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.

Spring camp is officially under way!

• Spring camp started for the top team in Okinawa today. Here’s a list of the players that were invited. The Swallows’ Japanese website has a handy schedule that will give you a light peak into what’s ahead for the team.
• The top team camp has only four officially-scheduled days off, and camp concludes on February 28th.
• Aikawa was named just the third team captain since the turn of the century. Former star catcher and player-manager, Atsuya Furuta, and current third baseman, Shinya Miyamoto, were the two preceding captains.
• The farm team also started its spring training camp today. The team will practice in Tokyo until this Saturday. The fifth (Sunday) is a travel day, and camp resumes on Monday in Miyazaki Prefecture.
• Scroll down to the bottom of this article on the Tokyo Swallows’ Japanese site for some photos of the players and fans down in Okinawa. There are also a couple of photos of manager Ogawa and the team’s player rep, Takeuchi, at a shrine praying for a safe and productive spring camp and 2012 season.
• Here are a couple more photos featuring the manager and business-suited versions of Balentien and Barnette arriving at their spring training camp facility.

Former Tokyo player news:

• New Yokohama manager, Nakahata, had this to say about Alex Ramirez’s defense, “ラミレスは直線を走ったら速いんだよ。” (“Ramirez is quick when he’s running in a straight line.”)
• Josh Whitesell and Seth Greisinger were introduced to the media on Monday as two of the newest members of the Chiba Marines.

Aoki signed for next to nothing.

While reading all the off-season and spring training news that can be found about NPB and MLB, I came across some tidbits on former Tokyo center fielder, Norichika Aoki.

• A tracking poll conducted last week over at Brew Crew Ball found that 94% of respondents were in favor of the contract that Aoki signed with Milwaukee. In fact, only three of the 253 voters ticked the ‘nay’ box.
• The guys who do the View From Bernie’s Chalet podcast are very happy with the Norichika Aoki signing, and feel that the Brewers have managed to reel in a good baseball player who, even if he does have a rough time adjusting to MLB, can potentially provide some good bench insurance for the club.
• Here’s a bit more information about how his salary breaks down over the 2012 and 2013 seasons. The contract contains a club option for 2014. Aoki can nearly double his salary based on how many games he plays in and starts according to the ESPN link above.

I feel like someone needs to write a ‘Life After Aoki’ piece. Anyone up for it?

Kawakami back with the Dragons this year

Chunichi Dragons

• Sold backup catcher, Keiji Oyama (31) to Tohoku. 2011 was Oyama’s best season so far, offensively-speaking. He hit .280/.394/.390 in 102 plate appearances.
• It sounds like Araki and Ibata could be reverting to their old positions, second and short, respectively.
• Victor Diaz is all but certain to be wearing a Chunichi uniform this season. He has experience playing all over the field, so he should give the Dragons several options in terms of where they can put him.
• The team lured the team’s former starter, Kenshin Kawakami, back from MLB. The last time he played in a Dragons uniform was the 2008 season when he recorded a 9-5 record and a 2.30 ERA. He moved to the Atlanta Braves as a free agent after that. Kawakami pitched well in 2009, but is now regarded as a bust in MLB. He spent most of last season at AA and ended the season with an ERA well above eight. Six million dollars for a crappy year at double A? Yikes.

Yomiuri Giants

• First year players Scott Mathieson (P) and John Bowker (OF) were unveiled to the media on Friday.

Hanshin Tigers

• Much like Tokyo, Hanshin has yet to figure out who will be manning center field this season. A number of names have been floated, including Ryo Asai, Shunsuke, Wei-Chu Lin and rookie Hayata Ito.
• Matt Murton’s wife has still not given birth to the couple’s third child, so there’s a very good chance that he will miss the beginning of spring camp.
• It looks like pitcher Yasutomo Kubo will re-sign with the team some time this week, but infielder Keiichi Hirano is still holding out.

Hiroshima Carp

• Brand new Carp pitcher, Cam Mickolio, and right-handed bat, Nick Stavinoha, were formally introduced to the media on Friday.

Yokohama Baystars

• The new Baystar uniforms are apparently due to be unveiled this weekend. Alex Ramirez may be one of the guys modeling the new kit.

