Baseball in Japan & Around the World
Ken Kadokura wants to continue his career with an MLB organization, and Sports Hochi is reporting that the pitcher is already reaching out to the Cardinals and Orioles. I suspect the teams he’s starting with were among those that showed interest in him during the offseason.
Couple of random thins I’ve done over the last few weeks…
The NPB season opened last night, 4/3, and I was remiss in only giving it a passing mention. Here are some highlights:
All the box scores in Japanese but I’ll have an English source for them soon. The WBC live chats were fun, I’m going to try doing that again during the season, if a) the time difference is reasonable and b) we can find a reliable live stream.
And in other brief news, yu-darvish.com is now an NPB Tracker property.
Word out of Japan is that the Cubs have released pitcher Ken Kadokura. Kadokura had appeared in six spring training games and was demoted to the minors on March 18. I don’t find this shocking but I did think he’d last longer.Â
Kadokura had an offer to join a Korean team in the offseason, but turned it down to join the Cubs. KBO foreign rosters are certainly set at this point, so that option is probably off the table for now. He also said that he had more than one MLB offer, so we’ll see if there are any takers for him.
The SoftBank Hawks have been looking to import a power hitter for quite some time now, and the guy that should be at the top of their list is freely available. Dallas McPherson was released by the Marlins on April 1 after clearing waivers and failing to attract a trade partner. Takeuchi-COO, if you’re reading this, sign McPherson and pencil him in at 3rd base.
Surprising news out of Japan today — apparently the Marlins are close to a deal that would land them Yu Darvish. The Marlins’ management team has found a way to work around the posting system –Â offering Darvish’s current team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, an ownership stake in the team. Â Nippon Ham has granted the Marlins an exclusive negotiating window with Darvish and if they can agree to terms, the Nippon Ham will release him and take over their reportedly significant share of the Marlins franchise.
A person familiar with the negotiations was quoted as saying, “it’s the beginning of April and the Marlins almost fooled themselves that they were ready to compete with the Phillies and Mets with the roster they have. Getting Darvish should push them over the top.” Added Japanese analyst Shigatsu Jodan, “this gives the company the opportunity to keep Darvish in the Nippon Ham family and should open up a great new market in south Florida for the company’s ham, pork and bacon products.” Darvish’s agent Aberilu Furu issued a firm “no comment”.
I certainly didn’t see this one coming.
If you’ve selected this text and the hints are too subtle, check the date.
As we first learned from commenter Nelson, the Blue Jays have released lefty Ken Takahashi. Baseball sources have confirmed his release from the Jays, and mlb.com also has a blurb about him signing with the Mets.
So it looks like the prediction that I made in the offseason has turned out to be correct.
As MLB camps wrap up, players are making their final tweaks before the regular season starts. For Koji Uehara, that means finally testing his new pitches in a game situation. Uehara is planning on testing his newly-developed changeup in his appearance today against the Mets. No word on whether the curve ball he was working on will make an appearance.
Meanwhile, Daisuke Matsuzaka took a souvenier home from the WBC — a new forkball. I was a little surprised to see that in the news, because Matsuzaka threw a forkball in Japan and I didn’t realize he stopped in MLB. Apparently he couldn’t keep his forkball under control with an MLB ball, and didn’t throw any forks at all last season. The WBC afforded him the opportunity to work with noted forkballers Hisashi Iwakuma and Yu Darvish, who gave him some tips on how to thow the pitch. Matsuzaka threw five forkballs in his first bullpen session with the Red Sox, and said it’s possible that he’ll use it during the season.
It’s much harder to predict the standings for the Pacific League as the teams are so evenly matched. But I’ll give it a shot.
1. Seibu Lions: I think we’ll see a little regression from Okawari Nakamura and Kazuyuki Hoashi, but a better performance from Hideaki Wakui. Overall it looks like the Lions have enough to repeat.
Key Players: Wakui, Hoashi, whoever gets the most at-bats at 1st base
2. Nippon Ham Fighters: Nippon Ham was actually outscored by their opponents last year. I’m putting them here because I believe that they have the pitching and defense to win close games, and that Sho Nakata will turn up at some point during the season and provide a little offense.The new additions to the bullpen have the task of replacing Michael Nakamura as well.
Key Players: Nakata, Ryan Wing, Masanori Hayashi
3. Chiba Lotte Marines: I didn’t think I’d have the Marines making the playoffs, but I’m putting them in third because they have a solid front four in their rotation, and no real holes in their lineup. Hopefully Bobby V can find a way to keep Tadahito Iguchi and Shunichi Nemoto both in the lineup, as Nemoto broke out last year with a .296/.369/.430 line.
Key Players: Bobby V, Yoshihisa Naruse, Yuuki Karakawa
4. Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles: The Eagles have two WBC heroes at the top of their rotation (Hisashi Iwakuma, Masahiro Tanaka), a couple of solid mid-rotation guys (Darrell Rasner, Hideaki Asai), and some power in the middle of their lineup (Norihiro Nakamura, Fernando Seguignol, Takeshi Yamasaki). But on the other hand they have some holes in their lineup and bullpen.
Key Players: the bullpen
5. Orix Buffaloes: Manager Daijiro Ohishi took over in May of last year and lead the Buffaloes to a seemingly improbable playoff run. Looking back, the Buffaloes pitched better than I realized, with a 3.93 team era and four starters with sub-4:00 eras and at least 10 wins. If the pitching staff can repeat that performance, and the aging lineup of foreign sluggers holds up, they’ll be competitive. If not, look for a B-class finish.
Key Players: Tuffy Rhodes, Alex Cabrera, Jose Fernandez, Greg LaRocca
6. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks: It’s hard to pick the Hawks to finish this low with the amazing rotation depth they have — Tsuyoshi Wada, Toshiya Sugiuchi, Nagisa Arakaki, Shota Ohba, Kenji Ohtonari, Kameron Loe, Kazumi Saito (if he can come back from his injuries) and rookie Shingo Tatsumi. But on the flipside, their lineup just isn’t what it used to be. The Hawks hit just 99 home runs last year and haven’t added any significant bats. They’re hoping for a return to form from aging sluggers Hiroki Kokubo and Hitoshi Tamura, who have been shells of their former selves in recent years.
Key Players: Kokubo, Tamura
It was tough to pick any of these teams to finish last, because the league is so balanced and all the teams have strengths. It seems likely that Seibu will finish in the top 3 and SoftBank will finish in the bottom 3, but everything else is up for grabs. What are your thoughts?
Update, March 27, 6:30pm: A friend of mine who’s in the know pointed out the correct Romanization of Kim’s name, so I’ve corrected it below.
Picked this one up on the Japanese version of joins.com, which appears to be a Korean publication.The article, quoting a scout from a Korean team, says the Cubs have signed high schooler Dong-Yub Kim to a contract with a $550k bonus. Kim is a 6’1, 181 lbs. outfielder who reportedly projects to have some power.
This is the first MLB signing out of Korea this offseason. I’ll post more information if I can find any.