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According to Nikkan Sports (Japanese), Shingo Takatsu has signed a deal to pitch for the Woori Heroes in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). Shingo had signed a minor league deal with the Cubs, but was released during spring training.

I kind of thought Shingo was washed up before he joined the White Sox a few years ago and he proved me wrong, at least for a season. Here’s hoping he has a little more left to contribute in Korea.

So I’ve decided to start a blog about Japanese baseball. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while and I finally decided to get it together and do it. There’s some interest in Japanese baseball with the steady flow of Japanese players in to MLB, but not a lot of great information about Japanese baseball in English out there. Hopefully I’ll be able to help improve on that. I also hope to introduce some new fans to the Japanese leagues, because they are great leagues with their own heroes, legends and rivalries; and to me they’re big league quality in terms of their fan support and drama.

A couple of baseball blogs have inspired me to give this a shot: Tim Dierkes’s www.mlbtraderumors.com, Gary Garland’s www.japanbaseballdaily.com, Michael Westbay’s www.japanesebaseball.com, and John Sickels’s www.minorleagueball.com. If this site turns out to be half as good as any of those I’ll consider that to be a success. Also the response my wife has gotten from her excellent blog from our friends and family, which has been encouraging as well.

Content is king and I’ll try to update this 3-5 times a week, schedule permitting.