Keith Law:  Red Sox did well by signing Tazawa

Junichi Tazawa has now reportedly signed a term sheet with Boston, meaning that as long as he passes a physical he’ll be a member of the Red Sox. Tazawa apparently turned down more money—perhaps significantly more, depending on where Boston’s final offer landed between $3 million and $6 million—from other clubs, signing with the team that had been scouting him as early as last year.

Signing Tazawa was a no-brainer for the Red Sox. If he was an American college player eligible for next June’s draft, at worst he’d be taken in the top two rounds, and I think it’s likely he’d go in the back half or third of the first round. Boston has to burn a spot on its 40-man roster on him, but they had two spots open already and have at least two or three players they could outright if they need the room.

Keith Law is still free from ESPN Insider, but for how long…

Korea Times: Prelim Roster for WBC Unveiled

Manager Kim In-sik, who led South Korea to the semifinals in the inaugural contest in 2006 after beating the big leaguer-studded United States and eventual champion Japan, selected 45 players including seven playing overseas _ Park Chan-ho, Lee Seung-yeop, Lim Chang-yong, Lee Hye-chun, Choo Shin-soo, Baek Cha-seung and Lee Byung-kyu.

Free agent Kim Byung-hyun, who did not pitch in the 2008 season, was also included.

``Lee Seung-yeop said he would not play at the WBC to focus on his next season in Japan, but the technical committee have included him just in case he changes his mind,’’ Kim said.

Remember kids, in Asia, the last name comes first.

NPB: Darvish Signs for 2009

That’s a lot of ￥u’s.

Yu Darvish has renewed his contract for ￥270m ($2.7m), a ￥70m ($700k) increase over 2008. Although Darvish was expected to hit the ￥300m ($3m) mark, he still set a record high for 5th-year players. “The didn’t win and I didn’t earn any personal titles,” explained Darvish.

NPB players are under team control for a minimum of eight years, and pre-free agent players sign get multi-year contracts (not that I’ve heard of anyway). So each offseason players and teams negotiate salaries for the upcoming season. It’s a little like the arbitration process in MLB, but players’ salaries will decrease after a bad year, and there’s never a third party mediator involved. Players who hold out sometimes pay their own way to spring training.

Boston Globe: Tazawa agrees to 3-year Red Sox contract

Hmm, I wonder if he has the will to learn the gyroball…

According to a baseball source, the 22-year-old Tazawa will arrive in Boston this week after reaching agreement with the Sox on a three-year contract worth roughly $3 million. Tazawa is expected to undergo a physical in the next few days that will allow the sides to clear the final hurdle in negotiations. The Sox hope to officially announce his acquisition by the end of the week.

Though Tazawa was courted by several teams and offered more money by at least one - the Texas Rangers - the pitcher reportedly was interested in pitching for the Sox. Team officials have been scouting Tazawa for more than a year after having made major inroads in the Japan talent pool with the signings of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima during the 2006-07 offseason.

Despite his having no professional experience in Japan, Tazawa’s deal is a major league contract, meaning he will occupy a spot on Boston’s 40-man roster. Nonetheless, Tazawa is expected to begin his career in the minor leagues, though his ascension to the majors could come rapidly.

Kovacevic: Pirates in the Caribbean: Mining for diamonds

Part 1 of Dejan Kovacevic’s fine piece.

Here, baseball never sleeps.

Youngsters in coastal La Romana play on a dump site, having shoved the debris to the outfield for a de facto fence. On a narrow slice of cobblestone in the capital Santo Domingo, two 20-year-olds engage in a Brooklyn-style game of stickball, except that the gear is a tree branch and rock. By night, from November to January, 15,000-seat stadiums are jammed with singing, roaring crowds to support the six-team Dominican Winter League, with many native major leaguers delighted to participate on $11,000 salaries as a show of national pride.

“Baseball used to be America’s national pastime,” Gayo says. “Now, it’s the Dominican game. It’s been in the culture from the time the Cubans brought it here in the mid-1800s to now, when it’s the country’s passion. And that’s how it has to be. Baseball is a game you play with your heart.”