Pacific League Notes

• Kiko Arai, daughter of Orix Buffaloes farm team manager, Hiromasa Arai, is highly attractive. Exhibit A, she was recently crowned Miss Japan.
• Hokkaido received the posting bid money (more than US$50 million for Yu Darvish) from the Rangers. Unfortunately for Hokkaido, however, investors are still guaranteeing the relative strength of the yen over the dollar and euro, so the amount received was basically the equivalent of a couple thousand dollars at today’s exchange rate.

Aoki also snagged a TV announcer.

I’ve noticed it before, but lord it’s out of control right now. Reporters, announcers, newscaster, whatever you want to call them, are dropping like flies. For whatever reason they’re marrying baseball players.

Here’s a list of recent developments:

January – Anri Mitsube (NHK newscaster) and Kan Otake (Hiroshima); Saho Narushima (freelance reporter) and Kenta Maeda (Hiroshima)

Undecided – Chiho Nishimori (Sapporo TV reporter) and Kensuke Tanaka (Hokkaido); Maya Kobayashi (freelance reporter) and Handkerchief Prince Yuki Saito (Hokkaido)

That’s just a few that have caught my attention recently. There are surely many other examples. Former Tokyo player, Norichika Aoki, married a TV Tokyo reporter as well.

If you can think of any other examples, recent or distant, please leave a comment below.

The nest has a bunch of new inhabitants this year.

of the major goings-on include:

• Norichika Aoki has joined the Milwaukee Brewers
• Lastings Milledge was snagged as a free agent before signing with another major league club
• Orlando Roman was lured away from the Brother Elephants (Taiwan)

David and Christopher cover all of the players mentioned above, plus a few other issues surrounding the team. Give it a listen and let us know what you think. If you have any observations, or questions, voice them in the comments section below.

Ishikawa is a beautiful blend of quality and class.

On this day in 1980, Masanori Ishikawa was born in Akita Prefecture. He joined the Tokyo Swallows at the end of 2001 when he was selected in the first round by the Japan Series champion Tokyo Swallows.

There was no delay in his introduction to top team baseball, and he quickly found himself a weekly contributor to the team’s title-defense efforts. He went 12-9 with a 3.33 ERA in his rookie season and brought home Central League Rookie of the Year honors in 2002.

In 2006, Ishikawa became only the third pitcher in NPB history to record at least 10 wins in each of his first five seasons as a pro.

In 2008, he won a Golden Glove. To this day, he is the only Tokyo Swallows pitcher to ever earn that distinction.

In 2011, Ishikawa threw just over 178 innings and finished up with a 2.73 ERA.

Happy birthday, Masanori. We here at Tsubamegun salute you for your durability and willingness to help the young guys on the team. You’re a class act.

Best of luck this season!

Milwaukee's newest prospect and ROY candidate, Norichika Aoki.

let’s first take a moment to check in with the rest of the team.

• At least two Tokyo players have already contracted the flu. Awesome. I’m a bit confused because this is normally what happens to the team in September and October. Are we planning to do this twice in 2012? For the record, however, I have no objection to moving this nonsense to the front-end of the season. Guys, stop sharing cutlery! And wash your hands.
• Ogawa recently told the media friends that 2011 Central League home run champ Wladimir Balentien could start the year on the farm team thanks to how nonexistent he was following the All-Star break last season. We here at Tsubamegun have no problem with that although we’d like to politely remind him that Balentien was far more effective in the playoffs than Hatakeyama and Miyamoto.
• Sorry, can’t resist. While he’s not a Tokyo player anymore, we still love him. Aoki was all over the place with relief upon returning to the motherland. And the Milwaukee folks are well aware of the fact that they’ve landed Aoki’s services at bargain-basement prices.

As most of the baseball world has been made aware, the Texas Rangers won the exclusive rights to speak with Mr. Darvish in December 2011. Until this week, there really had not been much discussion about the discussions. Granted in the US, the sportsworld is fully engulfed by the NFL and college football. Now that all the favorites are out (Tebow, Green Bay and New Orleans) the US sportsworld is jiving for a new story. So all the “talking heads” looked at the following options: NBA, NHL, college basketball, and the MLB ”hot stove”.  They are thinking how can I be different. I know, let’s bring up all the busts from Japan and compare them to the next best thing from Japan. Yeah this will be a great idea nobody else will think of this. So, about 26 hours, 12 minutes, and 19 seconds before the 5 pm est deadline on Wednesday, a large amount of reporters decided to focus on just this. Most of sports sites were running with the following theme: How can we criticize the Rangers and Darvish before he has ever thrown one pitch in “the show”?

