NPB Tracker

It took a while to find a way to actually watch the game here in the States, but I finally did.

About the game…

• Jung Bong shut Japan down again, indicating that his round one performance was no fluke.
• Yu Darvish was better than the final line makes him look. He was done in in the first (from what I saw of the highlights) by a couple of a couple of booted infield grounders and a weak throw from Norichika Aoki.
• After the first inning, Korea didn’t do much of anything until the eighth, when they let Japan’s pitchers beat themselves with walks.
• Japan got runners on base and generally made contact, but they didn’t get any extra-base hits and didn’t really play the small-ball game. I think that’s what cost them the win more than anything.
• Akinori Iwamura looked like he had no chance against Chang Yang Lim in the last at-bat of the game.
• I wasn’t crazy about Korea planting their flag on the mound at the end. They didn’t win the tournament.

Hindsight is 20/20…

• Tatsunori Hara had the infield positioned for a play at the plate when Korea had the bases loaded in the first. If they had been a double-play depth they would have gotten at least one out on Jin-young Lee’s grounder went for a two-run single.
• I would rather start Munenori Kawasaki than Yasuyuki Kataoka if Hiroyuki Nakajima can’t play, especially since Kataoka is out of position at shortstop.
• What was the point of putting Yoshiyuki Ishihara in for Kenji Johjima, just to pinch hit for him with Shinnosuke Abe after an inning? Johjima got ejected — shame on me for watching with the sound off.
• Minoru Iwata didn’t look sharp — and leaving him in to face the righty looked really bad when Masahiro Tanaka came in and blew the next guy away.

On the live chat…

• The chat thing was a spur-of-the-moment idea, so I didn’t give much notice. If I try this again, I’ll give more notice and hopefully I’ll get to chat with a few of the regulars.
• The chat was pretty well-trafficed, mostly because it wound up near the top of the Google rankings for several variations on “wbc japan korea live”. A lot of people found this site for the first time because of that, and I hope some of them will stick around.
• It took some time to find a good video feed, but I think at least a couple people were able to follow along.
• Some of the comments I got on the chat tested my patience — though the people causing the problems clearly weren’t frequent visitors to this site. I hope everyone will be cool next time we do this.
• I think it was insane for ESPN to show the NIT tournament instead of this.

This will start at 9:00pm

I’m going to try to do a live chat for tonight’s WBC game. I’ll probably come and go during the game but I’ll be around. If this works out we’ll do it again some time.

ESPN isn’t showing this game live (stupid NIT tournament!), so I’ll have to find it on justin.tv.

This feed seems to be working.

The Orioles’ fan community has shown some interest in Ryohei Tanaka, so I thought I’d share this video of his workout in January that I stumbled across. Looks like he has a shuuto.

Since starting this blog, the one question I’ve heard more than any other is the one in the subject of this entry.

And now I finally have answer.

Today. Tuesday, March 17. St. Patrick’s Day.

Darvish will go for Japan, Jung Keun Bong will pitch for korea. You might remember Bong from his time with the Braves and Reds, when he was known as Jung Bong. Bong never stuck in the bigs, but posted a 2.66 era in 186 1/3 for the LG Twins of the KBO last year. He shut Japan down over 5 1/3 innings in Pool A championship game. 

Game time is 8:00pm Pacific Standard Time. Should be a good one!

This blog post generated a little traffic for NPB Tracker a couple of weeks ago. The gist of it was that Kei Igawa wasn’t wanted for the Japanese WBC team. This is true, he was never considered for inclusion. And it begs the question — can Igawa be moved? Either within MLB or back to NPB?

First let’s scratch a move back to NPB off the list of possibilities, at least for now. It was reported that the Yanks looked for a way to return Igawa after the 2007 season, but couldn’t make it work and gave up. Igawa fueled speculation in the Japanese media of an NPB return again last offseason, when went to visit the offices of the Hanshin Tigers, his old NPB team. Nothing came of that either, and Igawa wrote it off as just a visit. Later in the offseason, the former chair of the Tigers’ Old Boys club blasted him publicly, but I’m not sure if that’s entirely reflective of Hanshin’s management’s view of Igawa.

Hanshin still holds Igawa’s NPB rights, and the only way he could go to another NPB team would be if they choose to release him or trade his rights away. Kazuhisa Ishii is so far the only player to return to his former team after being posted.

