Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-27

» 27 December 2009 » In Uncategorized » Comments Off on Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-27

  • Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-20: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-13: Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-06… http://bit.ly/6NtHt8 #
  • A Brief Tribute to Norihiro Akahoshi: I didn’t write about this when it happened, but Hanshin OF Norihiro Akahosh… http://bit.ly/7zTXm0 #
  • Yokohama’s Offseason: Yokohama finished up their offseason shopping last week, introducing Takayuki Shinohara and… http://bit.ly/6SabLq #
  • Thanks Dave @d_a_cameron Pleased to announce Patrick Newman of npbtracker.com has joined FanGraphs. http://bit.ly/5iYVPY #
  • Hiroshima re-introduces Ken Takahashi: http://bit.ly/5zm564 #
  • Miura’s Best Pitch?: A question for those of you who regularly watched the Yokohama BayStars in 2009: what is Dai… http://bit.ly/8MTu9t #
  • Attention SoftBank, Hiroshima, Rakuten: If any of the teams in the title of this post are reading, you could all us… http://bit.ly/8B4vHU #
  • Chiba Lotte Still After Stults: Sponichi is reporting that the Chiba Lotte Marines are sending a rep Stateside at t… http://bit.ly/5rEHHy #
  • Merry Christmas to all. #
  • Merry Christmas: There’s still at least a few hours of Christmas left in most of the United States, so here’s m… http://bit.ly/74mpqq #
  • Sadowski to Korea: Ryan Sadowski has found his way to Asia. The former SF Giant has signed a deal to pitch for the … http://bit.ly/8ss0VP #

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Sadowski to Korea

» 25 December 2009 » In kbo » 3 Comments

Ryan Sadowski has found his way to Asia. The former SF Giant has signed a deal to pitch for the Lotte Giants in 2010.

You might recall that the Yokohama BayStars tried to get Sadowski during the 2009 season, but San Francisco decided they could use him on the big league roster and held on to his contract. Sadowski had a couple of good games at the MLB level before Jonathan Sanchez returned from bullpen exile to throw a no-hitter. Sadowski had signed with Houston earlier in the offseason, but I guess the Astros let him out of his contract.

Best of luck to Ryan in Korea!

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Merry Christmas

» 25 December 2009 » In Uncategorized » Comments Off on Merry Christmas

There’s still at least a few hours of Christmas left in most of the United States, so here’s my present to whoever happens to see this:

And if I missed your time zone, I hope you enjoyed the video all the same.

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Chiba Lotte Still After Stults

» 24 December 2009 » In nichibei, npb » 5 Comments

Sponichi is reporting that the Chiba Lotte Marines are sending a rep Stateside at the beginning of the year to negotiate with/for Dodgers pitcher Eric Stults. The Marines have been interested in Stults for a couple of months, and apparently the Dodgers turned them down once already.

In the event the Marines are unable to land Stults, the Marines are preparing a new list of candidates, which could include Yankees farmhand Romulo Sanchez. I don’t think I need to repeat my opinion, but I will — why negotiate for a pitcher who is under contract when Lenny DiNardo is available as a free agent?

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Attention SoftBank, Hiroshima, Rakuten

» 22 December 2009 » In nichibei, npb » 13 Comments

If any of the teams in the title of this post are reading, you could all use a suketto pitcher, and Lenny DiNardo is still unsigned. Give Lenny a shot.

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Miura’s Best Pitch?

» 22 December 2009 » In npb » 6 Comments

A question for those of you who regularly watched the Yokohama BayStars in 2009: what is Daisuke Miura’s best pitch?

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Yokohama’s Offseason

» 21 December 2009 » In npb » 2 Comments

Yokohama finished up their offseason shopping last week, introducing Takayuki Shinohara and Daisuke Hayakawa, and announcing the signing of Termel Sledge. Here’s the complete list of BayStars acquisitions, which ran on Sponich and was helpfully translated on Yakyu Baka:

Pos Player Name Age Previous Team
P Shimizu, Naoyuki 34 Chiba Lotte Marines
P Bootcheck, Chris 31 MLB – Pirates
P Shinohara, Takayuki 33 Softbank Hawks
P Sakamoto, Yataro 27 Nippon Ham Fighters
P Matsuyama, Suguru 20 Nippon Ham Fighters
P Sugihara, Yo 24 Nomo BC
P Wang, Yi-Zheng 24 CPBL – Bears
C Hashimoto, Tasuku 33 Chiba Lotte Marines
INF Inada, Naoto 30 Nippon Ham Fighters
INF Castillo, Jose 28 CPBL – Lions
OF Sledge, Terrmel 32 Nippon Ham Fighters
OF Hayakawa, Daisuke 34 Chiba Lotte Marines

That’s a decent group of players, but the key here is the guys they’ll be taking plate appearances and innings away from.

