Dead Ball (JPN Baseball Thread)

[Greji]

Now the Mariners have one-year veteran who is have surgery on both hips and on one wrist and a raw rookie with about a dozen game's experience penciled in for catchers next year.

Buck, the Mariners are lucky. Thanks to the former Nintendo Shacho, Johjima had a contract that the team couldn't do much to break and he couldn't be traded because nobody wanted him and the contract was too hefty for anyone to pickup. Now maybe they will have a chance to get a catcher that can remember what opposing batters can't hit and one that the M-pitchers will want to catch them. If it weren't for some lucky hits and a dinger or two in the last two months, Jo-boy wouldn't have hit .240.

I believe there might have been some backroom work here. i.e. Mariners urged him to get to hiking while he can still play and maybe he can get a year or two in J-land where everyone still thinks he's a certified MLB superstar. This will open doors for him in the sports industry post-play. He wouldn't get those type of offers if he remained in the states.

You don't have to be a genius to be a catcher, but it would help if you have an IQ higher than the chalk lines.

[canman]

Greiji, I thought the same thing. There is no way he would walk away from that kind of money unless he was pushed. As you said he can come back to Japan and resume hitting 20 to 30 homeruns for a couple of years and then set up his post career moves, coaching etc. I could see him becoming the manager of Softbank sometime in the future. This is a really big help for the Mariners, get rid of Adrian Beltre, Johjima, and perhaps they could be a contender next year.

[Bucky]

Greji,

there is no doubt being out from under Johjima's $8,000,000/year contract is a financial windfall for the M's Hopefully it will free up some dough that can be directed at Felix.

I however am not convinced that the M's current batch of receivers is MLB ready. Johnson caught much of last season but he can't hit well and the other catcher, Adam Moore, is just a rookie with about 12 games under his belt. I think they will have to do something. Of course, Joh was not the answer either.

I think the Johjima experiment demonstrates that it will be hard for any other Japanese catcher to come to the US and do well without being able to speak English well enough to communicate with the pitchers.

Of course Pudge Rodriguez was not a native English speaker either and he did OK.

[Greji]

I think the Johjima experiment demonstrates that it will be hard for any other Japanese catcher to come to the US and do well without being able to speak English well enough to communicate with the pitchers.

Of course Pudge Rodriguez was not a native English speaker either and he did OK.

I think I have posted this before, but have heard from various pretty reliable sources that the pitchers almost to a one, did not like to throw to Johjima. The reason was not language, but command of the plate. Of course all catchers and pitchers go over the line-up and batters before the game looking over the stats, and discussing each batters weak/strong points. Even with this, Joh-chan apparently could not carry this into the game and would end up almost exclusively receiving his signs from the bench

Quite obviously this takes time to check the bench for signs and then give them to the pitcher. I saw him on TV on one occasion when a pitcher shook him off, he again looked back to the bench for a new sign. This is shit for a pitcher. Pitchers who like to work fast, are devastated and any pitcher would have to have some doubts about his reliability as a catcher, all of which would throw their game off. I think he needs to get back in his own environment and reestablish himself as a Japanese NPB player. We saw in the WBC and know he can hit within his level, but that is not and never will be close to the MLB level, nor does it include the exceptional length of the season. I think this is a Win-Win for the Mariners....


P.S. They might want to introduce him to Baltimore to make Gil happy

[canman]

But Greji I still want to know, how can players like Matsui both of them, but especially Hideki, and Johjima, Fukudome, hit some many homeruns and be stars here, when in the MLB they are second rate players? Is it the ball the stadiums, the pitching or what? After two Classics, it seems that Japanese pitching is almost on par with MLB, so I'm thinking it must be the parks they play in.
I think a lot of teams are fooled by the gaudy numbers these guys put up here.
Also I wonder what will happen with the Hanamaki Higashi star pitcher and where he will end up, either in the MLB, or here in Japan.