Give Hanshin credit for posting Igawa when they did — they rode Daisuke Matsuzaka’s coattails to a $26m windfall for the team, without seriously harming their long term competitiveness.

So what about a move to another MLB team? Igawa was placed on waivers when he was removed from the Yanks’ 40-man roster was unprotected in the rule 5 draft last off season, but didn’t attract any takers. There were rumblings that Detroit was interested, and Yankees were trying to move him to the Brewers for Mike Cameron, but obviously nothing happened.

Igawa is openly showcasing himself for other teams this spring, and he’s doing a pretty good job at it. He’s survived the first cut of the spring and pitched 9 scoreless innings in 5 appearances so far. He also put up respectable numbers in AAA last year, but in this economy his contract will be an issue. Igawa is owed $4m/year for the next three seasons, so if the Yanks want him gone they’ll have to take some money back. The Giants seem like a fit if they can match up with the Yankees on a contract.

But perhaps the biggest stumbling block is Igawa’s reputation — no one seems to think he can survive at the MLB level. In an interview offseason, he said, with a laugh, “it seemed like there was a team that saw my (AAA) numbers and tried to acquire me. Then I was told ‘we found out the name, and it was you!'”. Igawa is going to have to prove he can be an MLB pitcher, and it’s going to take more than 8 good spring training innings to do that. It’ll probably take a combination of a lights-out spring plus some injury problems for him to get a look somewhere, but his spring performance is certainly a start.

Former Seibu Lion, Yokohama BayStar and Yomiuri Giant Tatsuya Ozeki failed in his audition with the Rockies. The outfielder made the announcement in an entry on his blog, saying he had hoped to become a player who could succeed in America despite being passed over in Japan. He’s back in Japan now. I’ll guess he’ll be looking for something new to do. For those who are interested in following he is frequently updating his blog.

The Tokyo Yakult Swallows will open their 40th season with the 2009 season. To celebrate, they are coming out with new home and away uniforms. On the team’s website, the first 400 fans will be able to purchase jerseys, which will be available by opening day. Before opening day, the players, managers and the mascot will gather with the fans to introduce their new uniforms and provide an opportunity for 500 fans to attend a talk show. During the season, the Swallows will honor their past and will have four themed terms throughout the season dedicated to each decade. Also fans were able to send photos from their cell phones to be included on the 40th anniversary board, “Our Swallows” which will be showcased in the stadium throughout the season.

Sharing the same home market with one of the most popular teams in the Giants, their strategy toward building a fan base requires creativity. Experiencing the lockout in the 2005 season as the president of player’s association, former player and manager Atsuya Furuta started the F-Project to improve relationship with the fans and the community. The three words linked to the F-Project is Fan, Fun, and Full (attendance in the stadium). The project is also thought to be named the F-Project taking the first letter from Furuta. The project has ended, since Furuta is no longer part of the team, but their focus toward establishing a relationship with the fans and the community still continues to improve.

The Swallows puts their effort toward exciting the city of Tokyo by parterning with a professional basketball team in the Tokyo Apache. A fan club member or a Swallows fan arriving with team’s apparel will receive a discount for the basketball game. The same arrangement goes for the Apache fans attending a Swallows game as well. Swallows players will at times attend Apache games for a tip-off ceremony and each team try to build connections in order to make sports a big part of the capital of Japan.

Flexibility in tickets is available with their five different types of ten-game ticket plans which they call the Swallows player pack 10 plus 1. The options vary from ten games including just weekdays, mainly weekend games or a mixture of both. Fans purchasing these ticket plans will also receive a bonus game ticket for free. Another interesting opportunity for the fans in all April home games limited to hundred fans are the Warm Merchandise Included Tickets, which will include a team scarf, an exchange ticket for a hot drink included with a  reserved seating game ticket along the first base for only 3000 yen.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows will use every opportunity to market their 40th anniversary for success both on and off the field for the 2009 season.

According to multiple Japanese sources, over 20 scouts from more than 10 teams gathered to watch Japan’s exhibition game against the Cubs, with the center of attention obviously being Yu Darvish. Darvish didn’t disappoint, holding the Cubs scoreless in his two innings of work. Nikkan Sports adds that he hit 96mph on the gun, or about 155kmph. His fastest recorded pitch in NPB is 154kmph so he might have dialled it up a little bit for the Cubs. He also threw his two-seam fastball and slider, but no word on whether his curveball has made an appearance. 