MLB: Freddy Garcia reportedly leaves game with soreness

Veteran right-hander Freddy Garcia may have hit a speed bump on the comeback trail. Garcia, a free agent who finished the 2008 season with Detroit, left a game in the Venezuelan Winter League on Thursday after two innings due to shoulder discomfort, according to Venezuelan newspaper El Universal.

Garcia was 1-1 with 4.20 ERA in 15 innings after signing with the Tigers last year. He was the American League ERA champion with Seattle in 2001 (3.05) and contributed to the White Sox World Series title run in 2005.

Thanks to The Paul Foytactics. 

Yoshinaga: Yep, There is A Generation Gap

Scroll down the Rafu Shimpo for some primo Yoshinaga.

I bring this up again because I was kind of disappointed when the news about Don Wakamatsu becoming the first Japanese American to gain the title of Manager of a Major League baseball team when the Seattle Mariners hired him to fill the role for the 2009 season, made the media.

The stories about Wakamatsu identi­fied him as the “first Asian American” to be named as a Big League Manager.

I wish he was identified as the “first Japanese American,” instead of “first Asian American.”

It makes me so proud that Wakamat­su was accorded the honor of heading a Big League team.

Perhaps this is because those of us who are older and lived through the crisis of World War II and were the target of racism, gain a sense of pride when a Japanese American accomplishes something that we could never imagine would happen.

When I was discussing the Waka­matsu story with one of my sons, I began to realize this because he said, “What’s the big deal what they call him, Asian American or Japanese American?”

It made me realize that one has to live through something to really un­derstand.

I’m sure that the younger generation have experienced some racism in their lives but how many can say they were tossed out of a restaurant because the owner, “didn’t serve Japs.”

Red Sox Pursuing Junichi Tazawa

Here’s the thing, though: Tazawa has never pitched professionally, so you may not even see him in the majors this year, no matter whose contract he signs. ESPN’s Keith Law ranks Tazawa just 25th among his top 50 free agents, and not even the top Japanese pitcher. That honor goes to 33-year old Koji Uehara, a righty finesse pitcher with lots of experience but some injury history the last two years. Given the right environment, he could be a decent 4th or 5th starter right now, whereas Tazawa will need to prove himself in the minors for a while first.

Tazawa pitched for Nippon Oil in Japan’s corporate league, which is a much bigger deal than it sounds. Japan, like many Asian countries, has an economy dominated by large corporations, and these companies have tens of thousands of employees from which to choose. It might be comparable to the talent level you’d get in a league of NCAA I-AA schools or something like that. Most of the time it’s not worth paying them much attention, but every once in a while a Jim Bunning or Bob Gibson or Eddie Plank comes out of a school like that, so you can’t just write them off.

Rinku and Dinesh’s Blog of DOOM!

For those of you who want to follow the crazy adventures of Rinku and Dinesh, the Future of the Pittsburgh Pirates, they have a blog! They haven’t talked about their signing yet though. And their blog name does not include the word doom. Other than that, it is awesome.

Pittsburgh Sign Indian Pitchers

Found on Yahoo! Japan: the Pirates have signed Indian pitchers Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh. EastWindupChronicle had a detailed report on Patel and Singh earlier in the month. The two signed minor league contracts and will participate in the Pirates’ minor league camp next year.

Curt Schilling Heads to Persian Gulf as Part of USO Tour

Somebody get Colonel Maggie’s wheelchair out of mothballs!

Free agent and former Red Sox pitcher, Curt Schilling announced today that he will visit troops stationed in the Persian Gulf as part of a week-long USO/Armed Forces Entertainment tour. As part of a trip to “extend America’s well wishes,” Schilling will visit and shake hands with service members, sign autographs and pose for pictures. He will also talk baseball and share his experiences as a major league pitcher and 6-time All-Star. 

“I am extremely honored and humbled that the USO has allowed me to participate in a tour of the Persian Gulf,” said Schilling. “I would argue there has never been anyone more proud of being able to do this than I am. I know it’s very small in the grand scheme of things for the troops deployed in an active war zone, but this is absolutely a highlight of my life and something I’m as proud to be a part of as anything I’ve ever done. To be able to say thank you at a time of year that I can’t fathom being apart from my family is a true honor. I am proud to accept the invitation.”

