Patrick »
28 January 2012 »
In npb »
Coming: Kam Mickolio, Nick Stavinoha, Yusuke Nomura (1st round draft pick)
Going: Gio Alvarado, Mike Schultz, Dioni Soriano, Kiyoshi Toyoda, Wilfreiser Guerrero, Masaki Hayashi, Chad Tracy
Staying: Bryan Bullington, Brian Barden, Dennis Sarfate, Kenta Kurihara
The key offseason move for Hiroshima was the one that didn’t happen. For the second straight winter, the Carp failed to lure its former ace, Hiroki Kuroda, back from his successful Major League tenure. Had Kuroda returned, Hiroshima would have opened camp with a good shot at having the best rotation in Japan. Even without Kuroda though, Hiroshima’s rotation has some solid pieces to work with. Kenta Maeda and Bryan Bullington are strong at the top, second-year man Yuya Fukui showed proimsed in 2011, and perhaps rookie Yusuke Nomura and sophmore Kyohei Nakamura will join the mix. Veteran Kan Ohtake showed signs of life toward the end of last season, and 24 year-old lefty Yuki Saito should return from the back injuries that sidelined him for all of 2011. Kuroda would have been a great addition to this group, taking the pressure of the younger guys and the injury returnees.
At the plate, Hiroshima suffered a severe power shortage in 2011, hitting a league-low 52 home runs. To that end if Nick Stavinoha can establish himself and slug .450, it will be a huge addition. The retention of Brian Barden is a sound move, as he hit a respectable .280/.368/.371 over half a season last year. Simply getting a full season out of him at third base, which has been a hole since Takahiro Arai departed, will be a plus and if he can find some pop, all the better. We’ll see about the rest of the lineup once the open-sen season opens.
So while their approach is contingent on the younger players maturing and contributing, Hiroshima seems to be headed in the right direction.
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Tags: Brian Barden, Bryan Bullington, Chad Tracy, Dennis Sarfate, Dioni Soriano, Gio Alvarado, Hiroki Kuroda, Kam Mickolio, Kan Ohtake, Kenta Kurihara, Kenta Maeda, Kiyoshi Toyoda, Kyohei Nakamura, Masaki Hayashi, Mike Schultz, Nick Stavinoha, Takahiro Arai, Wilfreiser Guerrero, Yuki Saito, Yusuke Nomura, Yuya Fukui
Patrick »
28 January 2012 »
In npb »
It’s time again for this series of posts.I was hoping to get these in before camps open on February 1, but alas, sometimes real life intervenes. This year we’ll go in the reverse order of the final 2011 standings, Central League first.Â
Coming: Alex Ramirez, Masaaki Koike, Shugo Fujii, Gio Alvarado, Kazunari Tsuruoka, Masanori Hayashi, Kazumasa Kikuchi, Taketoshi Goto, DeNA ownership, manager Kiyoshi Nakahata, new uniforms
Going: Shuichi Murata, Termel Sledge, Brett Harper, Shingo Takeyama, Naoto Inada, Tomo Ohka, Daisuke Hayakawa
Staying: Clayton Hamilton, Brandon Mann
2011 was another year in the cellar for Yokohama. The Baystars finished last in the Central for the eighth time in ten years, including the last four consecutively with sub-.360 winning percentages. Better news came following the season though, when the previous ownership group TBS finally found a buyer, mobile gaming company DeNA. The combination of new ownership and charismatic new manager Kiyoshi Nakahata has generated a level of buzz around the team unseen since Kazuhiro Sasaki’s return.
Despite 2011’s last place finish, there were a few bright spots: Kentaro Takasaki emerged as a solid starter, slugger prospect Yoshitomo Tsutsugo performed well in his late-season trial, 2009 ikusei draftee Yuki Kuniyoshi emerged as a prospect, and lefty Brandon Mann put up good numbers in limited work.  The obvious rub is that of the four guys mentioned, only Takasaki made a contribution that lasted the entire season.
The Baystars’ 2012 roster changes aren’t going to vault the team into contention, but they aren’t going to hurt either. Yomiuri refugee Alex Ramirez and the emerging Tsutsugo should cancel out the losses of Termel Sledge and Shuichi Murata, and perhaps the departure of Brett Harper will lead to a few at-bats for prospect Atsushi Kita. Ramirez will be a defensive liability, and Tsutsugo probably will be as well, but then again, Sledge and Murata weren’t exactly gold glovers.
