NPB Tracker

Today’s news & links:

• Yu Darvish dominated Rakuten for his 11th win of the season: 9 IP, 10 K, 0 BB, 4 H, 1 ER on 89 pitches. Darvish’s league-leading ERA is now 1.88.
• Hanshin lost yesterday, cutting their lead to 11.5 in the Central League.
• Kazumi Saito has been rehabbing in Arizona, but he’s found time to attend a WNBA game and hang out with Jeremy Giambi.
• Victor Starfin’s daughter did indeed throw out the first pitch at the Giants’ July 15 game.
• NPB teams sending three or more players to the Olympics will be allowed to carry an additional foreign player while they’re Olympians are away. This means some teams will have up to five foreign players on their active rosters.

Hideo Nomo has retired. The announcement was posted on his website according to the Japanese media. I can’t get to his site right now, but here’s the English language press release.

Update: I finally got to the site but there was nothing enlightening there. All signs were pointing to Nomo being done anyway; pitched in three games for the Royals earlier this year but was awful and got released. Sanspo reported earlier in the year that Rakuten was in negotiations with Nomo, but nothing ever came of it. That’s too bad, I was hoping to see him make a farewell tour in Japan.

I think the baseball community owes Nomo quite a bit: he helped create a new opportunity in MLB for Japanese players, and opened up the Japanese market for MLB teams. The two sides are certainly closer now than they were 15 years ago, and it started with him.

While Nomo’s legacy will mostly be as a pioneer, let’s not forget he was a great pitcher as well. He won 201 games between Japan and America. He also threw two MLB no-hitters, the first of which was at Coors Field. Although he was inconsistant in his later years, he was certainly dominant at times.

Mainichi.jp has a nice photo retrospective of Nomo’s career.

…and there’s an accomplished one available, Barry Lamar Bonds.

I had been thinking of Bonds since I read that the Hawks are looking for a new foreign power hitter a couple of days ago, but kind of dismissed it as being unrealistic. But after thinking about it for a while, it makes a certain degree of sense. There would be some drawbacks, too. Let’s run down the pros and cons:

The Case For:

• The Hawks are 4th in the Pacific League with 70 home runs, and tied with Rakuten (who have played fewer games) for 3rd with 370 runs. Bonds in the middle of the lineup would change that.
• The Hawks only have one foreign batter on their roster currently, Michael Restovich, who has mostly played first base. Softbank has used five foreign pitchers this year, and would still have to do some roster juggling to come in under the foreign player limit.
• Restovich has underperformed this year with only three HR’s. The Hawks can put him on the bench and create a rotation of Bonds, Nobuhiko Matsunaka and Hiroki Kokubo between LF, DH, and 1B.
• The Hawks are managed by Sadaharu Oh. Oh holds the world record for professional home runs with 868 and has been under the microscope. He seems to sympathize with Bonds as well, probably for these reasons.
• The Hawks’ parent company, Softbank, is owned by Japan’s richest man, Masayoshi Son. Son has made several statements that he wants to build a world-class baseball team and even once offered to host a “true” World Series, with $100M of his own money going to the winner. Signing Bonds would make a splash.
• It would be a chance for Bonds to compete again. The Hawks will certainly make the playoffs and with a healthy Bonds could be the favorite for the Pacific League title. He hasn’t won a championship in MLB. A Japan title wouldn’t replace that but it would be a great achievement in it’s own right.
• I’ve actually seen Bonds do interviews with the Japanese media, including one where they followed him around a spring training. Maybe he gets along better with the Japanese press.

The Case Against:

• Bonds’ popularity in Japan has plummeted since all the BALCO stuff came out. He was once a star there; not so much any more.
• He would probably be immediately subjected to a drug test.
• There would still be intense media scrutiny over there; if anything it may be more intense than what it would be in the US.
• It’s possible that Bonds’ tarnished reputation could backfire with fans.
• Bonds’ presence could create a distraction for the other players.
• It would probably be a month before we see him in action.

It would certainly be a gamble for Softbank to sign Bonds, but it makes sense for baseball reasons. I think it makes sense for both sides. As a fan of Japanese baseball, I was a little conflicted about writing this — in some ways I’d kind of like to see NPB prove itself on it’s own terms, without a guy like Bonds around. But then again, it would be great to see Bonds face off against pitchers like Yu Darvish, Hisashi Iwakuma, and Yoshihisa Naruse. And maybe it would draw a little more attention to NPB internationally, which I think would be great.