Italy out to make mark on world stage

In 2009, Italy will have a new manager—Marco Mazzieri, who became manager of the Italian national team in 2007, will replace Matt Galante—and a new chance to make a name for itself on the international stage.

Though Italy likely loses some star power with the recent retirement of Mike Piazza, the team has current Major Leaguers who are willing to participate.

Is it a offer they couldn’t refuse?

Details on Boston’s Offer to Tazawa

Sponichi has published a detailed account of the contract Boston offered to Junichi Tazawa. The article also quotes ”They want me to come over, and I understand how I can develop. I feel like it’s a good team”. Nikkan Sports is reporting that Tazawa has already decided on the Red Sox, and says that he’ll be able to officially sign at the beginning of December.

Some highlights:

* 3 year, $3M contract (that’s $1M/year)
* Major League contract
* start off at class AA
* remain a starter
* personal translator

The dollar figure is a little surprising — there were numerous reports of a $6M offer earlier in the day. Maybe there is a bonus or incentive package that was left off of this report. We’ll learn more over the next couple days.

Two Cubans banned for planning defections

Former Cuban national team stars Yadel Marti and Yasser Gomez have been dropped from their Cuban league teams and been banned from playing baseball on the island for “committing a grave act of indiscipline,” according to a terse one-sentence note in Friday’s edition of Granma, the Communist Party paper.

Close observers of Cuban baseball believe the two, who were kicked off the Havana-based Industriales team just a week before the league’s season opener, were caught planning to defect. The length of the ban was not announced but in the past, Cuban players caught planning a defection were banned from ever playing in Cuba. As a result many of those players—including major league pitcher Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez—wound up defecting anyway. So there’s a good chance Marti and Gomez will be here for the start of spring training.

Marti, a 29-year-old right-hander, was named to the all-tournament team in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006 after pitching 12 2/3 scoreless innings in four appearances, helping Cuba to a second-place finish. Gomez. a 28-year-old outfielder, hit .394 in Cuban league play in 2007. He was a member of Cuba’s silver-medal team in the 2000 Olympics but did make the WBC team. Neither player made the Cuban team for last summer’s Beijing Olympics.

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Kawakami heads questionable Japanese free-agent class

With no stars expected to be posted this winter, just five players have stated their intent to play in the majors. Four are pitchers, including a marginal 39-year-old left-hander and small amateur right-hander Junichi Tazawa.

The safest bet in the group is Chunichi Dragons ace Kenshin Kawakami, 33. He is followed by Yomiuri Giants ace Koji Uehara, also 33, an intriguing right-hander.

“The question is how they’re going to react to pitching every fifth day,” said Marty Brown, who has been managing the Hiroshima Carp since 2006.

Waiting for Darvish: 2008/09 Offseason Edition.

Nigeria: Baseball Plans Big for 2009

“That will be a good starting point for us because America is the home of baseball and the meeting with the Ambassador will open doors for us to reach other America companies in Nigeria”, explains Jani Mohammed who is also the proprietor of LUBCON Oil.

The federation has also mapped out elaborate activities to mark the 20th anniversary of the game.

“The anniversary”, says the secretary of the federation, Kehinde Laniyan, “will afford the stakeholders the opportunity to come together for the betterment of the game.

“We’re looking forward to a very big celebration which will no doubt take the game to the next level.

“From the look of the things, the game can be popular if all lovers join hands together

I got nothing.

Matsuzaka commits to WBC

The 28-year-old’s signal of intent comes as Japanese officials met on Friday to select staff to assist new national coach Tatsunori Hara.

“It would be an honor to play,” Matsuzaka told reporters after arriving in Japan following the U.S. Major League Baseball season.

“I will keep myself in peak condition to play. I have not spoken much with coach Hara but he is a refreshing presence and very passionate about baseball. You can feel his energy.”

Matsuzaka did not play at this year’s Beijing Olympics in August when Japan failed to win a medal under Senichi Hoshino but was the most valuable player at the inaugural WBC in 2006.