Yokohama has some decent core hitters (Shuichi Murata, Seiichi Uchikawa), but in 2009 they had too many positions that they got no offense from. In 2009, the ‘Stars had four who got over 100 plate appearances despite hitting under .200. Dropping the number to 40 pa’s reveals another four. The additions of Hashimoto, Inada, Hayakawa and Castillo should be a huge improvement over that group. A little improvement from younger guys like Keijiro Matsumoto wouldn’t hurt either.

On the mound, Yokohama only had one reliable starter (Daisuke Miura) in 2009, and only three relievers who threw more than 50 innings (Hiroyuki Sanada, Shun Yamaguchi, Kentaro Takasaki). To that end, Shimizu is a nice pickup. He’s really not the ace he’s sometimes billed as, but should absorb about 150 innings. The real improvements to the rotation, however, are already on the roster: full seasons from Hayato Terahara and Stephen Randolph. I see the bullpen arms ‘Hama acquired mostly interesting question marks — a former dominator who hasn’t pitched recently (Shinohara), a guy with a couple good seasons to his name (Sakamoto) and an American with good velocity but poor command at the MLB level (Bootcheck).

Finally, there is a feel-good story amongst this: Sugihara is a former Lotte farmhand, but was released after the 2006 season. He had been working at a Docomo mobile phone shop in Osaka and getting by on 80,000 yen ($800) per month while moonlighting with the Nomo Baseball Club, and now he’s getting another chance.

Is all this enough to get Yokohama off the cellar? We’ll have to see, but the BayStars should definitely be closer to the pack in 2010.

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A Brief Tribute to Norihiro Akahoshi

» 21 December 2009 » In npb » 2 Comments

I didn’t write about this when it happened, but Hanshin OF Norihiro Akahoshi abruptly retired the week before last, citing back and neck problems sustained from an injury diving for a ball last season.

I try not to let my bias as a fan show through too much, and in many ways, I’ve become a much more neutral baseball fan since starting this site. But I lived in and around Osaka for a couple years in the early 00’s, and I have dropped a few hints that my NPB team of choice is Hanshin. The Tigers’ 2003 Central League Championship run was the most exciting baseball season I’ve ever been around as a fan, and also, in a way, the most bittersweet. A doctor friend of mine managed to get me a single ticket to game three of the Japan Series, but it was rained out and I had to return to the US the following day, so I didn’t get to go.

Anyway, back to Akahoshi. I don’t think I have anything particularly poignant to say here, but Akahoshi was one of the guys that keyed Hanshin’s revival this decade. Despite being a mid-round draft pick he started his first season with the ichi-gun team, taking over center field from Tsuyoshi Shinjyo and leading the league in stolen bases. He missed half of 2002 with an injury, but still lead the league in stolen bases. Akahoshi entered his prime in 2003, when he started a run of three consecutive seasons hitting .300 or better with at least 60 steals. Despite not being as prolific on the base paths as he had been earlier in his career, Akahoshi had remained a threat to run and a respectable on-base guy until the end of his career.

Akahoshi contributed the most enduring image of the 2003 season, when he got bear-hugged by Senichi Hoshino after driving in the walk-off winner in the game that clinched the Central League for Hanshin. Of course, he also dressed as “Razor Ramon HG” during the 2005 beer kake

He’s going out early, but Akahoshi had the good fortune to play during a golden age of sorts for Hanshin, and will certainly be closely associated with Hanshin’s success in the 00’s. I’ll leave with this pic of Akahoshi I swiped from Wikimedia Commons, the first image I’ve ever run directly on NPB Tracker.

akahoshi

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-20

» 20 December 2009 » In Uncategorized » Comments Off on Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-20

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Sorting Through the Igarashi News

» 16 December 2009 » In mlb prospects » 9 Comments

Update, Wednesday night: Igarashi has indeed signed with the Mets.

Yesterday, I passed along (via Twitter) a Sponichi report saying that the Red Sox were in the lead for Ryota Igarashi with a two-year deal worth $2-3m. This ran counter to the NY Times report from earlier in the day saying that Igarashi was near a deal with the Mets.

Twitter, being limited to 140 characters per post, doesn’t allow for much detail, so here’s some context from the Sponichi article:

  • Igarashi spent a day training with Daisuke Matsuzaka in Arizona. Sponichi doesn’t mention this, but I’ve read elsewhere that they had planned to train together for two days.
  • Igarashi got to ask Matsuzaka quite a bit about Boston’s camp and training programs. Said Igarashi: “the things we talked about were interesting, and I enjoyed it. I only know a little bit, but it’s totally different [from Japan]. It reduced my stress.”
  • Sponichi also points out that “diving into a new environment on a team that already has three Japanese pitchers, Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima, Junichi Tazawa is an appealing point.” This is a quote from the article, not Igarashi.
  • This might be a function of the limitations of Twitter, but the term I translated as “Red Sox in the lead” comes across more directly as “Red Sox one step ahead”.

And a couple of other things to consider…

These are just my observations based on what’s been in the media — I don’t have my own sources on this one. As an observer, I could see this going either way. Both Boston and New York are appealing destinations, every team needs bullpen depth, and the dollar figures being reported are peanuts to either team.

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