Dead Ball (JPN Baseball Thread)

[Bucky]

It seems that Japanese baseball is going to get tough on players skipping Japanese pro baseball and heading overseas.

[INDENT]An executive committee representing Japan's 12 professional baseball teams have agreed to introduce a ban on players returning to Japanese baseball after turning down rookie draft nominations in Japan and signing with overseas pro teams.[/INDENT][INDENT]The committee decided to ban players who had graduated from high school from entering professional Japanese teams for three years after returning to Japan from overseas stints, and introduce a two-year ban for such players who had been in university or company teams.[/INDENT]

:nihonjin:
http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2008/10/07/international-pastime-japan-imposes-ban-on-players-returning-fr/

[Greji]

It seems that Japanese baseball is going to get tough on players skipping Japanese pro baseball and heading overseas.


http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2008/10/07/international-pastime-japan-imposes-ban-on-players-returning-fr/

That is typical of NPB. It will never hold up in court as they are unilaterally banning an individual from making a living. It has been tried before with people who have been drafted.

Even judges recognize that they are trying to sustain a "contolled" monopoly.

[Gilligan]

At least one writer at the San Francisco Chronicle seems to think it's good news for Barry Bonds that cyclist Tammy Thomas, the first BALCO witness to be convicted of obstruction of justice and lying to the grand jury, was sentenced only to 6 months home confinement as opposed to 30 months in jail.

While that may be true, I bet Marion Jones is pretty pissed off.

[Gilligan]

Maybe this belongs in the This Is Japan thread, but with the hometown team, Chunichi, in the Climax Series (I love that name), I switched on the game when coverage begain at 7:00. And there were already 2 outs in the 4th with Chunichi up 1-0

[GuyJean]

Just finished watching the game 2 of the World Series.. Switched over the the G-Spot Series. What a contrast..

Giants trailing 3-1. Bottom of the 6th, no out, man on 1st and 2nd, Giants up.. Double steal. Ball arrives before the man at 3rd... Safe. No replay; obviously out.. But Japan safe.

Then, 3 run-home run by the Giants.. Guess who'll win this series?

I hope Japan gets demolished at the WBC this year..

GJ

[GuyJean]

The Dragons are getting bent over by the umps.. The winner has been decided; this is a fucking joke.

GJ

[GuyJean]

Hey! The Dragons tied it up 5 - 5, now it's in the 11th. Guess what? It's not on TV.. J-League stands for Joke League?

GJ

[IkemenTommy]

WTF? 5-5 and they stopped the game at 12th inning?

[Behan]

[Bucky]

[GuyJean]

Watching Nihon Series, game 5.. Giants at Lions.. Annoying graphics, announcers, lack of replays.. Don't even know who's ahead in the series.. Need some drugs for this..

* edit: oh, it's tied 2 - 2 in the series..

GJ

[Bucky]

Valentine could be in mix for M's



DANA POINT, Calif. -- Will Bobby Valentine be the Mariners' next manager?
General manager Jack Zduriencik hasn't scheduled even a first set of interviews for candidates, but it's likely Valentine will be in the group of five to seven, especially after Zduriencik raved about him Wednesday at the general managers meetings.
"Bobby Valentine and I go way back," Zduriencik said. "We have some history when I was with the Mets. He's a very interesting individual."
A National League executive with more than 20 years in baseball said Tuesday he thought the Mariners were being lobbied hard on behalf of Valentine, 58, who manages the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Pacific Coast League. Valentine has one year remaining on his contract, but that is seen as a little hindrance to a potential deal with the Mariners.
Valentine is due to make $4 million next season with Chiba Lotte, for whom he is the third-highest-paid manager on the planet. He has an out clause that would allow him to pursue a job in North America, and the only managerial job open in the major leagues is in Seattle.
Valentine apparently is willing to take less money to manage again in the big leagues. His first major league job was in Texas, where he was skipper from 1985 to 1992. The Rangers owner at the time, George W. Bush, later admitted the firing of Valentine was a "tremendous mistake."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/386622_mari06.html


It is interesting that "W" admitted to a mistake in firing Bobby V. I seem to recall "W" saying he had not many any mistakes since 9/11
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0414-01.htm

[Gilligan]

In Keith Law's (ESPN.com) list of the top 50 free agents, he includes Koji Uehara at 22 (just behind Orlando Cabrera and just ahead of Ben Sheets), Junichi Tazawa at 25 (just behind Randy Wolf and just ahead of Andy Pettite), and Kenshin Kawakami at 42 (just behind David Weathers and just ahead of Braden Looper). And those are the only Japanese players he lists.

