NPB Tracker

Nikkan Sports is reporting that Yokohama has reached an agreement to bring Tampa Bay Ray Dan Johnson over to Japan. I saw Johnson quite a bit when he was with the A’s, and I like his approach at the plan; he always had a plan and was very patient. Where he plays in Yokohama will be a question, the BayStars have batting champion Seiichi Uchikawa at first, Johnson probably isn’t much of an outfielder and there’s no DH in the Central League. My gut feel is that he’ll wind up in left.

Ted Berg published an interview with me on SNY.tv today. Here’s the link.

Nope, not Kenshin Kawakami, Koji Uehara or Takashi Saito. Sponichi is reporting that the Cardinals signed for Kintetsu Buffaloe Katsuhiko Maekawa to a minor league deal. You might remember that Maekawa lost his job in Japan over a drunk driving hit and run driving incident (and not pitching very well), played in the Domican Winter League, signed a deal with the Nationals, and then finally couldn’t get a US work visa. He never actually played in the Nats’ system, hopefully he’ll get a shot with the Cards.

Maekawa is in the Venezuelan Winter League this year where he’s put up pretty unimpressive numbers: 0-2, 6.39 era in 4 appearances.