NPB Tracker

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked on NY Baseball Digest Radio if there were any foreign players in Japan who could potentially make an MLB comeback, a la Cecil Fielder. I drew a blank. Given a little time to think it over though, I came up with a couple of candidates:

• Colby Lewis, SP, Hiroshima Carp: took over for Hiroki Kuroda as Hiroshima’s ace, going 15-8 with a 2.68 era in 2008. Under contract for 2009.
• Alex Graman, RP, Saitama Seibu Lions: former Yankee has been lights-out since the Lions put him in the bullpen. Under contract for 2009.
• Craig Brazell, 1B, former Saitama Seibu Lions: cut loose after one year with the Lions, Brazell struck out too much in Japan and had a poor on-base performance, but did slug 27 home runs. I can see him playing AAA this year in an org that’s thin at 1b, and getting a shot if he performs well.
• Tyrone Woods, 1B, former Chunichi Dragons: cut loose after the ’08 season, coming off six consecutive 35+ HR seasons. He’s a real longshot to play in MLB in 2009, given that he’s 40 and plenty of MLB veterans are out of work this offseason, but then again Daryle Ward spent all of 2008 on the roster of a team that won 97 games.

Though not to the extent of Fielder, Hector Carrasco, Lee Stevens, and Darrell May are a couple examples of guys who enjoyed some big league success after playing in Japan. Fielder’s 1991 Detroit Tigers teammate Bill Gullickson played two seasons with the Yomiuri Giants, where he became good friends with feature major leaguer Masumi Kuwata. They were so close, in fact, that Gullickson gave one of his children the middle name “Kuwata”. 

 

Update, January 12, 8:09 pst: Things are picking up for Takahashi. Daily Sports has published a report saying that Ken heard from his agent on the 12th, and had this to say: “I’m told that we’re in the middle of negotiations. I don’t really know what kind of response we’re getting. I’m in waiting state. Just getting my body into baseball shape. I can’t say anything beyond that.” Despite this, the Daily Sports report says that the Cubs remain in the lead, but there are official offers from the Orioles and Phillies, and that a decision on his destination could come as early as the beginning of next week.

A Mainichi report states that the Blue Jays and Mets are also interested.

Update, January 11, 10:30pm pst: Sanspo has comments from Takahashi: “I don’t know the details of what was published in the newspaper. I’m just practicing by myself to get my body ready for baseball.” Commenting on the fact that his destination hasn’t been decided yet, Takahashi said, “I’m certainly waiting nervously. Even if it takes the whole month, I think there’s not much you can do”.

Sports Hochi is reporting that the Cubs are close to a deal with lefthanded pitcher Ken Takahashi. According to Hochi it’s a one-year, major-league deal and the Cubs would look to him to start and pitch in middle relief. The article speculates that the Cubs are looking to bring in someone to support Kosuke Fukudome, but I don’t see the logic in signing another rookie. They might as well bring in Akinori Otsuka or someone that’s been through the league already. Ken Kadokura and Shigeki Noguchi auditioned for the Cubs last month as well.

This is very early speculation and I haven’t found any other mentions of it in the Japanese media, so we’ll see if the story develops.

Jon Heyman noted an alleged interest in Eric Hinske from an NPB team last week, which I previously hadn’t heard of. I completely missed this Sponichi article from November that says the SoftBank Hawks were looking at him. SoftBank has since acquired Chris Aguila out of the Mets system, so it’s unclear whether they’d still be interested in Hinske.

While I’ve got the Cubs fans here… anyone remember when the North Siders fired Kosuke Fukudome’s translator last year?

Ryuji Araki has found a job doing translation and pr for the Nippon Ham Fighters. Previous translator Ken Iwamoto, who had worked for Trey Hillman, is moving into team director position and evaluating foreign player acquisitions. I’ve read a couple of interviews with Iwamoto and he seems like an interesting guy.

Reading that first article may shed a little light on why the Cubs are making a little more of an effort to acquire Japanese players this offseason. Another thing they could try is hiring Shigetoshi Hasegawa as bullpen coach or something. He definitely speaks English and Japanese fluently.

Former SoftBank Hawks pitcher Michinao Yamamura is the latest released NPB minor leaguer to announce he’s taking a shot at signing on with an American organization. He’ll be flying to Arizona on the 25th to spend 4 days playing winter league games and trying out. “My agent is talking to a number of teams about a minor league contract. Ever since I threw in international games in college, going overseas has been a dream,” said the righthander. Yamamura, 30, has made 25 appearances at the top level in Japan, going 2-2 with a 3.58 era in 27 2/3 innings.

I can’t remember ever hearing about this many released  minor leaguers attempting to move to MLB organizations in a single offseason. Perhaps I’m paying more attention this year.

So far, I’ve come across:

• Shigeki Noguchi
• Ken Kadokura
• Kazuhiro Takeoka
• Katsuhiko Maekawa
• Takateru Iyono
• Tatsuya Ozeki
• Ryohei Tanaka
• Michinao Yamamura

All of these players have been released by their NPB organizations. With the exception of Kadokura, Noguchi, and Maekawa, none of them spent that much time at the top level in Japan. Even if they are signed, most of these guys are more likely to be organizational players rather than actual MLB prospects, but it’s still an interesting trend.

Multiple sources have proclaimed that Kenshin Kawakami has signed with Atlanta. The Braves were my pick for him when free agency opened. Glad I got one right.

I don’t have time to write at the moment, but I will chip in this new information that Sponichi thinks he got a 3-year, $24m deal. I haven’t seen the dollar figure anywhere else yet, and Sponichi is writing this in uncertain terms, so we’ll see how acurate it turns out to be. More later.

