Free Agents
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Re: Free Agents
[ Author: westbaystars | Posted: Nov 7, 2001 10:37 PM
| YBS Fan
]
It was announced yesterday (11/6) that a total of 11 players have filed for free agency out of 64 eligible. 4 of those 11 have stated that they are resigning with their respective teams, leaving the free agent market this year limited to a mere 7 ball players.
Someone had asked about Yakult's ace closer Takatsu on the Pro Yakyu mailing list. The answer to the inquisition is, yes, he is eligible for free agency this off season, but no, he did not file the paper work to try to jump to another team, nor challenge the Majors.
Starting off in the Central League, BayStars Tanishige and Komiyama have both filed and are entertaining offers. Veteran pitcher Komiyama says that he's interested in hearing offers from the Majors, but will resign with Yokohama if he doesn't get anything that he likes. Tanishige, will be hearing an offer from Chunichi on the 9th, and would really like to hear an evaluation from a Major League team.
From Chunichi, pitcher Maeda Yukinaga and slugging first baseman Yamasaki have both applied. Maeda apparently is interested in talking with Hara-shinkantoku and the Giants, while Yamasaki is #1 on Yokohama's list to bring some much needed home run power.
Moving over to the Pacific League, which often loses their best players to the Majors and/or the Central League, Nippon Ham's first baseman Kataoka is divided 50/50 between staying with the Fighting Ham and moving over to Kansai's most popular team, the Hanshin Tigers.
Orix has two players playing the free agent field. Popular outfielder Taguchi has expressed interest in Hanshin and the Majors. Veteran pitcher Katoh says that he's waiting to hear any offer from anywhere, and doesn't have any particular team in mind. Like pretty much all of the players, he notes that applying for free agency doesn't necessarily mean that he wants to leave the Blue Wave, just that he wants to hear how much other teams think he's worth.
Someone had asked about Yakult's ace closer Takatsu on the Pro Yakyu mailing list. The answer to the inquisition is, yes, he is eligible for free agency this off season, but no, he did not file the paper work to try to jump to another team, nor challenge the Majors.
Starting off in the Central League, BayStars Tanishige and Komiyama have both filed and are entertaining offers. Veteran pitcher Komiyama says that he's interested in hearing offers from the Majors, but will resign with Yokohama if he doesn't get anything that he likes. Tanishige, will be hearing an offer from Chunichi on the 9th, and would really like to hear an evaluation from a Major League team.
From Chunichi, pitcher Maeda Yukinaga and slugging first baseman Yamasaki have both applied. Maeda apparently is interested in talking with Hara-shinkantoku and the Giants, while Yamasaki is #1 on Yokohama's list to bring some much needed home run power.
Moving over to the Pacific League, which often loses their best players to the Majors and/or the Central League, Nippon Ham's first baseman Kataoka is divided 50/50 between staying with the Fighting Ham and moving over to Kansai's most popular team, the Hanshin Tigers.
Orix has two players playing the free agent field. Popular outfielder Taguchi has expressed interest in Hanshin and the Majors. Veteran pitcher Katoh says that he's waiting to hear any offer from anywhere, and doesn't have any particular team in mind. Like pretty much all of the players, he notes that applying for free agency doesn't necessarily mean that he wants to leave the Blue Wave, just that he wants to hear how much other teams think he's worth.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Some rights reserved.
The following table represents the players who have either committed to becoming free agents, still thinking about it, or were given their release.
Tanshige Motonobu
C
*
Maeda Yukinaga
Yamasaki Takeshi
P
OF
*
*
Tohyama Shohji
P
**
Murakami Takayuki
OF
R
Ohshima Kohichi
Taguchi Soh
IF
OF
T
*
Ishii Hiro
IF
R
Key:
** = Definatly declaring
* = Stated declaring
T = Thinking about declaring
R = Given his release
That's all I have time to write for now, as my lunch break is over. But I would like to note that the two BayStars, Komiyama and Tanishige, are seriously thinking about heading to the Majors. Can you say, "Seattle BayStars"?