Samurai Japan has Dice-K. I wonder, if they use him in a unexpected way, would they be rolling Samurai Dice?

South Side Sox: What Do We Know About the Impending Viciedo Signing?

The Cheat’s take on the Dayan Viciedo signing (ok, ok...not yet).

Dayan Viciedo was supposed to be introduced as the newest member of the White Sox in a press conference on Friday, but apparently visa issues--there’s always visa issues--may have derailed the event, though not the signing itself. The terms of the contract are as of yet unknown, but Phil Rogers put us in the $11M ballpark and you guys keep talking about 4-5 years (though I’m unsure where that info originated).

Until Viciedo is officially signed and plays a few spring training games all we’ll be able to do is speculate on his ability. Personally, I think the notion that he’ll compete for a job as the starting 3B this year is laughable, but I also thought that Alexei Ramirez should have gone to the minors out of camp last spring and thought he would probably end up in AA when the Sox signed him just before Christmas. So what do I know?

...So, is this a good signing?

The truth is, I don’t know. The Sox didn’t sign Viciedo looking to lock up some talent for a below market value. They signed him (or rather will sign him) to add more talent to their system. Period. The major league contract and the limitations that such a contract brings would seem to indicate their faith in Viciedo’s talent, but the contract’s overall value means Viciedo has to produce and produce relatively quickly to justify such a price. It’s a substantially riskier signing than your average top prospect.

Baseball With Nunchucks?

Japan has given the world some pretty good baseball players …

Ichiro, Wally Kaname Yonamine, Hideki Matsui, Kosuke Fukudome (jury’s still out) and the legendary Sadaharu Oh (and his World Record 868 Home Runs - suck it Barry) come to mind.

But none of them did anything as cool as this guy …

Watch as this martial arts master shows some incredible baseball skill by hitting a baseball with a pair of nunchaku.

If at first you don’t suceed, submit a post of a guy hitting baseballs with a nunchaku again! This is proof that Ninjas are good ballplayers, by the way, further making us fortunate that Japan will be called “Samurai Japan” and not “Ninja Japan” during the WBC.

L.A. Times: Brandon Wood released by Dominican winter team (RR)

Round-Tripper Home Award winner, is right…

Brandon Wood, the Angels’ top prospect and a candidate to start in their infield next season, has been dismissed from his winter club because of poor performance.

Wood hit .167 for Estrellas in the Dominican winter league, with one home run and 16 strikeouts in 48 at-bats. The club sent him home after 13 games.

“You’ve got to perform pretty much right off the plane,” Angels minor league director Abe Flores said.

General Manager Tony Reagins said the dismissal would not extinguish Wood’s chances of winning a roster spot in spring training.

“We put weight on the winter-ball season, but we’ll monitor how he is in spring training,” Reagins said. “He’ll get an opportunity to fight for a job, whether it be at shortstop or at third base.”

Ripken suspends clinics after State Department warning

Harrumph...some Iron Man.

Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. is suspending his baseball clinics for Nicaraguan youth because the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for the country.

The U.S. Embassy says Ripken suspended this week’s clinics in Leon after the leftist Sandinista party supporters clashed Sunday with opposition supporters over the Nov. 9 municipal elections. Two people were shot.

Since last week, Ripken and Nicaraguan native Dennis Martinez have provided baseball instruction to 300 children and 60 youth coaches in Managua and Granada. The two played together on the Baltimore Orioles.

Ripken is an American Public Diplomacy Envoy for the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Darrell Rasner sold to Japanese team

When the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Japanese Pacific League showed interest, Rasner told his agent, Matt Sosnick, to pursue the opportunity. Sosnick told ESPN.com on Saturday night that the Yankees had sold Rasner’s rights to the Golden Eagles for $1 million.

Rasner made less than $400,000 last season and was not eligible for salary arbitration. He said Sosnick was working out the details of his contract in Japan.

Rasner follows in the footsteps of legendary Yankee Jack Elliot…

Seibu wins in Asia Series baseball

The Seibu Lions edged the Uni-President Lions of Taiwan 1-0 on Sunday, winning Japan its fourth consecutive title of the Asian Series, which also features champions from China and South Korea.