[Greji]

But Greji I still want to know, how can players like Matsui both of them, but especially Hideki, and Johjima, Fukudome, hit some many homeruns and be stars here, when in the MLB they are second rate players? Is it the ball the stadiums, the pitching or what? After two Classics, it seems that Japanese pitching is almost on par with MLB, so I'm thinking it must be the parks they play in.
I think a lot of teams are fooled by the gaudy numbers these guys put up here.
Also I wonder what will happen with the Hanamaki Higashi star pitcher and where he will end up, either in the MLB, or here in Japan.

Hideki is all right. His injuries have limited him especially this latest knee injury. He's a line drive hitter which translates to home runs in Japan because of the short alleys in left and right center and the short center field walls. The Yankee management praised hi the other day (which is not to say he can't or won't be traded) on his hitting, particularly in the clutch and late in the season. That being said, the fact remains that he's limited to being a DH, unless his knee gets drastically better.

Fukudome is what he is. He streaks. When he's hot he's hot and can hit anything thrown at him. When he's not, he's not and couldn't hit his arse with a base fiddle. He was pretty much like that in Japan, but there with the weaker pitching could still stay around .300.

Little Matsui has never been big enough, or had enough arm to be an MLB shortstop. He's a reasonable 2B'man with a tendency for stone gloveitis and will never be much more than a.250-.260 hitter in the long run. His merit is he still has some speed and is fairly consistent at his ability level from both sides of the plate.

I think Kikuchi can be a good pitcher in the MLB. He's a big, a left hander and says he wants to go to the states. If he starts out from HS instead of going to NPB and getting his arm thrown out, I think he will do well. He's got a mid-nineties fast ball and once he learns to handle the pitcher's mound in the states and learns "balance", he should be able to go a long way with some impressive speed. He still has to decline to put in for the NPB draft to sign in the states. Legally, being drafted does not bind you to a J-team (regardless of what the newspapers say), but as a general rule, pro-clubs on both sides of the pond have a gentleman's agreement about trying to sign someone else's draft choice.

The reason for that is that if a team has invested the time and utilizes one of their limited selections for a draft choice on an individual who subsequently jumps to another team, the losing team has in essence forfeited a draft pick where they could have gotten a different useable player. Since no one wants that to happen to their own team, fas well as courtesy, teams don't try to jump sign another team's draft choice.

Kikuchi may well have decided where he wants to go, but his decision on the draft will restrict it to NPB or the MLB, for x-amount of years.

[Gilligan]

P.S. They might want to introduce him to Baltimore to make Gil happy

First of all, Greji, considering the O's have the top prospect from the International Leaguecatching for them, they don't need Johjima.

Second, the O's are very familiar with the players in the Mariners organization and picked it clean 2 years ago when the gave them Erik Bedard--kind of reminiscient of the ***** Davis trade with the O's on the other end this time.

Finally, thanks for letting me make my 1,000 post a defense of the O's, 2011 World Series Champions!

[Greji]

First of all, Greji, considering the O's have the top prospect from the International Leaguecatching for them, they don't need Johjima.

Second, the O's are very familiar with the players in the Mariners organization and picked it clean 2 years ago when the gave them Erik Bedard--kind of reminiscient of the ***** Davis trade with the O's on the other end this time.

Finally, thanks for letting me make my 1,000 post a defense of the O's, 2011 World Series Champions!

Gil, congrats on your 1,000th and also the important info on the 2011 Little League Championships. Hope the O's stay competitive through the playoffs there.

BTW, I like Wieters. They's been shuttling him around from Norfolk, but I think he's going to be big if he stays healthy. Injury is always a danger for catchers in the minors, but he's up to AAA now and should be safe.

Also, I think you also have Tanaka, don't you. He's pitching in the Arizona Fall League right now.

I'd post more, but I'm busy right now watching C.C. breechload the angels (5-1 top of the 7th) and figuring how we're going to beat the Phillies three in a row.

[GuyJean]

Not sure if anyone was watching, but the Fighters just came back from 8 down against the Eagles in the last two innings. Capped it off with a walk-off grand-slam from Sledge.. They won 9 - 8.

Of course, I have not seen one replay of it..

GJ

[IkemenTommy]

Not sure if anyone was watching, but the Fighters just came back from 8 down against the Eagles in the last two innings. Capped it off with a walk-off grand-slam from Sledge.. They won 9 - 8.