His comment about Tazawa includes this

Tazawa is an exception on this list, as the only player who might not start 2009 in the major leagues. Tazawa is an amateur pitcher who plays for the Nippon Oil Company team in Japan's industrial league and has chosen to forgo a career in Japan's major leagues (NPB) to play in the United States.

If nothing else, it's a sound financial decision, as Tazawa is expected to receive a signing bonus comparable to top bonuses in the Rule 4 draft, meaning $6 million to $7 million.

[Bucky]

Potential Mariners Manager

Seattle's KING 5 is reporting that A's bench coach Don Wakamatsu is the front runner to become the Mariners' next manager, the Seattle Times gave Wakamatsu a call at his Texas home earlier this morning. He said he's still waiting for some good news from the Mariners.
"It's real quiet,'' he said. "I haven't heard a word. I really have no idea."
Wakamatsu, in fact, said he hadn't talked to GM Jack Zduriencik since Saturday night, when they had a 20-minute or so followup conversation. Wakamatsu was in Seattle for his interview last Wednesday.


Wakamatsu, 45, would be an intriguing choice because he has ties to all three of the Mariners' AL West foes. He spent this past year in Oakland, was on the Texas staffs of Buck Showalter and Ron Washington from 2003-07 (bench coach for the former, third-base coach for the latter), and was the Angels minor-league coordinator and roving catching instructor in 2001-02.

[Gilligan]

BoSox signed Tazawa to a 3-year $3.3 million deal.

The 22-year-old right-hander certainly had options, such as starting his professional career in Japan or with one of the other Major League teams that courted him.

So why the Red Sox?

"There are three main reasons," Tazawa said on Thursday afternoon during a news conference at Fenway Park. "One is their development program is excellent. Another is that there are Japanese players here, as well as Japanese staff and Japanese speakers who are part of the Red Sox organization. The third reason is that the Red Sox were the first team to scout me."

[Gilligan]

Reports out of Baltimore say that the Orioles have signed Koji Uehara to a 2-year contract worth $10 million.

Japanese right-hander Koji Uehara has agreed to a two-year, $10 million, incentive-laden deal pending a physical, which could take place later this week in Baltimore, several industry sources confirmed.

Uehara, who turns 34 in April, will become the first Japan native to play for the Orioles, the last team in the American League East to tap into the Asian market.

His contract could be worth as much as $16 million over two years if the eight-time Japanese all-star meets certain performance bonuses and escalating clauses such as starts made and innings pitched. There is also a games-finished clause included for Uehara, who was an all-star closer in 2007 for the Yomiuri Giants, but the Orioles view him almost exclusively as a starter.

[Greji]

Reports out of Baltimore say that the Orioles have signed Koji Uehara to a 2-year contract worth $10 million.

Hmmm, sounds like Your normal O's deal. Sign a pitcher for too much, that is already too old and has already thrown out his arm....

[Greji]

It also appears that Saito has signed with Boston after he couldn't come to terms with the Dodgers.

[Gilligan]

Hmmm, sounds like Your normal O's deal. Sign a pitcher for too much, that is already too old and has already thrown out his arm....

I'd have to agree with you there. One of the reasons they signed him, though, was so that it would encourage other Japanese players to see Baltimore as a possible major league option. If that happens, then perhaps the signing isn't a complete waste.

[Greji]

I'd have to agree with you there. One of the reasons they signed him, though, was so that it would encourage other Japanese players to see Baltimore as a possible major league option. If that happens, then perhaps the signing isn't a complete waste.