I will concede that there have been alot of busts exported from Japan. But how many big time prospects sign a riciulous contract and never live up to the hype in the US? Well, I have come up with a list of about 10 from the last 25 years. (This list could be made up entirely by 3 teams, Pirates, Royals and the Expos, but I felt I should include other teams as well).

Here you are (listed by years):

Kurt Brown, Chicago White Sox (1985, 5th pick; could have picked Barry Bonds. As a diehard Southsider, this still haunts us. )

Brien Taylor, New York Yankees (1991, 1st pick; could have picked Manny Ramirez or Cliff Floyd )

Darren Dreifort, Los Angeles Dodgers (1993, 2nd pick; could have picked Billy Wagner, Derick Lee, Chris Carpenter, Torii Hunter or Jason Varitek)

Reggie Taylor, Philadelpia Phillies (1995, 14th pick; could have had Jarred Washburn, Mark Bellhorn or Carlos Beltran)

John Patterson, Montreal Expos (1996, 5th pick; could have picked Erick Chavez, Jake Westbrook or Jimmy Rollins)

Matt Anderson, Detroit Tigers (1997, 1st pick; could have had Troy Glaus, Vernon Wells, Michael Cuddyer, or John Garland)

Coret Myers, Arizona Diamondbacks (1999, 4th pick; could have picked Alex Rios or Colby Lewis!)

Mike Stodolka, Kansas City Royals (2000, 4th pick; could have had Chase Utley )

Colt Griffin, Kansas City (2001, 9th pick; David Wright, Ryan Howard or C.J. Wilson)

Bryan Bullington, Pittsburgh Pirates (2002, 1st pick; could have picked Prince Fielder, Khalil Greene, Scott Kazmir, Nick Swisher, or Jeff Francoeur)

You might be thinking, these are all draft picks. Darvish is a free agent not a player being drafted. You would be right. So here are my top 5 free agent busts since 2000.

In 2003, Chan Ho Park signed with the Texas Rangers for 5 years, $65 million

In early 2001, Mike Hampton signed with the Colorado Rockies for 8 years, $120 million

In 2007, Barry Zito signed with Oakland Athletics for 7 years, $126 million

In late 1998, Kevin Brown signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 7 years, $105 million

In 1999, Mo Vaughn signed with Annaheim Angels for 6 years, $80 million

These are just 5 of a VERY long list of busts. I threw in 4 pitchers and 1 “power-hitter” because that is what nearly every team is always looking for. The Rangers have publicly stated that these are there two needs. So, going by the figures that are being thrown around on the sports outlets around the world, the Darvish to Texas deal will cost a total of $112 million ($51.7 for the rights to talk and $60 million contract). This is very similar to the Matsuzaka deal the BoSox made with Seibu. Most are saying that Seibu made out on that deal. Will the same happen here? In my opinion, yes and no. Nippon Ham will make out on their end, although the exchange rate hurts them. I think Darvish will be better than Matsuzaka. Why? He is younger. He is more confident and has had less pitching stress on his body compared to Matsuzaka.

I have mentioned all of this information, draft busts, free agent busts, and posting busts, to show that this is not an exact science. This is a guessing game that most teams fail at. Will Darvish be the savior that Texas is hoping for, who knows. Will he be better than C.J. Wilson (the man he replaces) who knows. What I do know is that Darvish will work hard and pitch over 200 innings per year for the majority of his contract. We will need to wait a few years and see how Darvish does, not just in the regular season, but in the post-season as well.

That said, I predict that the Rangers will win the World Series twice during Yu’s time in Arlington. Good luck!!

Aoki is now a Brewer. Makes me proud. I was once a brewer, too. Long live Otter Creek Brewing (Middlebury, VT).

The Milwaukee Brewers announced that the team signed Norichika Aoki, Tokyo’s star 30-year-old outfielder, to a multi-year deal.

Congratulations to both Aoki and the Brewer community! We here at Tsubamegun hope that it truly is a match made in Milwaukee heaven.

Details are sketchy at this point, but it seems like the two sides were able to come to some kind of preliminary agreement.

It’s a two-year deal with a club option for 2014.