Trades

Nippon Ham are apparently interested in acquiring Imaoka. This would involve Michael Nakamura becoming a Tiger and feelers have been put out to Tigers management already. I would be surprised to see this trade go ahead even if it did involve other players but why would Nippon Ham dump their star closer? And for Imaoka? His latter season was a big immprovement but still there is no guarantee he will continue to improve. Michael has been very consistent and would certainly be a welcome addition to Tigers lineup but I think this is a case of someone thinking aloud a la posting Darvish.

Interesting. Would love to see this trade happen, but doesn't sound logical. The Fighters are in desperate need of offense, and most signs suggest that Imaoka is washed up in that respect. With JFK falling apart and Fujikawa aching to go to MLB, of course Michael would be a welcome addition! But indeed just sounds like someone thinking aloud.

I am not able to connect the dots of how a Michael Imaoka trade has anything to do with a Darvish posting. Mayumi is thinking of making Kubota a starter and put an end to the JFK. Instead of Kubota Mayumi is thinking of Achison in mid relief and then Williams and Fuji. Kubota, Iwata, Shimo and Fukuhara as starters.

The Darvish posting was a similar example of someone thinking aloud. It had about the same level of likelihood that it would actually happen.

Mayumi needs to bring Kojima and Uezono into the lineup and to his credit he has indicated he is also thinking along these lines. To his debit he has also indicated that he still has hopes for Sugiyama.

Despite not having a true ace, I'm not too worried about our starters. Andoh had a decent year, Shimo came back with a great year, and Iwata was a strong rookie. In addition, Ishikawa looked good at the end of the year and Uezono should be in the rotation. Fukuhara was also off to a decent start until the injury. I'm more worried about the relief. Kubota and Williams were inconsistent and Watanabe had a lot of trouble after a solid start. Egusa is decent when he starts innings, but he lets in too many inherited runners. Considering all that, a shake-up would be interesting. I don't see Kubota as a starter, but you never know. If Arai is healthy and Akahoshi and Kanemoto have good numbers again, we should be able to score enough to keep us in games. After the collapse this year, I can't wait for 2009!

Its going to take more than just some minor tweaking to bring the tigers up to the level where they can hang with the giants for the full year. Arai gave the team a focus and much needed punch in the three spot after suffering through the Andy Sheets black hole year before this one. When he went down the wheels came off.

The Giants went out and spent millions to get game and now they are one victory away from another JS title. The Tigers need to step it up in a big way to compete, that means building in reserves of talent to cover for the tigers stars when they hit slumps or go out on injury. And they need a decent catcher too, one that does not issue free passes to second base.

Arai was definitely the key. He had a pretty serious injury, so I'm hoping he can stay healthy next year. He really gave Kanemoto the protection he needed in that 3 spot. On paper, several players had really good years (Kanemoto, Akahoshi, Sekimoto, Toritani), but they just couldn't deliver the timely hits in the second half as a team. If Arai is healthy and the starting core of players can have good years again, hopefully we can play like we did in the first half this year.

As expected the Michael/Imaoka trade did not go through. Tigers showed absolutely no interest and Michael was eventually traded to the Giants in exchange for Nioka. Tigers main free agent targets are Miura of BayStars, Shimizu of Lotte and Hashimoto of Lotte. It is unlikely any of the first team will be traded this year.

Speaking of new players, when are we going to sign him?
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=2702

Considering that it's almost certainly untrue I would say he has a long wait.

Come on! If Motoki was involved, it must have journalistic integrity! Sarcastic chuckle...

With the failure of the Miura bid Tigers are reconsidering trades. Candidates are Lotte's Kubo or Nippon Ham's Yagi. On offer would be Kubota and/or Sugiyama. Whilst I'm happy to see the back of Sugiyama I would be sad to see Kubota go but if he stays it's almost certain he will be used as a starter and not in relief.

Takuya Kikoh is set to join Tigers from Lotte. The number six draft pick by Lotte in 2005 he spent most of his time on the farm team. Yasuhiro Nakamura will also return to the Tigers. Tigers number four draft pick in 2003 he was traded to Nippon Ham in 2007. He played no games in 2008 and was given a pink slip by the Fighters at the end of the season.

BTW, I believe Michael's name is actually Micheal.

Thanks for that - like everyone I hadn't paid attention to the difference.