The bigger issue for Yokohama over the last several seasons has been run prevention. Last year, Yokohama had only two pitchers through 100 or more innings, Kentaro Takasaki and NPB Tracker favorite Daisuke Miura. To that end, if newcomers Gio Alvarado and Shugo Fujii can contribute 100-120 IP of league average or slightly better ball, the dual benefit of giving the younger pitchers some breathing room and making the more competitive will be realized.
The Baystars seem destined for another last-place finish in the Central this year, but for the first time in quite a while it feels like there’s a little competitive light visible at the end of the tunnel.
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Tags: Alex Ramirez, Brandon Mann, Brett Harper, Clayton Hamilton, Daisuke Hayakawa, DeNA, Gio Alvarado, Kazuhiro Sasaki, Kazumasa Kikuchi, Kazunari Tsuruoka, Kentaro Takasaki, Kiyoshi Nakahata, Masaaki Koike, Masanori Hayashi, Naoto Inada, Shingo Takeyama, Shugo Fujii, Shuichi Murata, Taketoshi Goto, Termel Sledge, Tomo Ohka, Yokohama DeNA Baystars, Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, Yuki Kuniyoshi
Patrick »
11 January 2012 »
In nichibei, npb »
I’ve got a couple of player personnel notes to pass along, via Sponichi.
- Softbank has announced the acquisition of righty Reynel Pinto. The big righty gets a one-year deal worth JPY 70m ($910k) plus incentives. I expect him to be in the mix for a rotation spot in Fukuoka.
- Yomiuri is working on a deal with outfielder John Bowker and expects to have a deal announced within a few days. The Phillies have already granted Bowker his release, so I’d assume a deal just needs to be signed.
And a bonus bullet point that I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet:
- Yokohama DeNA has signed Gio Alvarado, who spent the last two years with Hiroshima. Gio should add a modicum of stability to the DeNA’s rotation.
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Tags: Gio Alvarado, John Bowker, Reynel Pinto
Patrick »
27 July 2010 »
In npb »
This post is a little late — we’re officially in the second half of the season as the first post-All-Star games were played on Monday. The All-Star game is only a symbolic marker anyway though, as all the NPB teams have played at least 87 games out of the 144-game schedule. Still it’s a good time to take stock of the season that’s been played so far. Here are some thoughts conveniently split up into three categories.
A few general observations:
- The Central League is again a three-team race between Yomiuri, Hanshin, and Chunichi. This makes the playoff race somewhat uninteresting but the playoffs themselves should be good.
- The Pacific League is much more balanced, with SoftBank, Seibu, and Lotte nine or more games over .500, Orix even and Nippon Ham one game under. Rakuten is in the cellar at 40-49, but they have the second best pitching results in the league and could get into contention for a playoff spot if they start to hit.
- We’re seeing a strong performances from a number of starting pitchers.
Follow up from previous posts:
- The answers to my six storylines so far: no, yes, unfortunately not, maybe, yes/not yet, probably none.
- Yokohama is again a doormat. I thought they’d be a little more competitive this year.
- My rookies to watch are either injured (Yusei, Kazuhito Futagami, Takashi Ogino), fat (Ryoji Nakata) or Hisayoshi Chono (Chono).
- A couple of the imports I put on my watch list, Matt Murton and Kim Tae-Gyun, have taken off in Japan. Gio Alvarado is getting it together as well.
- The veterans I picked to watch have mostly been duds, which isn’t a surprise as I deliberately listed a bunch of guys with question marks. That said, Yoshinobu Takahashi is having a nice bounce back season, Aarom Baldiris has contributed some a performance to Orix, and Sho Nakata is showing some signs of life.
NPB Tracker mid-season awards:
- My first half MVPs: Central League – Kazuhiro Wada (Chunichi), Pacific League – Hiroyuki Nakajima (Seibu)
- First half Sawamura Award winner: Kenta Maeda (Hiroshima)
- First half RoYs: Central League – Chono (Yomiuri), Pacific League – Ogino (Lotte) despite missing significant time on the injured list
- Breakout players: Central League – Shun Tohno (Yomiuri), Pacific League – T-Okada (Orix)
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Tags: Aarom Baldiris, Gio Alvarado, Hiroyuki Nakajima, Hisayoshi Chono, Kazuhiro Wada, Kazuhito Futagami, Kenta Maeda, Kim Tae-Gyun, Matt Murton, Ryoji Nakata, Sho Nakata, Shun Tohno, T-Okada, Takashi Ogino, Yoshinobu Takahashi, Yusei