Of course, I have not seen one replay of it..

GJ

Rakuten sucks donkey balls but so does Gomiuri. Down 2-7.

[Greji]

Just to keep Gil from thinking everybody in the world is after him (not that they're not), I thought I would mention this guy who is doing well in the AZ Fall League. It is J-related because his roomie is Tanaka Ryohei, who also (unfortunately) is an Oriole....

[Gilligan]

Just to keep Gil from thinking everybody in the world is after him (not that they're not), I thought I would mention this guy who is doing well in the AZ Fall League. It is J-related because his roomie is Tanaka Ryohei, who also (unfortunately) is an Oriole....

Excellent post Greji! And if we're talking about players in the O's organization who are tearing it up in the AZ Fall League, we may as well mention Josh Bell, who came to the O's from the Dodgers in July as part of the Sherrill deal--Erik Bedard, the gift that keeps on giving; thank you very much Seattle. (I'll leave it up to individual readers to decide to what degree, if any, this post qualifies as being J-related)

[Bucky]

[quote="Gilligan"]Erik Bedard, the gift that keeps on giving]
Yeah, Yeah, you're welcome. Fortunately Bill Bavasi is off to work his magic elsewhere.

[Greji]

we may as well mention Josh Bell, who came to the O's from the Dodgers in July as part of the Sherrill deal

What a bummer that was the Blue are going to be needing a 3rd baseman very shortly and the gave up the best prospect they had for Sherrill who is dead this year, or next at the best....

(I'll leave it up to individual readers to decide to what degree, if any, this post qualifies as being J-related)

The Orioles don't even qualify to be baseball related. Tanaka makes if almost J-related. Uehara makes it bushleague related.

[GuyJean]

[Greji]

Japanese pitcher Igarashi looks to major leagues
[url]http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news]
GJ

At one time he held the record for the fastest pitch thrown in J-baseball. It was soon broken by the fat slug and Kroon put it out of reach....

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

the fat slug

Wasn't he a fat fucking toad?

[Greji]

Wasn't he a fat fucking toad?

I believe your right Hair. At my age, I can never keep amphibs and reptiles straight...

[Bucky]

[Bucky]

Keizo Konishi is getting beat up one side and down the other on blogs and comment sections for his vote for Cabrera for MVP.

--As I reported on Twitter, the one first-place vote for Miguel Cabrera came from Keizo Konish of Kyodo News, who is based in Seattle. It's an absolutely terrible vote, obviously, not only for statistical analysis reasons but also because of Cabrera's memorable final weekend of the regular season.

I've known Konishi since 1998, when he traveled with the Yankees, covering Hideki Irabu. He switched to Seattle in 2001, when the Mariners signed Ichiro Suzuki, and was featured in this Rick Reilly column for Sports Illustrated. He's a total professional in the way he goes about his job.

But this pick, obviously, was brutal. I've placed an e-mail to him and hope to hear back from him.

It seems a lot of folks thought he was a Detroit writer before it was revealed that he was a Kyodo writer based in Seattle.

[Captain Japan]

This vote by Konishi ought to have its own thread. That was simply outrageous.

[Greji]

Afraid of a low ball offer and a loss of face?

I think the dude was just making an article. If Matsui doesn't stay with the Yanks, the media is going to hop on the band wagon with whatever team he goes to. (Excluding the Orioles, which would be the end of his career and media coverage, since Gil is their only registered fan, hehe...)

Cashman is a lot of things, but he's not stupid. They would have to score someone really, really huge to replace their cut of the MLB money from the J-media that they would lose with the loss of Matsui.

I can see him there for at least one more year. If he were genki, there definitely would be no problems, but with his body issues, you can bet his agent is going to be after any kind of a multi-year guarantee he can get.