You might be right, but he could still be a set up man. Since they pitched him out in the WBC, his high nineties fast ball is long gone, but he still has the good split finger, slider and off-speed stuff. Throwing the US ball, which tends to give better breaks with its higher seams, he good give the big swingers problems.

[Behan]

[Captain Japan]

Yahoo Sport News also said Rocco Baldelli is going to the Red Sox, which is a big loss for the Rays.

Perhaps a bit of an emotional loss given that he had been with the so long and had that strange illness. But they signed Pat Burrell. I think the Rays assumed Baldelli wasn't going to be around.

Looks like Kawakami is going to the Braves...

Kawakami close to deal with Braves
Daily Gomiuri

LOS ANGELES--Free agent right-hander Kenshin Kawakami is close to reaching a deal with the Atlanta Braves, it was learned Thursday.

The 33-year-old Kawakami, looking to jump to the majors after spending all 11 seasons of his pro career with the Chunichi Dragons, is working out the details through an agent and a deal could be struck soon.

A major league source said the Braves have hotly pursued Kawakami, the Central League MVP in 2004, and expects a contract to be ready by the end of next week.

Earlier this week, Kawakami confirmed that negotiations were progressing and that he was making plans for a trip to the United States.

There still remains a chance that Kawakami could join one of a number of teams that have pursued him, including the St. Louis Cardinals and Baltimore Orioles. But if all goes smoothly, it appears he is bound for Atlanta.

Kawakami, the 1998 CL rookie of the year, has compiled a 112-82 record with a 3.22 earned run average and 1,328 strikeouts for the Dragons.

A two-time Sawamura Award winner as Japan's top pitcher, he has helped the Dragons win three CL pennants, including in 2007, when the team ended a 53-year drought by winning the Japan Series.

Kawakami's signing would fill a hole left by the departure of John Smoltz, who is reportedly close to making a move to the Boston Red Sox.

Kawakami is one of two high-profile Japanese pitchers on the free agent market. Koji Uehara has reached an agreement to join the Orioles from the Yomiuri Giants.

[AssKissinger]

ATLANTA -- Kenshin Kawakami is scheduled to undergo a physical in Atlanta on Monday. If all goes well, the Japanese right-hander will become the newest addition to Braves general manager Frank Wren's rotation-reconstruction project.

[gkanai]

Braves sign Japanese pitcher Kenshin Kawakami

[gkanai]

MLB keeps on hollowing out the NPB.

Orioles sign Japanese pitcher

[Gilligan]

Uehara's Big in Japan and now He's an Oriole

[Behan]

[Gilligan]

Keith Law ranks Tazawa in his top 100 MLB prospects

RANK PLAYER POS. ORGANIZATION
90 Junichi Tazawa RHP Boston Red Sox

Tazawa isn't quite big-league ready, but he's fairly close and could start in Double-A and appear in the majors by year-end. His stuff right now is reliever material -- a low-90s fastball and a plus splitter with big bottom -- and his fastball command needs improvement, while his slider is fringe-average at best. He's comfortable spotting his off-speed pitches, but he'll need to command his fastball better in the upper half of the zone, something that has in general been an issue with Japanese pitchers who've moved from their major league to Major League Baseball. Tazawa pitched in an industrial league in Japan rather than their professional system, so he comes to Boston without years in a Japanese pro team's system and the player development ideas that come with it. With improved fastball command and development of the slider (or his curve), he projects as a mid-rotation starter, which would put him toward the middle of this list rather than toward the back.

[Behan]

Ridiculed runners rule set for WBC
NEW YORK (AP) The ridiculed international rule to start an extra inning with two runners on base will be used at this year's World Baseball Classic, where it will be implemented beginning in the 13th.

Under the rule, each half-inning starting with the 13th will begin with runners on first and second. The regular batting order will be used from where it was the previous inning.

Major League Baseball said a decision has not been made whether to use the rule in the final, scheduled for March 23.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/sb20090131o1.html

[Gilligan]