It was Seibu’s first Asia Series title and comes after they topped the Pacific League and Japan Series this year.

Japan’s Lotte Marines won the inaugural Asian Series title in 2005, followed by victories by the Nippon Ham Fighters in 2006 and the Chunichi Dragons last year.

Will a non-Japan team ever win?

Japanese schoolgirl drafted by pro team

High school student Eri Yoshida was drafted by the Kobe 9 Cruise, a professional team in a new independent Japanese league that will start its first season in April.

“I always dreamed of becoming a professional,” Yoshida, who is 5-feet (152-centimeters) tall and weighs 114 pounds (52 kilograms), told a news conference Monday. “I have only just been picked by the team and haven’t achieved anything yet.”

Yoshida throws a side-arm knuckleball and says she wants to follow in the footsteps of Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield, who has built a successful major league career throwing a knuckleball.

Japan’s Independent Leagues continue the fine publicity headlines of their American Counterparts.

Baseball Star Ken Griffey, Jr. To Be Named Public Diplomacy Envoy

I thought the International Red Cross presidency job was filled…

Baseball star Ken Griffey, Jr is known for his smooth swing of the bat, but the US government is hoping that will translate into smooth diplomacy.

On Tuesday Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will officially name Griffey as America’s next Public Diplomacy envoy. In that role he will travel the world trying to improve the United States’ image abroad.

He will join other prominent Americans who have been named envoy: Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan, baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr, and actress Fran Drescher, star of the 1990s sitcom The Nanny.

Other public diplomacy envoys have chosen to focus their efforts on a specific issue close to their heart, though it remains to be seen which topic Griffey choose. For example, Drescher, who was named to the post earlier this year, is concentrating on women’s health and rights around the world. She is making her first official trips to Eastern Europe this fall.

10 Reasons Why the 2009 MLB Season Will Be Great to Follow

I Want My MLB Network! – Before baseball season even gets started, we get more baseball than ever before on television. January 1, rain, snow, or shine, baseball fans will get a 24/7/365 dose of MLB, and on basic cable, no less. The new MLB Network will get you 26 more games a season on the net, plus historical footage that has never seen the airwaves. Baseball junkies, unite!

Out with the Old New York, In with the New New York – MLB will role out more pretty shiny playthings in 2009 when both the Yankees and Mets unveil new stadiums. How many camera views will there be of the Hardrock Cafe in new Yankee Stadium? How many references to Ebbets Field will there be when Citi Field opens? While the passing of history, especially for Yankee Stadium is bitter sweet, admit it, it will give us something new to talk about long before any possible Mets season collapse, or wheelbarrows full of cash are thrown at free agents that pan out or crash for the Yankees.

Baseball and the World Look to Get Classic Again – The 2006 inaugural World Baseball Classic wound up being more than a hokey marketing ploy, it really did wind up living up to the hype, and became “classic” in a metaphorical sense while still in its infancy. Fans loved it, so much so that tickets were hard to come by, and merchandise sold out. This year, the WBC will give baseball fans something exciting to watch early in the year when the MLB season is just coming out of its slumber.

Every Movie Needs an Antagonist – Forget George Steinbrenner and the Yankees, the real Evil Empire is the Florida Marlins. Okay, maybe their not worthy of the “Empire” moniker, but they certainly know how to make you want to hiss. It wasn’t bad enough that the Marlins posted a ridiculous $21,811,500 in Opening Day payroll this year, they get to host the second round of the WBC, which means more revenues that will most likely never get spent on player payroll. Add in a grievance filed by the Players Association against the Marlins for reportedly not paying the full per diem to 13 players on the DL in spring training in Jupiter, FL this past year. Reportedly, the Marlins called Jupiter their “home market” and worked the loophole so that players were only paid the full per diem when on the road. It will be interesting in 2009 to see if hissing the Marlins becomes a national pastime.

Wow, the Marlins are tools.

