The country's most famous knuckleballer will be playing in Japan in 2012.

Chunichi Dragons

• Signed reliever Jorge Sosa to a one year deal. Sosa has a 4.72 ERA through 294 big league appearances.

Yomiuri Giants

• NPB Tracker thinks the Giants should be legitimate contenders this year.

Hanshin Tigers

• Kubo and Hirano finally re-signed. The team shaved 40 million yen off of Kubo’s salary and tacked 30 of it onto Hirano’s.
• According to NPB Tracker, Hanshin are a lot like Tokyo before the 2011 season–on the outside looking in.

Hiroshima Carp

• This write-up over at NPB Tracker says that the Carp will be fielding another strong starting rotation even though Kuroda opted to spend another season in MLB.

Yokohama Baystars

• Alex Ramirez came down with the flu last weekend despite the fact that he allegedly got a flu shot before leaving the US. Funny things, those flu shots.
• First year manager, Kiyoshi Nakahata, who has been out of action with the flu, returned to spring camp on Tuesday donning the requisite facial mask. He hammed it up pretty big-time for the reporters on hand, so he seems to be feeling pretty well now.
• Patrick Newman says that the team should be a lot more fun to watch this year even though they look destined for a bottom-half finish once again.
• The team reported that it planned to kick the tires on three prospective imports at some point during spring camp. Wes Bankston, Chris Nowak, and Oscar Salazar are the players hoping to be offered a contract.

Pacific League News

• Fukuoka (Softbank) may have found a way to ensure a few more wins by signing Brad Penny from MLB. Penny notched double-digit wins for the Detroit Tigers last season but was released at the end of the season after playing out a one year contract.

Elsewhere in Japanese Baseball

• Gen has a handy post detailing the various suspensions handed out by Japan’s student baseball administrative body. The infractions range from smoking to beating the piss out of younger players. One suspension was meted for purchasing a train ticket in an illegal manner. Huh?
• Female knuckleball phenom, Eri Yoshida (20), will be pitching in the Kansai Independent Baseball League once again as she signed a deal with the 2011 champion Hyogo Blue Sandars. You may remember that Yoshida started her pro career in the KIBL back in 2009 with the now inactive Kobe 9 Cruise. She then signed with the Chico Outlaws early in 2010. Here’s an article with a little more information on what Yoshida experienced during her two seasons of minor league baseball in the US.

Yoshida, 18, will be playing in the Golden League.

Unrelated to the Tokyo Swallows, but definitely of interest to baseball lovers–Eri Yoshida, the female knuckleballer who became the first woman to play pro baseball in Japan, has signed with the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League.

The Golden Baseball League is a North American independent league with 10 teams in western Canada, America, and Mexico.

Yoshida first brought her sidearm knuckleball to the pros while playing for the Kobe Cruise 9. She is now the first female to play professional baseball in two countries. At only 18 years of age, it would appear that she has time on her side,

Yoshida is the number three Outlaw.

and there are several people within the Chico Outlaws organization that believe that she may have what it takes to get signed by an MLB club at some point.

Click here for a more detailed report on Yoshida and her new team.

I’ll be honest, I know more about the Kansai Independent League now than I did a few days ago.  For instance, I can now name a team in it.  I’ll also admit to assuming a situation similar to that of Ayumi Kataoka of the Ibaraki Golden Golds when I first heard the story.  For a small independent team, though, a 16-year-old girl is more of an asset than any man.  It’s about publicity. 

(I’m not belittling Miss Yoshida’s talents, though – she did hold her male counterparts hitless for an inning in tryouts.  I’d also like to congratulate sportswriters, who’ve never been able to resist obvious jokes, bad puns, or having the Tigers “maul” opponents, for not mentioning that no young buck of a ballplayer was even able to get to first with the 16-year-old girl pitching.)

In fact, I see no reason that a young woman couldn’t succeed in baseball, especially as a pitcher, especially a submariner.  She won’t have to outrun men or compete with them on brute strength, she’ll just have to develop good control.  More power to her.

I don’t really care that Eri Yoshida is of the fairer sex (although that term sounds silly when she’s fanning the boys.)  If she were five years older, I doubt I’d be writing this.  What interests me more is that she’s sixteen years old.  Sixteen.

Her sex has overshadowed that fact, but imagine the debates if she were a guy.  So, after realizing this was not an Ayumi Kataoka situation, I immediately thought of young Master Kento Tsujimoto, who was 15 when the Hanshin Tigers signed him almost exactly four years ago.  The debates that went on then still stand.

Is the Kansai Independent Baseball League fully professional?  If so, can a minor be employed for work that will involve road trips, late hours, etc.  What about school?  (Weekend games won’t conflict with classes at the Kobe high school to which she’s transferring, but surely the team practices and travels.)  What about the logistics of a 16-year-old living in close quarters with adult ballplayers?  Now imagine that 16-year-old is a girl.  How’s that going to work?

I wish Eri Yoshida all the best and hope to see her and more young women succeed in competition with the men.  (I’d rather see the girls playing than badly lip-singing to unbearable pop tunes.)  However, I am in the camp that says it is inappropriate to sign a player too young to have finished high school to play pro ball at any level.