Brazell joins the Tigers

Craig Brazell has signed with Tigers on 25,000,000 yen contract with performance incentives of 20,000,000 yen. He drove in 87 RBIs for Seibu so knows and can hit in Japanese conditions. He will wear No. 67 and should be a valuable addition to the team. Watch out for another exciting fight song.

Hopefully a new face in the line-up will wake this team up. They are playing really poor baseball now.

Here is the puzzling thing - Tigers are practising Brazell in third. Arai has been doing well in this position so it doesn't make sense unless Arai is going to move back to first.

Maybe that explains why Sekimoto was moved to second for the series with the Fighters. But isn't Brazell a lefty?

Yes Brazell is a lefty.

Bats left-throws right.

So they are turning a lefty into a 3rd baseman?

Craig is a right handed thrower but left handed hitter. Third base will be fine for him. It previously sounded like he was a lefty thrower. Had that been the case, first base would be his only option.

OK, I was concerned they were putting a left-handed thrower at right. Of course at this stage I wouldn't put that past Mayumi. Anyway, I don't mind if Arai is switched back to first because I don't think he's especially good at third. Sekimoto used to play second, so no problems moving him back there. He was awful in the Sapporo series, but maybe just some jitters after suddenly being moved back there.

Looking at his stats from the time he played for Lions, I am not convinced yet that he is the right man to help Tigers. I think Mayumi is thinking too much about power which is having a negative effect on the team as a whole. I think all the talk about wanting more home runs is ruining Arai's swing.

As I've written before, the Tigers have seemed obsessed with more power the last few years as they've filled the right field spot with foreign players who didn't work out. They have had a good pitching staff the past few years, so no reason they couldn't have just built a team on pitching and speed.
You might be right about Arai. He still thinks he can hit out a bunch like he did when he played in that Little League park in Hiroshima. He should be able to hit for average, so he should be satisfied with just trying to knock in a lot of runs.

I've seen interviews of Mayumi where he more or less demanded more home runs from Arai. That is why he was moved down to the 5th spot, to stop thinking about getting on base before Kanemoto. I don't think the idea in itself is a bad one but so far it has not worked out so Mayumi needs to find a new strategy. Putting Arai in the 3rd spot before Kanemoto could see an improved Arai with a higher batting average and Sekimoto/Toritani taking the 2nd/6th spot and the new guy batting after Kanemoto as he is batting for power and not average.

Mayumi is not the one making decisions, Kido is. mayumi is just the face of the team. he was a tv commentator last year. the team as a whole stinks, from hitting to pitching, especially situational hitting. the team is so tight that you could not squeeze a greased BB up their rears. kido also even said that they do not want foreign players anymore

sounds like Kido needs to go. He is not doing this team any good. As for foreign players, when I read the box scores, the Japanese players are the ones not doing the job. Not even one hitter has a .300 average. That is sad.

The Daily Sports website says Brazell will make his debut with the first team today, June 5, against Orix. He will start at first and bat in the seventh spot in the lineup.

Link: http://www.daily.co.jp/tigers/2009/06/05/0001987699.shtml

Wow! What a debut!
It couldn't have turned out better for the big man.

Looks like "Bashin' Brazell" is at it again! Not a bad way to start things off.