NPB Tracker

I’ve added some updates to my free agent list. Here is a summary.

International Free Agents

• Hitoki Iwase (RP, Chunichi Dragons): Iwase will decline free agency and remain with Chunichi.
• Tomohiro Nioka (SS, Yomiuri Giants): My gut feeling is that the Giants are done with Nioka. Nippon Ham is interested.
• Hirokazu Ibata (SS, Chunichi Dragons): Staying put.
• Naoyuki Ohmura (CF, Softbank Hawks): Traded to Orix, missed qualifying for free agency by 13 days. Will be a Buffalo next season.
• Atsunori Inaba (OF, Nippon Ham Fighters): As expected, will remain with Nippon Ham.
• Daisuke Miura (SP, Yokohama BayStars): Hanshin is preparing to offer Miura a 4-year/12-oku yen ($12M) contract. Miura says he wants another shot at a title.

NPB-only Free Agents

• Ryota Igarashi (RP, Yakult Swallows): Staying with Yakult for now, with an eventual eye to the majors.
• Hidetaka Kawagoe (RP, Orix Buffaloes): Reportedly ready to move after being offered a pay cut by Orix. (Thanks to reader Jeff B for the tip)

I was hoping to find some time to write a preview of the Japan Series, but now that it’s started I’m a little too late.

Seibu took Game 1, with Hideaki Wakui trumping Koji Uehara in a 2-1 pitchers duel. I didn’t get a chance to follow the game, so I’ll point you to English write-ups at Tsubamegun and Japanball.com, as well long and short YouTube highlights.

Despite Seibu’s game 1 win, I think the Giants have a slight edge in the Series. I like the Giants rotation of Uehara/Greisinger/Utsumi/Takahashi a little better than Seibu’s group of Wakui/Hoashi/Kishi/Ishii, and I think the Giants have a deeper bullpen as well. Seibu scored a lot more runs during the regular season than the Giants, the starting lineups are pretty equal.

Of course, I’ve only done a really rough eyeball analysis of the two teams, so I could be way off. On paper, this is a pretty even matchup and I hope all seven games will be as close as game 1.

As you no doubt know by now, Junichi Tazawa went unselected in the recent NPB draft, clearing the way for him to sign with an MLB organization. While official negotiations reportedly won’t start until Nov 24 or so, Tazawa is meeting with representatives from the Mariners and Braves on Tuesday. I’ve picked up on about six teams interested in Tazawa, with the most recent addition to the mix being the Phillies.

Update, November 1 afternoon: Okay, it’s raining out here in Silicon Valley so I might keep going with this. Here are the teams that I’ve seen reported in the media as having interest in Tazawa:

• Boston
• Atlanta
• Seattle
• Pittsburgh
• Detroit
• Chicago Cubs
• Philadelphia

Japanball.com has the Kyodo version of the story I published above.

Time for another edition of NPB Bullet Points. Randomness abounds, as usual.

Japanese Articles:

• SoftBank sent outfielder Naoyuki Ohmura to Orix in exchange for outfielder Arihito Muramatsu, in a trade that sends both players back to their previous teams. I had previously read that Ohmura’s contract was up and he was considering attempting a move to the majors, but now it seems like he stick with the Buffaloes.
• Hideo Nomo is back in the news: Orix manager Daijiro Ohishi has invited him to the team’s autumn camp as a special instructor, and Tatsunori Hara has expressed intertest in having him on his pitching coach for Japan’s WBC entry. Meanwhile, Nomo’s been training with his Osaka-based amateur team, the Nomo Baseball Club.
• Speaking of Hara, after winning the rights to select Taishi Ota in the draft, he pumped his fist until SoftBank manager Koji Akiyama got the point.
• Yokohama released the long-time star Takuro Ishii. The team asked Ishii to retire, but he hopes to continue his career elsewhere.
• Nippon Ham is looking for righthanded hitting, and willing to trade star closer Micheal Nakamura or 2006 RoY lefty Tomoya Yagi to acquire some. The Figthers feel like they have a surplus of pitching, and are targetting Tomohiro Nioka and Kodai Sakurai in a potential trade.
• Rakuten is planning some seating upgrades to the unfortunately named Kleenex Stadium Miyagi. The team is adding seating right on the field behind home plate.

English Articles:

• Bobby Valentine commented on his blog on the selection of Hisayoshi Chono in the draft. Apparently Chono refused to talk to Bobby before the draft.
• Simon over at jhockey has a Robert Whiting piece on Sadaharu Oh.