All right, now I have a little time to write…

So to begin, Kawakami’s signing is getting a bit more press in the Japanese media. Here’s a sampling of articles from Nikkan Sports:

• Braves Manager Bobby Cox Evaluates Kawakami Highly
• Uehara Departs for America in a Red Jacket (photo included)
• The Braves have been in the National League Since it’s Establishment in 1876
• Where is Braves Signee Kenshin Kawakami from?
• Kawakami Agrees with Braves, Will Officially Announce Perhaps on the 12th

I didn’t read most of those articles, but there are the links. I wonder if Uehara would have made it in if he hadn’t worn a red jacket.

The question that I get most frequently on Kawakami is whether his numbers have been inflated by the big stadium he pitched in and the outstanding defense he had behind him. And the answer is, yeah, anyone would. That said, his k and bb rates have been consistent over the years, and better than Kuroda’s for the last few seasons. Jim Albright’s translations come out favorably as well. I like the move to NL as well, and the Braves seem to do pretty well with their pitchers.

Of course, it will remain to be seen whether his stuff generates as many strikeouts as it did in Japan, whether he can adjust to pitching on four days’ rest rather than five, and how he adjusts to a new country, language, and longer distances to travel. Uehara will, of course, have the same challenges.

Word on the street is that Kenshin Kawakami is nearing a deal with the Braves.  For his part, Kenshin is staying quiet. Nikkan Sports has this comment from the pitcher: “Basically I can’t say anything. In the end it is me that will decide, but I don’t want to disrupt the people who are negotiating.”

While we wait for a resolution, let’s enjoy this footage from Kawakami’s last regular season appearance in 2008, a start in which he held the Yokohama BayStars scoreless over six innings. (English box score courtesty of JapaneseBaseball.com).

To go with that, here’s a highlight reel spanning the course of Kawakami’s career, and the last out of his 2002 no-hitter.

I actually have an English report of this one — Chiba Lotte has offered 2nd baseman Tadahito Iguchi a 3-year, 600m yen contract. That’s $6.6m against a still weak greenback. Iguchi is unlikely to top that offer in MLB, and sounds like he’s seriously considering taking it:

”I feel like there are a lot of expectations of me. I feel gratitude that I can receive this offer even though I was injured last year. I feel Lotte’s sincerity,” Iguchi said. ”I want to play for a club where I feel needed. I haven’t decided yet, but I would like to decide as soon as possible.”

Sanspo ran this shot of Iguchi and team president Setoyama together.

Partially inspired by the River Ave. Blues header image, check out these Google Maps images of some of Japan’s ballparks. 

Central League

• Yokohama Stadium, home of the Yokohama BayStars. That’s artificial turf there.
• Koshien Stadium, home of the Hanshin Tigers. Old, offseason image here.
• Hiroshima Civic Stadium, soon to be replaced home of the Hiroshima Carp. Note that the Genbaku Dome (原爆ドーム) is a short distance southwest of the stadium. The Genbaku Dome was the only structure fully encompassed in the atomic bomb blast that wasn’t destroyed.
• Meiji Jingu Ballpark, home of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. The smaller baseball field is the No. 2 Jingu Ballpark, used for college and amateur baseball.
• Tokyo Dome, and it’s predecessor Korakuen, both home to the Yomiuri Giants, Nippon Ham Fighters, and others. 

Pacific League

• Yahoo Dome, home of the SoftBank Hawks. Note that the roof opens, but they only played one game with it open last year.
• The unfortunately named Kleenax Stadium Miyagi, home of the Rakuten Golden Eagles. This is an old image, Rakuten has fixed it up quite a bit.
• Skymark Stadium, the Kobe home of the Orix Buffaloes. This is my favorite ballpark in Japan. It’ll always be Green Stadium Kobe to me.
• Chiba Marine Stadium, home of the Chiba Lotte Marines. Zoom out to see how close it is to Tokyo Bay.

Others

• Nagano Olympic Stadium, built for the 1998 Nagano Winter Games, now home to the independant BC League’s Shinano Grandserows.
• Starfin Park in Asahikawa, Hokkaido. Named for early NPB ace and hometown hero Victor Starfin. The Yomiuri Giants played a few games at Starfin Park last season.
• Matsuyama Bocchan Park is out in the sticks but occasionally hosts NPB games. It’s day job is hosting the home games of the Island League’s Ehime Mandarin Pirates.
• A snow-covered Fukui Stadium, home of the BC League’s wonderfully named Fukui Miracle Elephants. 

I found out about Koji Uehara’s signing with the Orioles the same way everyone else did, via the incomparable mlbtraderumors.com. I think much of the Japanese media found out the same way I did, as there was a raft of reports referring to the same Baltimore Sun article that Tim linked to. 

In an ideal environment — National League, non-hitters’ park — he could be a midrotation innings-eater because he’ll allow so few baserunners. In the American League, he’d be more of a fourth starter, but would have to have some luck keeping the ball in the park to keep his ERA under 4.00.

I actually think that Uehara will be susceptible to baserunners because he’ll be around the plate so much. More troubling is that the HR ball was unquestionably his weakness in Japan, and he’s going to the most HR-friendly park in MLB. On the other hand, he’ll have two good outfielders behind him in Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, which suit his flyball tendencies. And even though he got rocked in his last appearance in the Japan Series, prior to that he put together a string of seven excellent starts. 

Uehara was one of my favorite guys to watch in Japan and I’m glad he’s finally getting the chance to fulfill his dream of playing in America. I’m looking forward to seeing him play in the States, and seeing if his trademark excellent control translates to MLB success.