Nomura.....Mets scout Isao Ojimi was watching Shidax pitcher Takahiko Nomaguchi during the latter's workout Saturday. Ojimi has been watching Nomaguchi since the phenom was a senior in high school and kept track of him last year. Nomaguchi's boss, the aforementioned Nomura, joked, "hey, couldn't the Mets use a 70 year old manager?" Nomaguchi says he wants to talk to new Mets addition Kazuo Matsui "for reference." Among MLB teams, the Dodgers are also vying for Nomaguchi's attention....Former Brave Ryan Glynn is back in that organization after playing in Korea last season....The Japan High School Baseball Federation is apparently willing to relax its strict prohibition of interaction between players and pros or former pros, according to Sports Nippon. Federation head Haruo Wakimura said that they make allowances by providing limitedperods where high schoolers can have guidance provided to them by pros....Montreal pitcher Tomokazu Ohka's Senior League team that he started in Kusatsu, Shiga Prefecture held tryouts at Kusatsu Green Stadium and 95 kids turned out to try to seize a roster spot. "There are a lot of kids who get bad coaching and by having this team we can, over an extended period, teach them the correct way of playing baseball," Ohka told reporters. Who will make the squad should be known by February 1st, when the team formally comes into being....Daiei eighth round draft pick Kazuhiro Takeoka and Seibu low rounder Takahiko Sato will be eligible for the Rookie of the Year Award despite playing in MLB organizations in the past. Neither man has ever pitched in the show, just the minors.
Note to Readers
I was supposed to post an evaluation of the Pacific League draft yesterday, but I had some sinus headaches the last week that kind of put me out of the mood to do all the data gathering that is necessary to get it done on time. I hope to have it up this coming Sunday. Sorry for the delay.
In the News
Colborn, Bloomfield Weigh in on Takatsu
Nice to see Jack Bloomfield, a former Kintetsu Buffalo, still working in baseball. See story at: Chicago Sun-Times Article
Matsui, Reyes Make No Errors Off the Field
Note to NY Times writer: Jose Parra did not play in Japan last season. He played in Taiwan for the Lions, and I don't mean Seibu. Parra, in fact, hasn't pitched in Japan since 1999, when he was with Yomiuri in a different league from that of Kazuo Matsui.
Nonetheless, see story at: NY Times Article
Yankees, Yomiuri Two Sides of the Same Coin
See story at: Reuters Article
Takatsu Confident He'll be the Closer
See story at: Chicago Daily Southtown Article
Japan Next Stop on Agbayani's Career Path
See story at: Honolulu Advertiser Article
Kim Focusing on Starting Role
See story at: Korea Times Article
Korean Slugger Leaves for Japan
See story at: Joong Ang Ilbo Article
Nippon Ham Subsidiary Accused of Tax Evasion
See story at: Japan Today Article
Yomiuri Players Arrive in Guam for Training
See story at: KUAM-TV Article
Replies: 1 Comment
Can Takahiko Nomaguchi be signed by an MLB team, or does he have to play the requisite 9 years in Japan first? I'm not sure how this rule is applied to the industrial leagues.
Posted by Chris @ 01/28/2004 07:00 PM EST