I didn’t see any of this game. I actually get WGN on my cable system so I’m kicking myself for not knowing whether they aired it or not. Anyway, here are some quotes from people who were there as reported by Nikkan Sports:

Alfonso Soriano: “He’s a good pitcher. His breaking pitches in particular stand out. He’s a tough opponent. He could definitely play in the majors.”

Carlos Zambrano: “He has an aura on the mound. That’s important for a pitcher. He uses his off-speed pitches well, and really knows how to pitch.”

SF Giants Far East Scount John Cox: “We don’t know if he’ll come over via posting or as a free agent, but if he’s interested in the majors we’ll think about acquiring him.”

Daisuke Matsuzaka will reportedly start against Cuba in round two, so we can expect to see Darvish later in the tournament.

Time to get back into the swing of things and get back to writing here. I don’t think I’ll be able to post as often as I had been before, but hopefully I’ll get back to a decent pace. Let’s start with some thoughts on the WBC.

• No matter who wins the WBC, the story of the tournament will be the Netherlands’ upset of the Dominican Republic. I watched the end of the second game and it was electric baseball —  the kind of thing that makes the tournament worth watching. I saw the last couple of innings of the Netherlands-Puerto Rico game, and the Dutch side didn’t look that good at the plate. They couldn’t catch up with what looked like MLB-average fastballs up in the zone. But then again, they were coming off an emotional game against the Dominicans, and were playing in front of a very enthusiastic Puerto Rican home crowd. They’ll be the underdogs against Venezuela, but I’m expecting a good game.
• I stayed up late to watch some of the Asian pool games, specifically the ones involving Japan. Even I found Orestes Destrade’s Japan bias to be a little annoying. Anyway, the baseball was good. Yu Darvish mostly looked good against China, but I thought he nibbled a little too much and could have challenged the Chinese hitters with his excellent fastball a little more. He had complained about not being able to command his breaking pitches with the WBC ball, so we’ll see if that becomes an issue later on. 
• Japan’s lineup looks a lot better with Atsunori Inaba not batting fourth. I didn’t expect them to pound Korea 14-2, nor did I expect them to lose 1-0 in the next game. We’ll see how they do against Cuba in round 2. 
• What’s with the Italian team? Only 10 of the 28 players are actually from Italy. I saw a lot of commenters saying that their win over Canada was “good for Italian baseball” but how does it help if it’s Dan Serafini and Frank Catalanotto (nothing against those two guys)? 

The Yomiuri Giants and the Hanshin Tigers may be the leaders off the field with their popularity, but the Chunichi Dragons compete every season on the field with their support from local fans. In order for a small market team to compete yearly with the big market teams like the Giants and the Tigers, the focus needs to be directed locally and Dragons do just that to stay successful.

The Dragons utilize the web effectively in order to be close with their fans and the community. They provide multiple blogs which are updated consistently with inside information about the team. Another blog is exposed with official pictures and allows the fans to be keep up to date about the players. To build a fan base in the community, targeting the young ones is another component that teams cannot forget and the Dragons have launched a website directed toward the younger generation called Kids Dragons. Children will be able to download and print out paper craft materials to make their own Dragons related items. They also can play numerous games which include academic problems, which should make their parents happy.

The Dragons established an opportunity for the fans to be entertained every game as they provide a schedule with pre-game events, giveaways, and in-game event schedule on their website. The team has opportunities for fans to watch a dance show with the mascot and cheerleaders and listen to former players talk about their past experiences before the actual game outside the ballpark. Opportunities for children to engage in baseball are unlimited as the team provides younger fans to watch practice and play catch on the field after games with an entry of application. For certain games, a couple kids will be given the opportunity to work as a grounds keeper and a public address announcer which might inspire the next generation to want to have a job at the ballpark when they grow up.
 
Not only do they focus on the children fans, but are looking to build a stronger relationship with their passionate season ticket holders. They launched a website for season ticket holders on March 5th which gives opportunities for them to purchase priority tickets, apply for events, and buy team merchandise items at a discounted price.
 
As long as the Dragons could keep thier loyal fans and establish their next generation of fans in the community, they should be able to compete every year with the bigger market teams on the field and off the field.