[Bucky]

So it seems the Seattle Mariners are in the race for Hideki Matsui. Or at least that's according to what Sponichi is saying. With Adrian Beltre and Erik Bedard likely becoming free agents, and Kenji Johjima in Japan, the Mariners free up about $27M -- based on 2009 salaries for Beltre ($12M) and Bedard ($7.74) and Johjima's $7.7M he was to make in 2010. And while they do have Ken Griffey Jr to DH, he likely won't be in the starting line-up every day (he played in 117 games in 2009).

Sponichi adds that the Mariners could stay in the Matsui sweepstakes as long as the Angels are interested because they don't necessarily want him to join the Angels. And even though it could just be posturing, the fact that the Mariners claim to be in the hunt helps drive up the price for Matsui.

There is one interesting side note. It seems the Mariners going after Matsui might not be that far-fetched an idea. His three year at Safeco Field shows that he must enjoy hitting there.

from here

[canman]

If this has been posted before I apologize, but I just saw where Akinori Iwamura was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hell I never heard that one. And now they are reporting that Matsui has signed a one year deal with the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles, or whatever the hell their name is.

[Greji]

If this has been posted before I apologize, but I just saw where Akinori Iwamura was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hell I never heard that one. And now they are reporting that Matsui has signed a one year deal with the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles, or whatever the hell their name is.

The Iwamura trade has been out there a bit. Matsui signed a one year contract for an estimated 6.5 million with the Angels. Supposedly officially announced on Sunday, but there were Saturday articles reporting the same.

[Bucky]

Matsui may not have heard of the saying "Go west young man", but his departure from NYC will leave a bit of a Japanese tourism hole in the Big Apple

. . .fewer Japanese reporters and Japanese fans at Yankee Stadium, and potentially fewer Japanese companies willing to spend money to advertise there.

I will be able to see more of Godzilla at Safeco this year.

[GuyJean]

Mariners signed SS Pedro Okuda to a minor league contract
http://fantasybaseball.usatoday.com/content/player.asp?sport=MLB&id=6144

Okuda, 19, is expected to spend the 2010 season at the Mariners' international baseball complex in Venezuela. The M's began scouting him back in 2006 and immediately noticed his excellent speed. He was born and raised in Brazil, but attended high school in Saitama, Japan.

GJ

[PileOWank]

This article should be required reading for dumbass oyaji who whack off to Matsui every night before bed:

Is Hideki Matsui's Resume More Impressive Than Ichiro's? No.

Unfortunately, with Matsui in LAnaheim, there's likely to be lots of lame rivalry stories on the news here. Too bad he didn't sign with the Pirates or some shit like that.

[Mulboyne]

Kyodo via Japan Times: Rhodes expected to retire after Orix fails to offer him contract

Outfielder Tuffy Rhodes, who had been hoping to re-sign with the Orix Buffaloes for this coming season, has received no offers from the Pacific League club, Orix senior official Yoshio Murayama said Saturday. It means the 41-year-old Rhodes would most likely retire from professional baseball if he does not receive any offers from the other Japanese clubs. "We have no plans for making him any offers," Murayama said. Rhodes was released by Orix at the end of the 2009 season.

The club had made a target for holding talks with Rhodes for a possible re-signing with the start of spring training on Feb. 1 as a negotiation deadline, but the team reached the cutoff earlier partly due to the fact that outfielder So Taguchi rejoined on the same day. Rhodes joined the then-Kintetsu Buffaloes in 1996 after playing for several major league clubs. In 2001, he became the first player to tie the Japanese single-season home run record of 55. Rhodes owns the record for the most home runs (464), hits (1,792) and RBIs (1,269) by a foreign player in Japan. He has played with Orix since 2007 after he was released by the Yomiuri Giants during the 2005 offseason. Rhodes has a career .286 batting average in 1,674 games in Japan.

[Bucky]

Strike four!

Japanese baseball umpires decided Monday to change the order in which they call the count in the game.
The umpires will start counting balls first, and then strikes, in the upcoming season as used in the major leagues and international tournaments.
Until now in Japan a full count was 2-3, instead of 3-2.
"We've decided to change the order because of an increase in international game appearances by Japanese professional players," said Osamu Ino, head of Nippon Professional Baseball umpires.
Japanese baseball is also discussing having just one official ball supplier from the 2011 season.