Bonds’ agent issued a “no comment” when asked about Japan (SFGate via mlbtraderumors.com), which suggests to me that it’s not out of the question. Unlikely, yes, but not out of the question.

Pro Yakyu links on an NPB off-day.

• Simon at jhockey has done a little number crunching on Japan’s top hitters and pitchers.
• Deanna posted pics from her May 12th visit to a Nippon Ham minor league game.
• Yomiuri Giants 1st baseman Lee Seung-Yeop will represent Korea in Beijing Olympics.
• Victor Starffin‘s oldest daughter Natasha made an appearance at a Yomiuri Giants fan get-together, and will throw the ceremonial first pitch at the Giants’ July 15 game against Chunichi. Starffin is one of the fascinating characters in Japanese baseball history. Here’s his Wikipedia page; I have quite a bit more material on him in Japanese and I’ll him to my to-do list.
• Colby Lewis put up his 11th win for the Carp. The former Ranger and Athletic leads the Central League in wins, innings, strikeouts and is 5th in ERA.
• Following up on yesterday’s post, Yasuhiko Yabuta pitched two scoreless innings for Omaha but didn’t figure in the decsion. Kazuo Fukumori gave up one run on two hits in one inning pitched for Oklahoma. Fukumori has actually put up the better numbers of the two in AAA.

I’ve been a fan of Hideki Okajima literally since the moment I arrived in Japan for the first time. It was August, 2000 and I had just landed in Osaka to start a tour of foreign study. The bus that I took into the city had a TV in it, and on the way downtown I alternated between watching the brightly-lit arcades and pachinko parlors out the window, and watching the Giants beat whoever they were playing that night.

Okajima was the guy that made the biggest impression on me. His unusual delivery and big breaking pitches jumped out at me as being MLB-caliber*. He did, of course, cross the Pacific to join the Red Sox last year, where he enjoyed great success.

Okajima’s success triggered an MLB interest in NPB veteran relievers last off-season. Three signed with big league teams: Masahide Kobayashi with the Indians, Yasuhiko Yabuta with the Royals, and Kazuo Fukumori with the Rangers.

Number writer Yasushi Kikuchi calls this the “Post Okajima Generation“. But of the three post-Okajima pitchers, only Kobayashi has had any kind of success.

Kikuchi supplies some comments from Kobayashi that give some insight into why he’s done well so far. Here are my translations:

“People around me will evaluate my performance. Evaluating my performance myself is something that I can do when the season is over and the results are in. During the season there is no yesterday. That’s because this is a world where I have to concentrate my feelings, my body, everything on today’s game. It’s been this way since my time in Japan, everyday I have to prepare for a change.

“Of course, there are a lot of amazing batters, and there are times when I feel like I can’t handle it. But on the other hand, I try to think that I’m on the same field (with them) as an equal. I didn’t just come here because I wanted to; I’m here because people let me in. Because if you feel out of place, there’s nothing you’ll be able to do.

“I think that (former Chiba Lotte Marine teammate) Yabuta is a little more jittery and sensitive than I am. I don’t give anything a thought, I just say “oh well” and stay realistic. You can say that (in MLB), the ball sucks, the mound sucks, but we aren’t the first players to come to the Majors and that information is out there ad nauseum. Even if you go bit by bit there’s nothing you can do about it but to throw. If the road you chose is bad, it’s just bad.”

Interesting comments. Sounds like a guy that leaves it all on the field. I’ve always thought of Kobayashi as a fierce competitor, and these comments are right in line with that. Kobayashi really impressed me back in September 2002, in a game against the Seibu Lions.

Seibu slugger Alex Cabrera was chasing Sadaharu Oh’s single season home run record, and came up against Kobayashi in a game against Lotte. Oh’s record had been challenged by foreign-born players before, and the norm had been not to pitch to them. Kobayashi, on the other hand, went after Cabrera with a series of high fastballs. And he struck him out.

Yabuta and Fukumori continue to toil in the minors for their respective teams. Truth be told, I don’t think those guys were ever as good as Okajima or Kobayashi, but there is hope for them. The SF Giants pulled Keiichi Yabu off the scrap heap this season and he’s been an effective member of their bullpen.

