[Previous entry: "Japanese Baseball News: To Hall of Famer Nomura, Kenny is Dead; Tadano Clears the Air---Again"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Japanese Baseball News: Yomiuri Passes on Sasaki; Lotte Acquires Serafini"]
01/29/2004 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball News: NOW Yakult Wants Tadano; Attanasio, Sasaki Burned by Yokohama Racism"
Yakult May Draft Indians' Tadano
Now this is a bolt out of the blue. According to Hochi Sports, the Yakult Swallows are now willing to draft Cleveland Induans rookie pitcher Kazuhito Tadano. However, Cleveland would have to vacate his contract, which is probably not going to happen unless he bombs big in the Tribe bullpen.
Due to his confession about the porno video to the big club after similar mea culpas in the minors, Tadano is now being received as a hero by some in Japan, making the public relations environment safer for his return to his homeland and its pro leagues, should that somehow occur.
The Japanese tend to be very skittish about the topic of homosexuality, even with the long history of man on man intimacy occurring in feudal samurai culture and the popularity of some noted so-called "okama (gender bender) comedians such as Kenichi Mikawa. The gay community over there is still largely hidden even though certain places in major cities are known as big gay hangouts, such as the ni-chome district in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward. That Tadano insists that he is straight doesn't really do the gay community in Japan any favors, but it may nonetheless help provoke a more mature debate over the issue there than is currently seen.
Kinkade Says All the Right Things at Press Conference
Former Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mike Kinkade was paraded before the press Thursday, calling joining the Hanshin Tigers "an honor" and indicating that he intends to take the rightfield job away from both Shinjiro Hiyama and Osamu Hamanaka.
The Washington state resident spent the winter working out at Washington State University and pronounced himself fit and ready to go, bringing eight gloves with him to Japan for whatever assignments that are ultimately thrown his way.
When asked what he's hoping to do statistically, Kinkade offered that he is just going to play as hard as he can everyday and won't obsess about numbers. He also revealed that buddy Jerrod Riggan recommended he play with Hanshin.
He will head to Okinawa Friday for the team's spring training camp. He will be number 22 on your scorecard.
Former Ranger Mounce Meets New Teammates
Ex-Texas hurler Tony Mounce had his first Japanese workout Thursday at a Yakult indoor practice facility and the Japanese press dubbed him "the pitching real estate king."
The lefthander, who will be given a rotation shot, along with his wife and father in law renovated a fixer upper and resold it, a business that the father in law had been involved with for 20 years, according to Mounce. "It's my way of relaxing," he told beat writers. However, when asked how financially rewarding this was, Mounce declined comment.
But did reveal that he has been checking up on Japanese baseball via the net and has exchanged emails with former Rangers farm director Trey Hillman.
A Swallows official is looking for big things from the new kid on the block. "We think he can win 15 games."
Leftfielder Alex Ramirez, a two year veteran of the Japanese wars, took both Mounce and infielder Billy Martin out to a Brazilian restaurant in Tokyo's Omotesando district after all three men arrived in country, acting as a guide to the other two. A-Ram, who is likes to crack up his teammates with parodies of Japanese celebrities, should be able to keep Mounce and Martin loose in their debut campaign overseas, making the transition much easier.
Team Reports
Chunichi Reliever Hitoki Iwase says that his elbow and shoulder feel the best that they ever have after completing a 38 pitch bullpen session in which he also featured a changeup he is trying to add to his arsenal. But he also noted that because he feels in such fine shape he has to be careful not to overdo it.
Yomiuri Former Nippon Ham outfielder Tatsuya Ide, who came over in the Yusaku Iriki trade, had his first practice with the team at their Kawasaki workout facility. Since first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara wears Ide's old Fighters number, 5, he will be given 38....Number eight draft choice Lee, who is from the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, etc), met Kiyohara and greeted the slugger in standard Japanese (that is, Tokyo dialect). However, Kiyohara told him to use Kansai-ben (Osaka dialect), which reportedly startled the rookie....A team workout in Guam was interrupted when a helicopter buzzed the team's practice Thursday. Local police and security were not amused, with one joking that he wanted to shoot the darn thing down even though the
whirlybird was rented out to do publicity photos for the resort the Giants are using. That same copter firm also gives aerial tours of the area. Unfortunately, it appears that his practice is poorly regulated and these interruptions may happen again, which could lead to Yomiuri forsaking Guam as a training site, if you want to believe the comments of the players. Indeed, coupled with the discovery that poisonous frogs inhabit the vicinty as well, this isn't doing Guam any favors from a publicity standpoint.....Anyway, at the workout, third baseman Hiroki Kokubo, rehabbing his surgically repaired knee, hit off of a tee, did some running and long tossing in what he termed a light workout. Despite the layoff after the injury, the veteran slugger is looking buffed and will almost vertainly be ready by the time the bell rings....Ace Koji Uehara said he intends to go to the MLB opener at Tokyo Dome between the Yankees and Devil Rays....Number two draft choice Kentaro Nishimura's hamstring is healing slowly and may not resume regular workouts until late in the spring....According to Sankei Sports, the Giants will play two charity practice games in late February, one on the 22nd at 1 p.m. against Daiei and another one at noon one week later against Kintetsu. Both will be at Sun Marine Stadium in Miyazaki, Miyazaki Prefecture. Elementary school kids will get into the outfield and infield general admission seats for free while the same seats will go for 1000 yen and 500 yen for the infield and outfield general admission areas respectively....Utilityman Kenji Fukui announced that he is getting married in mid-February to Kaori Kojima, the daughter of a Tokyo businessman. They met through mutual friends and began a three year long courtship.
