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03/20/2008 Archived Entry: "Japanese Baseball Team Preview 2008: Seibu Lions"
Japanese Baseball Team Preview 2008: Seibu Lions
Glenn Davies, Tokyo Japan
SEIBU LIONS TEAM PREVIEW 2008 SEASON |
Legendary Lions Catcher and Manager Tsutomu Ito is gone after a 5th place finish in 2007. One championship and 3 top 3 finishes in four years was deemed not enough and in comes former Lions ace Hisanobu Watanabe to take over the reins. He inherits a fairly strong pitching staff that looks good enough to compete for 3rd and a hitting lineup that has been overhauled after last years debacle. How quickly he can get the players to gel and in the case of the foreign hitters-adjust to Japan will go a long way to whether they actually compete or not.
PREDICTION: 4th in Pacific League
PROBABLE LINEUP |
Avg | HR | RBI | ||
| 2B | Kataoka | .256 | 3 | 34 |
CF | Kuriyama | .278 | 5 | 29 |
| RF | G.G. Sato | .280 | 25 | 69 |
| SS | Nakajima | .300 | 12 | 74 |
| LF | Bocachica | .200 | 2 | 5 |
| 1B | Brazell | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| 3B | Nakamura | .230 | 7 | 32 |
| C | Hosokawa | .239 | 10 | 43 |
| DH | Ishii | .254 | 2 | 17 |
Solid speed at the top with 38SBs for Kataoka in 2007, 66 in 2 seasons. Kuriyama hit well in his first full season in the lineup and G.G. Sato finally reached his long predicted potential hitting career highs in all offensive categories after 3 years a a bench or minor league hitter. Nakajima continued his solid form t 4th in the lineup but with power hitter Alex Cabrera off to the Buffaloes it will be interesting to see whether Brazell or Bocachica can produce in Japan. Only Brazell has shown power in the past with 21HRs in AAA for the Royals in 2007. Nakamura hit 22HRs in 2005 and 16 in the 2 years since and needs to bounce back. Hosokawa is solid at the back and the Lions have a large number of veteran players that make for a strong bench.
PITCHING |
|
|
| W | L | ERA | SV |
SP | Wakui | 17 | 10 | 2.79 | |
| SP | Ishii | 9 | 10 | 4.16 |
|
| SP | Kishi | 11 | 7 | 3.40 | |
SP | Nishiguchi | 9 | 11 | 4.28 | |
SP | Hoashi | 2 | 7 | 4.29 | |
CL | Graman | 4 | 6 | 4.08 | 17 |
Wakui leads the way again in his 4th season and 3rd as ace. He has improved in each of his seasons and last year set new highs for wins, ERA, IP and strikeouts. Former Dodger and Met starter Ishii comes over from Yakult where he spent 2 seasons amassing a 20-17 record, how much will he have left at 35 this season? Kishi is being touted as their double ace with Wakui after an 11 win rookie season, if both live up to the billing it could be a competitive season for the Lions. Nishiguchi is 36 and in his 14th season (151-94 3.58) and is a solid #4 and big game pitcher. Hoashi won 13 in 2005 but is only 7-9 since. Matthew Kinney (12-10 4.02 AAA-SF) has been brought over in case Hoashi continues to falter.
