NPB Bullet Points (2009/08/04)
It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve actually written about baseball. Let’s get up to speed with a few bullet points.
Japanese Stories:
- The Giants’ Yoshinobu Takahashi has yet to play this year, and when he finally does get into a game it will be at first base and not his usual rightfield.
- Marty Brown’s future in Hiroshima may be in jeopardy.
- Stephen Randolph would like to visit his birthplace, Okinawa, while in Japan. He’ll get that opportunity next spring if he can stick with the BayStars.
- Yasuhiro Ichiba is switching to a three-quarters delivery.
- Tuffy Rhodes will return to game action on August 4.
English Stories:
- Hiroshima Carp bust Scott Dohmann has signed a minor league contract with the Diamondbacks, and former Hanwha Eagle Victor Cruz has signed with Baltimore.
- Gwynar gives us an update on the troubled Kansai League.
- Is Bobby Valentine the most beloved manager of all time? Maybe.
- Christopher Pellegrini takes on Japan’s tendency to over-utilize the sacrifice bunt.
- Heath Bintliff of Dempsey’s Army pointed out to me that Ryohei Tanaka is performing well at 2A for the Orioles.
04/08/2009 at 4:24 am Permalink
Marty Brown’s future in Hiroshima may be in jeopardy.
Interesting, if Valentine is truly gone with I believes he is unless someone Yokohama or Orix names him skipper to put a face on their franchise, there will be no foreign managers in NPB if I’m right.
•Is Bobby Valentine the most beloved manager of all time? Maybe.
I defiently say he’s captured the hearts and minds of Chiba Lotte fans in a way no other foreign manager or any manager for that point has ever done before. Though, I question was he more beloved than Shigeo Nagashima? Nagashima seemed to be the most loved player in NPB history. Though returning to Valentine and the Marines, I do hope that the team doesn’t stray to far away from what Valentine has built there, or otherwise I fear it will be too much like 1996-97 and so on.
07/08/2009 at 1:13 pm Permalink
Couple of teams in the Kansai League are cutting player salaries in order to save costs and survive. If the league itself survives, maybe it could become a league that is a notch below the Shikoku-Kyushu and BC leagues, if there are demands for it by both players and fans.