MLB officials to make case for Olympics

“We are committed to bringing baseball back to the Summer Olympics on a permanent basis as soon as possible, hopefully by 2016,” said Bob DuPuy, MLB’s president and chief operating officer. “We are working with the IBAF in an effort to convince the IOC voters that baseball is a truly international sport with global appeal.”

There will be no decision about the future of Olympic baseball on Friday. The formal vote won’t be taken until Oct. 2, 2009, at the IOC Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark. The selection of the 2016 venue will also be announced during that session.

Baseball will make a 30-minute presentation on Friday followed by another 30 minutes of fielding questions.

Representing baseball will be Harvey Schiller, the president of the IBAF, Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson, and Paul Archey, MLB’s vice president of international business operations.

“This is a show-and-tell,” Schiller said. “The program commission then meets again in March in private to consider all your numbers and statistics and things. The IOC meets in June to make their recommendations to the full Congress, which votes in Copenhagen in October. So there’s no decision to be made until then.”

Baseball, softball, roller sports, rugby, golf, squash and karate will all be making presentations to the program committee. Aside from baseball and softball, none of the other sports has ever participated in the Summer Olympics.
..

Schiller is hoping to make a case within MLB and with the Players’ Association that there could be a creative solution that would facilitate the inclusion of star Major Leaguers the next time baseball is in the Olympics.

Curtis Granderson is the best person in Baseball. But I doubt that even he is a good enough guy to make the Old, White, European Snobby Aristocrat Males (OWESAMs)in the IOC to put Baseball in. Only hope would be those “creative solutions” they talk about. I mean, there has to be some way to get Evan Longoria to be in two places at once, right?

Yahoo: Passan: Viciedo is a delightful defector

Though brothers Livan and Orlando Hernandez have thrived in the major leagues, and Jose Contreras won a championship, and Alexei Ramirez and Yunel Escobar look like All-Stars in the offing, post-Revolution Cuba hasn’t produced a single superstar in more than 40 years, with Hall of Famer Tony Perez, Luis Tiant and Tony Oliva all leaving around the time Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista.

Whether Viciedo can fulfill such expectations elicits an array of opinions from talent evaluators. One National League scout based in the Dominican said Viciedo “has star written all over him.” An American League scout, attending Torres’ workout Wednesday in the Dominican town of Boca Chica, said: “Out of shape. But it looks like he can hit.” And an NL scouting director couldn’t get over Viciedo’s burgeoning belly – he’s gone from around 200 pounds as a 16-year-old to more than 230 – and said: “What’s he going to look like when he’s 21? And 25?”

Stadium - Baseball itself to seize

There are exactly 301 days until Regensburg in the Baseball World Cup starts. Especially the presence of U.S. Americans will attract thousands of fans. And this must be the capacity of Regensburg World Cup stadium to be increased significantly.The works are running at full speed accordingly.

While the conversion from many sides strongly supported financially, but much must also be self gestemmt.  So pack also Ludwig Glaser and Donald Lutz, with a professional contract in the U.S. are equipped themselves to shovel.

November 12th.... the lack of Baseball has forced me to use a Google Translation report from Germany as “news”.

Dominicans regroup for second Classic

Of the two co-favorites to fall short of expectations in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic, the breakdown of one caused national depression.
In the United States, a country of multiple passions, most people were able to get over it and move on.

But in the Dominican Republic, a fourth-place finish threw salt into gaping wounds of pride.

The Caribbean republic of eight million expected much more from the latest crest of a tidal wave of talent that had been battering the Major Leagues’ shores for decades.

The ‘06 disappointment, acerbated by the team getting knocked out of the tournament with a 3-1 loss in the semifinals to Caribbean-rival Cuba, appears to have only heightened the Dominicans’ make-good resolve.

It appears that the country’s 2009 manager—Stan Javier, who replaced Manny Acta after serving as GM for the first go-round—will have his pick of front-line players. Dominican big leaguers are storming the roster, so to speak: The number to already submit written applications to participate is enough to fill three rosters.

National depression? Is MLB hyping that up in order to help lay down the tracks for what will surely be a large marketing campaign (I’m gonna guess that MLB Network will have so many WBC ads you will be able to recite them in your sleep), or is this actually true?