Hiroshima Shortstop Andy Sheets is going to delay arriving in Japan due to his grandfather's illness. But he indicated that he should be there before the 13th....Big lefthander John Bale and infielder Greg LaRocca had their welcome to the Carp press conference Thursday. Bale, who wants to be in the starting rotation, will wear number 49 and LaRocca, who was told by Tigers slugger George Arias that if you like sushi you'll be okay, will don number 43. By the way, LaRocca does go for sushi. LaRocca may get a shot at the second base job in addition to third.
Yokohama In a mixture of gross stupidity and racism, the Stars front office is not going to allow Kazuhiro Sasaki agent Tony Attanasio, an honorable guy whose name I can never seem to spell correctly, to negotiate on the big closer's behalf with the team. Technically, under Japanese rules, only Japanese who are members of that country'a bar association can act as a player's mouthpiece at the bargaining table and that agent can only represent one client. However, if Sasaki was a non-Japanese, Attanasio would be welcome to speak for his client. But the twist here is that the Yokoham official brought up the fact that Attanasio was a non-Japanese as working against him in the instance, piling even more racism on the fire. Geez, who is their public relations adviser? David Duke?...The Seattle Times, not noting the source for this figure, said that Yokohama is going to offer Sasaki $2.5 million. That would directly contradict a statement made last week by a team official who said that it would be in the $5 million neighborhood.
SeibuLeftfielder Kazuhiro Wada, 31, announced that he will be submitting documents to get married on February 1st to 23 year old housekeeper Emiko Yonezawa. Manager Tsutomu Itoh has been appointed to handle the arrangements for the ceremony and reception, though they won't happen until the season is over. The pair met in June, 2002 and have been a couple since last April. Wada then proposed in September. "She's a cheerful and responsible girl. She also doesn't talk about baseball when I get home, so I can really relax," said the soon to be groom. Emiko attended a medical college after high school and worked as a receptionist at a hospital until last year. Wada is reportedly a high school classmate of 2000 Sydney Olympic women's marathon champion Naoko Takahashi, who is said to have sent along her best wishes.
Lotte First baseman Seung-yeop Lee, after hitting off of a tee and doing some running in a light workout Thursday indicated that he isn't going to go out much during spring training, instead to spend his time resting and watching lots of video of opposing pitchers. Furthermore, he hopes that he won't be hindered by hay fever that strikes a lot of Japanese in February and March. He never really had a problem with it in Korea, though.
Nippon Ham After celebrating his birthday yesterday, outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo spent most of Thursday morning shooting a tv commercial for a vitamin drink, gulping down several dozen of the small bottles during the shoot. Later, at a press event celebrating the soon to be aired advertisement, Shinjo met teenage idol singer Aya Kamedo. "He's so tall and he smells so good," Kamedo inanely blurted. "He's cool!" Shinjo, who is married to a model, responded that it would be great if he had a younger sister like Kamedo....Manager Trey Hillman, who entered the country a couple of days ago sporting a cowboy hat and accompanied by his wife, had his first meeting with the Fighters staff Thursday and indicated that he is interested in acquiring former Mariners closer Kazuhiro Sasaki. Should they be unable to get Sasaki's signature on a deal, Hillman indicated that Yoshinori Tateyama will likely be the team's closer. By the way, don't be surprised if Hillman is running the Texas Rangers from the dugout next season.
Orix Lefthander Trey Moore has landed in Japan and says that he is at about 90% of full strength and hopes to help to aid in the same kind of turnaround in Kobe that he helped spearhead at Hanshin.
Miscellaneous Mariners rightfielder Ichiro Suzuki said that he's looking forward to the challenge of batting in the three hole. "It's not that I'm not concerned about where I hit in the order, but it should be interesting." American League pitchers may not like this next bit, so if you know one or are one, you might want to give this a miss: while with Orix, Ichiro hit .351 lifetime in that role with 56 homers and 259 RBIs. The most at bats he has had in that hole in any one season was in 1996, when he had 399.
In the News
Sasaki Not Answer for Yokohama
See story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
NPB Commissioner Had No Role in Keeping Tadano Out
Also, New York's gay community might have a few questions for the Mets' Wilpon. See story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
Horiuchi: MLB Closer to Real Spirit of Baseball
See story at: Yomiuri Shimbun Article
Cuba Wants Gold Medal Back
See story at: MLB.com Article
