Peta-Giant

...... that wouldn't happen.

Being a pretty hardcore Swallows fan I was more than a little gutted when I heard the news about Petagine's departure, and hoped that of all the teams he moved to it wouldn't be the Giants......... Oh well. The all powerful and omnipresent Yomuri strike again. I hope his dodgy knees giveway halfway through the season.

Any idea who Yakult is lining up to replace him? I heard about Mac Suzuki which is all fine and dandy on the pitching front but what about a replacement for Petagine? He will be a pretty hard act to follow (40 odd homers, 100 odd RBIs and .320+ average a season).

- I hope his dodgy knees giveway halfway through the season.

I am hoping his knees give way half way through spring training. And seriously, who is Yakult looking at to replace him with? Now their highest paid player is Furuta at 2-oku, and what do they plan on doing with the $11+ that they got by posting Ishii? The money has to be used somewhere.

I heard about Mac Suzuki which is all fine and dandy on the pitching front.

Doesn't seem like Mac will be coming to the Swallows any more. He seemed surprised himself when he found out that he had been drafted by the Orix BlueWave in the 2nd round and not the Yakult Swallows whom I think intended to draft him in the 4th round.

Also, Wakamatsu drew the paper from the ballot and it seems like Yakult has gotten Takai, the 18-yr-old southpaw who pitches at a max 151kmph. Takai, however, didn't seem too happy about it, a sign that he might go for the shakaijin leagues or go to university.

- What are the Giants going to do with their other
> expensive first baseman, Kiyohara?

A week or so ago (back when Hanshin were in the hunt for Petagine) Sankei Sports reported that one reason Hanshin might have an edge over the Giants was that they were prepared to offer him a contract guaranteeing he would be fielded nowhere but first base, while Yomiuri were going to put him in the outfield.

I heard something similar also. I can't really imagine Roberto running around the outfield though.......

Today's Daily Yomiuri states it clearly.

"Petagine, who hit 41 homers this season to finish runner-up to Matsui's 50, is expected to move from his customary first-base slot to the outfield. He will play right-field, with Yoshinobu Takahashi moving to Matsui's spot in center field."

I wonder if he'll adapt OK?

I'm sorry, but that's insane. Giants have done many insane things (signing Maru-chan when they had Kiyohara, etc), but this is an EXPENSIVE insane thing to do. It's their money, but I'll be the first one laughing when Peta is running around haplessly in Right Field. Not like Yoshinobu is the greatest CF in the world who can cover for him!

The Petagine signing isn't insane at all, though the idea of using him in rightfield is. Look at it this way: Kiyohara is almost a dead on cert to miss 40 games next season since he has been getting more and more injury prone and Petagine will fill in at first during those games. That could help him preserve his knees. Ultimately, though, I don't think that Petagine's knees are going to hold out if he has to play more than 80-90 or so games in the outfield.

Defensively, Takahashi will do a better job than Matsui and he certainly has a stronger arm and somewhat better speed than Matsui did. But even given that, the Giants will still have perhaps the worst defensive outfield in the Central League (though Hiroshima will give them a run for their money there).

The other thing that irked me about Yomiuri was that they got Masahiro Nagata, who has superstar tools and will probably be moved from shortstop to second base so that he can replace Nishi in 2-3 years. He could be the next Kazuo Matsui. Yikes.

Well, Gary, if that irks you, then this certainly won't put a smile on your face. I just read that the Giants have ALSO signed Rodney Pedraza.

And having Petagine in right field won't be any more comical (or tragic, depending on your point of view) than watching Maru-chan bumble about in left.

As a Giant fan I'm happy to have the offense he brings, but the team didn't really need him IMO. Takayuki Saitoh broke out this year with all the injuries the Giants suffered, and showed he should be starting (he played both right and first quite well, and performed well at the plate). They could have started Etoh, Motoki, or Kawai at third, and Etoh could have moved to first WHEN Kiyohara pulls a muscle staring at the floor in a "no-pan" shabu-shabu restaurant.

BTW I've posted my own little recap of games 1-3 of the Nichibei Series, at AccelerationOnline.com if anyone's interested.