Baseball in Japan & Around the World
The 180 is complete, at least for one year:Â Saburo has signed a 1-year, ï¿¥100M ($1M) contract to remain with the Chiba Lotte Marines. The birth of his third child next March and wanting to make up for last year’s 4th place finish were cited as the main factors in his decision. Â “The dream (of winning) with Lotte takes precendence over the dream (of playing) overseas,” said Saburo, adding, “after having a good season I’ll think it over again”.Â
Kenshin Kawakami is poised to make a move from Chunichi, but still undecided on whether to jump over to MLB or find a new employer in Japan. Hanshin is gearing up to make the first move by offering Kawakami a 4-year, 1.8B yen ($18M) deal. Said team president Shoji Numazawa: “we don’t intend to play a money game. We’re just attacking to the extent that is possible to acquire players, even if they are looking to the majors.” The Giants made a similar attempt to lure Kosuke Fukudome last year, but their offer was only about half what he wound up getting from the Cubs.
Unfortunately I don’t really see $4.5M/year getting it done for Kawakami; maybe if they bumped it up to $7M/year he’d have something to think about. So far the Braves and Red Sox have been most frequently linked to interest in Kawakami.
The NPB free agency filing period began yesterday, giving players eligible players 10 days to excercise free agency or stay put. In a shock to no one, Koji Uehara didn’t waste any time in informing the Yomiuri Giants of his intent to cross the Pacific. Uehara will become the second Giants star to move to MLB, after Hideki Matsui. Giants representative thanked Uehara for his 10 years of hard work for the team.
Uehara also announced that he has hired SFX to represent him in upcoming negotiations.
Speculation of Uehara’s destination has already begun. The Mets and Angels are reportedly interested in Uehara for a relief role, while the Orioles like him as a starter. Sponichi quotes Baltimore exec as saying, “There are a lot of good experienced professional players in Japan. Uehara? He’s one of them”. Sponichi also speculates that the Brewers might be a good fit given the potential departure of CC Sabathia.
My wild guess of a prediction for Uehara is the Cardinals. Dave Duncan has a way of getting the best of his staff, and the Cards could use him in a swingman role. What kind of contract he commands will really depend on whether teams view him as a starter or a reliever.
Sponichi and Nikkan Sports are both reporting that Saburo has changed his mind and will remain with the Chiba Lotte Marines for at least another year. Sponichi quotes Saburo as saying “the direction is decided but it’s not 100%. It might change. I’ll decide within 2 or 3 days.”  Sponichi reports that Saburo has a two year, ï¿¥200M ($2M) offer in hand from the Marines and the two papers are in agreement that this could be wrapped up by the 11th. According to Nikkan Sports, Saburo wants to avenge his team’s 4th place finish, but I still wonder why we’re seeing this reversal. I’m sure we’ll learn more in the next few days.
The Japan Series has just ended, but the off-season is already in full swing. Here are some highlights for today.
Japanese Articles:
English Articles:
Seibu wins! The Lions overcame two shakey innings from veteran starter Fumiya Nishiguchi take game 7 3-2, and the series 4-3. Nishiguchi struggled this year with injuries and ineffectiveness, and starting him was a risky call, but he at least gave the Lions two innings without letting the game get out of hand. This set up the Lions to use Kazuhisa Ishii, Hideaki Wakui, and Alex Graman for two innings each, which was enough to shut down the Giants the rest of the way.
On the Giants side, Koji Uehara didn’t manage to make a farewell appearance, meaning his Yomiuri career has likely ended with his disappointing game 5 performance.
Three of the four competitors in the upcoming Asia Series will be nicknamed Lions, with only Korea’s Samsung failing to make the cut. There will still be three Lions competing for the Konami Cup though, giving the series an Anglophile feel.
Update: Please check out the latest on Saburo in this post.
Chiba Lotte outfielder Saburo Ohmura is set to officially announce his intent to pursue a move to MLB on November 10th. The veteran Marine, known as Saburo in Japan, made up his mind after a trip to America, where he had a physical and took in a World Series game. “I choose with my gut,” said Saburo, adding he “didn’t want this dream to end as a dream.”
Saburo is a career .264/.337/.403 hitter in NPB and is a strong fielder, scoring Gold Gloves in 2005 and 2007. He’s coming off a two-year contract that paid him about $700K/season, down from his peak salary of $850K in 2006. JapaneseBaseball.com has his stats up to 2007, and I dug up a clip of him hitting a home run in 2007.
The Sports Hochi article I linked to above mentions the A’s, Braves, Nationals, and Pirates as teams with with outfield needs and speculates that they might be destinations. Living in the Bay Area however, I’ve seen plenty of A’s baseball and can say firsthand that they have plenty of guys like Saburo and aren’t really in need of another. I don’t really see Saburo hitting enough to compete for a starting job, but should be able to handle all three OF positions well enough to be a useful 4th outfielder. An NL team looking to add OF depth would probably be the best fit.
Re-posting this since the event is tomorrow (later today in Tokyo).
Japanese baseball card and history guru Rob Fitts emailed me this morning to let me know of appearance he’s making in Tokyo to promote his new biography of baseball legend Wally Yonamine. Here’s the headline:
Please join Wally Yonamine and author Robert Fitts at the Tokyo American Club on November 9 from 11 AM to 2 PM for a book reading and signing of the new book Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball. All are welcome. It will be a great chance to meet Wally, ask him questions, and talk baseball with a member of the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame.
For more information and directions, please go to www.WallyYonamine.com
Rob’s books can be purchased directly from his website.
Four Japanese Articles to share today:
I had to work late on Wednesday; late enough to catch the first couple of innings of Game 5 of the Japan Series, which was started by MLB-bound Koji Uehara. Uehara clearly didn’t have his best stuff — his breaking pitches were flat and he left several out over the plate. The Lions took advantage, cranking out seven hits in their first 17 at-bats. Hara removed Uehara after three innings of work, for a final line of:
| IP | Batters Faced | NP | Hits | HR | K | BB | R | ER |
| 3 | 17 | 52 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Uehara got himself in to and out of jams in the 1st and 3rd innings and limited the damage by avoiding walks and home runs, but was otherwise pretty hittable. The Yomiuri relievers shut down the Lions down the rest of the way, as the Giants came back to win and take a 3-2 series lead.
Game 5 was probably the last time we’ll see Uehara pitch for the Giants. I’m holding out a little hope that the Giants will find a way to get him in to game 6 or 7 as a reliever, but with a deep bullpen that’s not likely unless we see extra innings. I think he can go out on a higher note than than this.