NPB Tracker » Ryo

Murton to Hanshin

Ryo — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:52:27 +0000

The Winter Meetings kicked off without any blockbusters, but one move that will affect the NPB landscape was the Colorado Rockies shipping Matt Murton to the Hanshin Tigers. The Tigers have kicked the tires on numerous pitchers, and are close on Randy Messenger, but this is the first position player they’ve landed.

With Hanshin’s recent track record of finding sukketo who fit the puzzle offensively, this will be an addition worth keeping an eye on. This is the Tigers’ first signing since dismissing US scout Tom O’Malley, who was let go earlier this offseason.

On another note, the Tigers are leaning toward bringing back Craig Brazell as well.

Baldiris Reunites with Okada

Ryo — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:48:47 +0000

Former Hanshin Tiger Aarom Baldiris will be reuniting with his former manager, Akinobu Okada, as a member of the Orix Buffaloes. In a Sponichi interview, Baldiris said, “I received couple offers from NPB clubs, but I wanted to play for the manager whom I started with in Japan. I hope to do my best to contribute for a championship.”

In two seasons with the Hanshin Tigers, Baldiris hit .205 with a total 4HR and 17RBI in 100 ichi-gun games. He had success at the ni-gun level, hitting .358 to lead the league in his second season.

アルバラード投手、カープ入り

Ryo — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:55:06 +0000

以前、広島カープがドジャースAAAのアルバラード投手の獲得を目指していたことをお届けしましたが、あるソースによりカープと複数年契約を交わしたことが明らかになりました。情報によるとオプションを含む3年契約で契約合意に至ったようです。

Kikuchi to Debut as Reliever?

Ryo — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:30:40 +0000

Seibu Lion’s manager Hisanobu Watanabe has suggested that his plan for Yusei Kikuchi might be to have the highly-touted lefty start his pro career in middle relief. The Lions already has a starting rotation which consists of 2009 Sawamura Award winner Hideaki Wakui, a proven young starter in Takayuki Kishi, and also former major leaguer Kazuhisa Ishii. Unless Kikuchi shows his ability to be part of the rotation during spring training, the plan, barring injuries, may be that he will start his professional career from the bullpen.

Manager Watanabe also reminded Kikuchi through the media of three points in challenging for a spot in the rotation.

1. Don’t practice too much

This comes from the concern that Kikuchi could overwork himself if he pushed to hard to start the season in the rotation. What the manager and the baseball world really want to see at the start of the spring training is a healthy Yusei Kikuchi.

2. Don’t neglect the fundamentals

Watanabe already gave Kikuchi a practice menu written by the training coach and he believes that building the basis of his body will lead to successful pitching.

3. No special treatment

“Ichi-gun on opening day? I have no answer for that. I am not going to put him on the roster because he can just pitch. He needs to show results during spring training.”

Hiroshima Looking at Alvarado

Ryo — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:09:13 +0000

Hiroshima’s final offseason acquisition target is Giancarlo Alvarado, who pitched with the Los Angeles Dodgers AAA team last season with a 13-10 record with a 3.49 ERA. Alvardo was also a member of the Puerto Rico WBC team in the previous tournament. Hiroshima likes Alvardo’s flexibility to both start and relieve.

With Mike Schultz returning and the team working on bringing Colby Lewis back, Alvarado projects as depth/insurance.

Giants Sign Chih-Lung Huang

Ryo — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:51:44 +0000

The Tokyo Yomiuri Giants have agreed to terms with 20 year-old Taiwanese pitcher Chih-Lung Huang as an ikusei player. According to Sponichi, there were Major League teams interested in his services, but Chih-Lung Huang decided to start his career in Japan, where he had dreamed of playing.

Huang comments, “Since when I was young, I was interested in Japanese baseball rather than baseball in the States. I feel honored to be a member of a traditional team in the Giants.”

Huang’s fastball reportedly tops out at 152 kmph (~95mph) and he has a number of breaking pitches in his arsenal.Yakubaka has more details on the Huang signing and his numbers from the 2009 World Cup.

