Recent NPB Transactions

» 06 December 2009 » In npb »

I haven’t covered in-NPB transactions much since the Shimizu trade, so let’s catch up. Here’s a summary:

  • Yokohama signed catcher Tasuku Hashimoto away from Lotte
  • Yakult signed infielder Atsushi Fujimoto away from Hanshin
  • Lotte brought pitcher Yasuhiko Yabuta back from the Royals organization
  • Nippon Ham signed pitcher Masao Kida away from Yakult
  • Lotte signed pitcher Hidetaka Kawagoe, released by Orix
  • Lotte signed pitcher Akichika Yamada and catcher Noaki Matoba, both released by SoftBank
  • Lotte extended a spring training invite to infielder Makoto Imaoka
  • Nippon Ham traded pitchers Yataro Sakamoto,  Suguru Matsuyama and infielder Naoto Inada to Yokohama for pitchers Takeharu Katoh, Takahiro Matsuka and outfielder Yuta Sekiguchi
  • Yomiuri signed Masahide Kobayashi, formerly of the Indians
  • Yomiuri traded pitcher Hiroshi Kisanuki to Orix for pitcher Yasunari Takagi
  • Yomiuri is about to sign no longer shaggy pitcher Shugo Fujii

I think that brings us up to date… did I miss anyone?

Clearly Lotte, Yokohama and Yomiuri have been the most active in the last few weeks. Yokohama is clearly retooling, and I think they’re heading in the right direction. Signing Hashimoto is a solid move.

The deal with the most upside is Orix fleecing Yomiuri for Kisanuki. The Buffaloes basically got a guy who’s proven he can start effectively when healthy for a lefty reliever who has two good seasons to his name, most recently 2007. Yomiuri certainly knows more about Kisanuki’s health than I do, but it looks like a great deal for Orix to me.

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  1. Patrick
    Matt
    06/12/2009 at 10:24 pm Permalink

    Wow! Shaggy goes from getting no interest one week to getting signed by Yomiuri the next (almost). How fast things change. Yokohama (not so much here) and Seibu especially lost out on this as Seibu’s pitching is wretched behind Kishi and Wakui and they’ve done next to nothing to impove it for the short term future and no, drafting Kikuchi doesn’t count as I don’t expect him to be part of the rotation next season as of this point but that could change and I could be wrong by the start of Spring Training. Yokohama gets a pass here though because they’ve been active on the trade market and have been diligent in improving the team thus far.

  2. Patrick
    Patrick
    06/12/2009 at 11:46 pm Permalink

    Seibu has Hoashi, who is similar to Fujii, and I think they’ll bring in a suketto arm to replace John Wasdin. But you’re right, they don’t have the pitching depth of SoftBank, Rakuten, or even Orix (if all of Orix’s guys are healthy).

    The thing that’s easy to forget about Yokohama is that they have a decent core group of guys — Yoshimura, Murata, Uchikawa, Kinjo, Miura, Terahara. All of those guys have consistency/injury issues, but they’re all capable of playing well. The big problem with them, as I see it, has been a bad bullpen, poor rotation depth, and too many positions they get no offense from. The bullpen still needs work, but getting Randolph, Shimizu, Castillo, Sledge, Bootcheck and Sakamoto should help. I don’t see this team contending in 2010 but I don’t think they’ll be such a doormat next year.

  3. Patrick
    Deanna
    07/12/2009 at 3:28 pm Permalink

    I have to wonder if Kisanuki pissed off someone at Yomiuri and it was one of those kinds of trades? I seem to recall something about Hara or someone else being fairly fed up with him at one point, though maybe I’m thinking of another player. Like he had to go run up and down the stairway aisles of the Tokyo Dome and other things as a “You suck, stop sucking” deal.

    I’m a vague Naoki Matoba fan (loooong story) but I can’t imagine he’ll see that much ichi-gun time unless there are a ton of injuries… (watch, now Satozaki will break a leg in a bizarre accident or something)