Fittingly, Kobayashi took the save for Cleveland in their win over Tampa Bay today, while Okajima picked up a hold for Boston despite giving up two walks.

*Of course, this is easy for me to say now. The other guys on that Giants team I liked were Darrell May and Akira Etoh. May went on to have a good year for the Royals in 2003, while Etoh quickly declined after 2001. May, as far as I know, is out of baseball, while Etoh is hanging around as a pinch hitter for the Saitama Seibu Lions.

• Former Softbank Hawk D.J. Carrasco has returned to the Majors with the White Sox. MLB.com has a piece where he shares some of his experiences in Japan.
• Older article that I just found: C.J. Nitkowski wrote a piece about Interleague Play in Japan for USA Today.
• JapaneseBaseball.com hosted another Pro Yakyu Live! podcast for July 11 Hanshin/Hiroshima game. The MP3 is available here. YouTube highlights here.
• Ben Kozlowski took home his first win in Japan in Hiroshima’s 1-0 victory over Hanshin.
• Koji Uehara picked up the win in the Giants’ 5-4 win over Yokohama. Uehara did give up one run in 1 1/3 innings of work.
• Marines.tv is getting updates again. Here’s a clip from Lotte’s July 10 win over Nippon Ham.

• Yu Darvish won his 10th game of the season. Darvish went the distance striking out nine in Nippon Ham’s 3-2 victory over Softbank.
• Jason Botts also made his debut for Nippon Ham earlier this week.
• Koji Uehara has mostly pitched well in relief since his return, hitting 91 on the gun against Hanshin on the 10th. He did give up a home run 7/11 though.
• Kenshin Kawakami pitched well in a 4-2 loss to Yakult on July 11.
• Softbank is looking for a new foreign power hitter to add to their lineup. Michael Restovich has struggled with just two home runs so far this season.
• Yakult has placed infielder Adam Riggs on waivers, and is working out former Hiroshima pitcher Sean Douglass as a replacement for Daniel Rios.
• in other Yakult news, mascot Tsubakurou has appeared in his 1000th consecutive game.
• Jim Allen has a good article on the upstart Rakuten Eagles.

Sorry for the lack of updates over the last few days… took a little bit of an extended holiday weekend and did a little traveling. Hope my readers in America hada nice 4th of July. Here are today’s bullet points:

• Hanshin is cruising with a 7-game winning streak(link in English) and has opened up a massive 12.5 game lead on 2nd place Chunichi. They’ve also “lit up” their magic number to clinch a playoff spot. It currently stands at 55.
• In other Hanshin news, pitcher Wakatake threw a no-hitter for the Tigers’ farm team.
• Yu Darvish will be starting the All-Star Game for the Pacific League. Colby Lewis gets the call for the Central League.
• MVPs for the month of June. Central League: Kenshin Kawakami (Chunichi), Tomoaki Kanemoto (Hanshin); Pacific League: Hisashi Iwakuma (Rakuten), Craig Brazell (Seibu). Note that a profile on Kawakami is on my to-do list.
• I stumbled across a new English-language Korean Baseball Blog. Here’s a link.
• Deanna at Marinerds, etc posted a blog about her trip to a minor league game in Japan. Lots of good photos.
• In another stumbling, I found this guy’s YouTube page. Tons of game highlights, posted regularly. All videos in Japanese.

Just picked up this thread from JapaneseBaseball.com that says that Hanshin has purchased the contract of reliever Chris Resop from the Braves. Interestingly, shortly before reading that thread, I saw this re-run of an article on Sanspo, which said that Hanshin had a scout in the US looking for relief help for when Bullpen aces Kyuji Fujikawa and Tomoyuki Kubota will be away for the Olympics.

I’ve never seen Resop pitch, but he’s appeared in parts of four MLB seasons. He might be kind of a AAAA guy since he’s put up respectable numbers in minors but hasn’t found sustained MLB success yet. Check out his full stats here. Resop is still only 25, so there’s room for him to develop as well.

JapaneseBaseball.com is hosting it’s first audio webcast of the month — check for details here. Unlike most of what I post, this is in English. I must admit that I’ve never checked this out as it doesn’t fit my schedule, but it might work out for some of the night owls out there. Yu Darvish is picthing for Nippon Ham vs Seibu’s breakout starter Kazuyuki Hoashi.

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