WBC stars Darvish, Iwakuma to start 2009 Japan baseball season

A general short preview of the upcoming NPB season.

Yu Darvish and Hisashi Iwakuma combined last month to help Japan win the World Baseball Classic. On Friday they’ll be competing against each other as Japan opens its 2009 regular season.

...
Iwakuma, 27, who won 21 games last season for the Rakuten Eagles, attracted the interest of major league scouts at the tournament and will be looking to help the Eagles improve on their fifth-place finish last season.

Darvish, 22, entering his fifth season as a member of the Nippon Ham Fighters, also made a name for his himself at the WBC and will be on the radar of major league teams for years to come. Widely regarded as the best pitcher in Japan, Darvish had 16 wins last season for the Fighters.

Former New York Yankees pitcher Darrell Rasner will join Iwakuma in the starting rotation for the Eagles. Rasner signed a one-year contract with the Eagles after being released by the Yankees after the 2008 season.

Among the other storylines the article brings up is Valentine’s final year, Tuffy Rhodes (who has now been in Japan so long that he no longer officially counts as a Gaijin) and Kevin Mench (who will help the Hanshin Tigers prove that the Curse of the Colonel is over).