The Big Boys

Norichika Aoki – The main man around these here parts, Aoki was rewarded for another stellar season in 2008 with a ?40M  raise to ?260M. Which makes him the highest earner on the Tokyo books, and every yen of it is fully deserved.

Shinya Miyamoto – The veteran shortstop and Swallows “captain” saw his coffers swell to the tune of ?220M, up from 2008’s ?185M. This substantial raise probably came about due to: a) the man’s leader/veteran status on the team and, b) the fact that he had an excellent 2008. Many people, myself included, thought Shinya was on the decline but he proved us wrong, hitting above .300 for the third straight year last season. Though it has to be said his range at short is decreasing year by year, the 38 year old is still an important part of the team.

 Masanori Ishikawa – Ahh, little Masanori. 2008 was a big year for Yakult’s 29 year old Junior High School student look-alike. Staff ace Seth Greisinger had left for money and concubines  pastures new at the end of 2007, and that left Tokyo needing an ace around which to build their starting rotation under new pitching coach Araki. Well, who should step up to the plate to fill that void but Ishikawa, transforming himself from a dependable and reliable starter, to a CL ERA title winning (2.68 in 2008) staff ace. And he was duly rewarded for his toils with a whopping ?60M pay raise (the largest on the team) to take his earnings to ?155M. And again, fully deserved. Now lets keep up that good work in 2009 please wee man. 

Shohei Tateyama – Utility pitcher and sometime starter brought into the rotation part way through 2008 to plug the gap left by dabbler-in-drugs Daniel Rios. And when he arrived in the rotation boy did he perform. Firmly established himself as the no.2 starter at Yakult with a rock solid performance on the mound (12 wins, 3 losses, 2.99ERA), and alongside Ishikawa, became one of the two rocks around which an ever changing starting rotation orbited. Tateyama saw his salary skyrocket from ?62M in 2008, to ?100M in 2009. Big up to Shohei, and I’m sure he’ll further cement his reputation in 2009. 

Ryoji Aikawa – Yakult’s first ever free agent signing, I’ll repeat that, Yakult’s first ever free agent signing, Aikawa comes the short distance from Yokohama to Tokyo, after a failed attempt to go to the MLB (no-one was interested). And earning ?100M for the year, the catcher becomes the last of just five players to equal/top the ?100M barrier at the Swallows. Aikawa will look to establish himself in the Tokyo lineup, and give the birds stability behind the plate not seen since the tenure of Atsuya Furuta.  

The Movers and Shakers

Kenichi Matsuoka – One of the revelations of 2008, Matsuoka finally found his niche after three unremarkable years with the organization. Forming a formidable trio out of the bullpen with Oshimoto and Lim, Matsuoka was arguably the star man of that trio last year. 65 appearances, 71 1/3 innings, ERA 1.39. I need say no more. He was rewarded for last year’s excellence with a ?28M rise to ?44M this year. Look for that salary to skyrocket in 2010 if he puts in a repeat performance in 2009. 

Takehiko Oshimoto – After coming to Tokyo as part of a three man trade from Hokkaido at the end of 2007, Oshimoto really showed Nippon Ham what they were missing last year. Takehiko firmly established himself as the set up man for closer Lim, and despite getting wobblier as the season went on, finished with an ERA of 3.34 in his 67 appearences/72 2/3 innings of hard work. All that sweat (and boy does the man sweat) was worth it in the end as he saw his salary inflate to ?49M from the ?27M he earned in his first year with the Swallows. 

Chang-Yong Lim – For sake of completeness I’ll list him here, Lim saw his pay rise a modest amount from ?44.5 to ?55 for this year. That’s a raise of ?318,000 for each of his 33 saves in 2008. Again, as with Matsuoka, expect his salary to rise significantly higher if he has a similar 2009.

Ryota Igarashi – The perennially popular “rocket-boy” and Yakult’s former closer (37 saves in 2004),  Igarashi saw a return to form in 2008 after four years of a mixture of injury, lack of form/confidence and long spells on the farm team. Igarashi staked his claim to be the fourth rock-solid arm out of the bullpen, as he started to show the form that had made him so popular in the first place. 44 appearances, 43 2/3 innings with an excellent ERA of 2.47 saw his pay rise to ?84M, up from ?54M. Just as an indication of how much Igarashi’s star has fallen of late, he earned a whopping ?164M in 2005. 

Hiroyasu Tanaka – After his breakout year in 2007, Beavis had another solid year in 2008, establishing himself without any doubt as the starting second baseman at Jingu. Hiroyasu saw his purse for 2009 swell to ?75M from ?48M.

