Tigers Gaijin Fates

Like you said, Sheets will be on the borderline, probably depending on what he does for the remainder of the season. If he struggles he could very well be gone, though they did bring back Shane Spencer who hit worse than Sheets this year.

Williams has pitched great, despite all of the injuries and should be a lock to be back. Vogelsong has shown good stretches, like you mentioned, but seems to have a problem with the big inning, but should still be back as Hanshin needs all the starting pitching they can get.

Yan, is already gone after getting out of hand with the balk incident [Japan Baseball Daily]. In short, he hit Swallows' first baseman Shinishi Takeuchi after being called for a balk. Yan so far has 12 balks, which is a NPB single season record.

By the way, one more name that you forgot is Darwin Cubillian, who should definitely be retained, as he pitched well out of relief and as a occasional starter.

Tigers management have indicated that Vogelsang, Darwin, and Williams are assured of returning next year. Sheets, as you say, is borderline but may well survive given the lamentable performance of the rest of the batting line up. Yan will be looking for new employment.

I hadn't heard about Yan, just figured he was on 2-gun or injured. I think he was like the second highest-payed player on the team, so it's good to get rid of that weight anyway.

I didn't forget Darwin, just didn't bother to mention everyone. He was a surprise, as last year the reports were that he wasn't being resigned, but he was back this year and did some decent work in long relief. What did people think of him as a starter? I seem to remember him getting one or two starts this year and did a somewhat decent job. But just like everyone else, Okada pulled him from the rotation just as fast.

Hopefully Vogelsong will do well next year. You can tell he has a competitive spirit, so hopefully he can put some of the big innings behind him and get a fresh start. Barring that, he's still a better hitter than Hiyama, hehe.

I'm split on Sheets as well. I like the way he plays the game, and I like his versatility in the infield. But he just goes into too many slumps in timely situations.

Any word on other new foreigners that the Tigers might go after?

Darwin tends to fade drastically around the 4th inning, but is a very useful reliever.

I missed that one. Sources?

Do you mean Darwin's problems? He has nice stuff in innings 1-3, but after that has always run into trouble. Take a look at the 2005 victory DVD to see what I mean. This year we have his starts (two I believe) where he also shows this trait. He is a great reliever, but starter? No.

No, I meant "Tigers management have indicated ..."

It was in the Daily Sports and probably other sports papers. Sorry I can't remember which edition as I don't keep all of them.

One positive Andy Sheets brings is his good infield defense and versatility. A lot of other foreign players in Japan are generally gone if they don't hit.

But I doubt Andy will be back because of his age - 36 later this year - and the fact that Hanshin would not be able to cut his salary enough to make it worthwhile to retain him.