Hiroshima Movement

Ryo — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:26:51 +0000

According to Chugoku Shimbun, the Hiroshima Toyo Carp have agreed to re-sign right hander Michael Shultz to a two-year contract and are also working on a deal to add outfielder Jeff Fiorentino, who appeared in 24 major league games with the Baltimore Orioles last season. The scouts liked Fiorentino’s average against left-handers and believes his batting eye is well-suited for the NPB.

As posted earlier in the week, the Carp are working on adding Justin Huber.

Five Players File For Free Agency

Ryo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:04:10 +0000

Out of the 87 players eligible to file for free agency this off-season, only five players filed for free agency including Ryota Igarashi and Hisanori Takahashi declaring as international free agents.

The other three players filing for free agency are thought to make a move within the NPB. The Yakult Swallows remain the team interested in INF Atsushi Fujimoto and the Yokohama BayStars are the front runner for C Tasuku Hashimoto. LHP Shugo Fujii from the Nippon Ham Fighters has also declared free agency and his destination is still up in the air, but a re-connection with the Fighters is unlikely.

Awards Announced

Ryo — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:05:55 +0000

The 2009 season is in the books, and the MVPs go to Yu Darvish in the Pacific League, with Alex Ramirez receiving the honor for the Central League. Darvish earns the award for the second time in his career and Ramirez obtains the award for the second straight season.

The Rookie of the Year award is received by Tokyo Yomiuri Giants outfielder Testuya Matsumoto, the first time in 51 years that two players from the same team received the RoY in consecutive years (Giants reliever Tetsuya Yamaguchi took the prize last year). The Pacific League award goes to reliever Tadashi Settsu of the Softbank Hawks.

The Best Nine Awards have also been announced and the winners are as follows:

	Central	Pacific
P	Dicky Gonzalez	Yu Darvish
CA	Shinnosuke Abe	Hidenori Tanoue
1B	Tony Blanco	Shinji Takahashi
2B	Akihiro Higashide	Kensuke Tanaka
3B	Michihiro Ogasawara	Takeya Nakamura
SS	Hayato Sakamoto	Hiroyuki Nakajima
OF	Seiichi Uchikawa	Teppei
OF	Norichika Aoki	Yoshio Itoi
OF	Alex Ramirez	Atsunori Inaba
DH		Takeshi Yamazaki

The Sawamura Award and the Best of the Rest

Ryo — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:42:06 +0000

The 2009 season concluded with Hideaki Wakui of the Seibu Lions being honored with the Sawamura Award, but a number of pitchers had outstanding years and we wanted to take a closer look at them. Sawamura Award candidate are judged on how close they get to the following seven criteria:

Game Appearances… 25 or above
Complete Games… 10 or above
Wins… 15 or above
Winning Percentage… .600 or above
Innings Pitched… 200 or above
Strikeouts… 150 or above
ERA… Under 2.50

Obviously the only pitcher surpassing each of the criteria is Wakui with 11 complete games which made him the only true candidate for the award. An unwritten criterion necessary to win the Sawamura Award is strength and the ability to stay healthy. Even though Yu Darvish started out the season with a stellar performance, his injury in the second-half cost him his chance to win his second Sawamura Award.

	G	CG	W	Win Pct.	Inn.	K	ERA
Hideaki Wakui	27	11	16	0.727	211.2	199	2.30
Yu Darvish	23	8	15	0.75	182	167	1.73
Toshiya Sugiuchi	26	6	15	0.75	191	204	2.36
Masahiro Tanaka	25	6	15	0.714	189.2	171	2.33
Wei-Yin Chen	24	5	8	0.667	164	146	1.54
Dicky Gonzalez	23	2	15	0.882	162	113	2.11
Kazuki Yoshimi	27	5	16	0.696	189.1	147	2.00

The Best Nine Awards are still up still unannounced, and there are a lot of worthy candidates for the top pitcher in both the Central and Pacific Leagues. Who is most deserving of the award?