Yasushi Ihara – Another guy who came to the fore in 2007, speedster Ihara finally found a home out in leftfield last year (despite some disastrous attempts to play third) and, like Tanaka, hit just under the .300 mark in 2008. Ihara saw a ?25M raise to take him to ?50M for this year. 

Kazuhiro Hatakeyama – Came out of four years of obscurity in 2008 to help out the team when he was called upon, and became a fixture at first base (and sometimes third) for the birds. Rewarded accordingly with a?23M raise (from a paltry ?9M) to take him up to a respectable ?32M.

Keizo Kawashima – Came to Tokyo as part of the same trade that brought Oshimoto here, little Keizo was rewarded for a decent first year with the club with a salary of ?25M, up from ?9.6M.

Kazuki Fukuchi – Another 2008 new face, Fukuchi came to the Swallows as compensation make-weight in the free agent signing of pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii by the Seibu Lions. And boy how he proved himself to be more than a mere “make-weight” in 2008. Known for his speed, the outfielder promptly took the CL base stealing title with 42, but added more to his game too. Kazuki proved himself to be an excellent fielder and batter, hitting .321, with 155 hits, 61 RBIs and scoring 74 runs. But he’s now added to his pocket too, with a whopping ?49M raise to ?80M.

The Losers

Aaron Guiel – Many were surprised that Guiel was resigned by Tokyo after an abject 2008 that was blighted by injury. That is until they looked at how much they resigned him for. He earned ?120M in 2008. He’ll earn?44M in 2009.

Masao Kida – Veteran Kida looked like he was going to be shut out by new manager Takada in the first half of 2008, but he was used more and more as the season progressed, ending up with a 3.05 ERA to show for his 19 appearances. That scarcity of innings though meant Masao saw his purse fall ?12M to ?40M.

Hirotoshi Ishii – Longstanding Yakult servant and former ace closer (37 saves and 1.95ERA in 2005), a shoulder injury has threatened to destroy the man’s career. Hopefully he’ll see some service in 2009, but he’ll have to make do with a little less money, down ?26M to ?40M (he earned ?150M in 2006)

Noriyuki Shiroishi – Yakult’s very own “no speed, no power, no skill” triple-threat saw his stock fall ?7M to ?29M.

Ryuji Miyade – Lanky utility man, who has never quite filled his potential saw his salary fall ?10M to ?38M.

The New Boys

Ricky Barrett - ?46.5 M

Hye-cheon Lee - ?76M

Jamie D’Antonia - ?47.5M  

And last, and by all means least……..

David Watkins – From not nearly enough in 2008 to not nearly enough in 2009.

Hiroshima Toyo Carp 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 8

Streak: Won 2. Last 5: WWLWW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Like last night, this was another weird one. Hiroshima did everything they could to give Tokyo the win in the end.

To Tokyo’s credit, Tanaka had a good game with three hits and one rbi. Tateyama had a decent game on the mound pitching six innings of eight hit, three run ball. Kawashima also chipped in with his second home run of the season.

But in the end, a lot of things just didn’t go Hiroshima’s way. Three errors and 10 walks spelled the difference.

In the seventh inning, for example, Tokyo had only two base hits but scored five runs. Hiroshima had a 3-2 lead up until that point, but things just went from bad to worse.

The bottom of the seventh went a little something like this:
With Schultz (4.43 ERA) pitching, third baseman, Kawashima, strikes out. Aoki and Hatakeyama draw successive walks. Tanaka grounds out to first. Aoki and Hatakeyama score on Iihara’s liner to the gap in right-center field. Iihara never slows down and beats the throw to third base. That’s Iihara’s league-leading fourth triple on the year.

Exit Schultz stage right.

Then, with Umetsu pitching, it was Takeuchi and Fukukawa’s turn to draw successive walks (numbers three and four of the inning!). With the bases loaded, pinch-hitter Kawabata (who came in for pitcher, Igarashi) smacked a double to left that scored Iihara, Takeuchi and Fukukawa. Fukuchi struck out to end the inning. 7-3 Swallows.

A final run was added in the eigth when Kawashima and Aoki drew successive beanings from Hiroshima’s Kishimoto, and then Shida drew a walk. Bases loaded again. Kawashima scored on Tanaka’s deep sacrifice fly to left. 8-3 Swallows.

Hiroshima used seven pitchers during this contest with Schultz (1-4) taking the loss in relief. Hiroshima starter, Kozlowski (1-0, 4.18), gave up two runs (one earned) in five innings of work while taking a no-decision. He struck out two and walked three.

Tokyo starter, Tateyama (6-2, 3.39) , also ended up with a no-decision after six innings of work. Igarashi (1-0, 3.71) got his first win since 2006 while working a scoreless seventh.

Game two of the series versus the Carp starts at 6 pm tomorrow at Jingu stadium.