2003-4 Free Agents
- P Komura
Komura? Can't find him in the team or player lists.
The ballyhooed pair of K. Matsui and Iguchi will draw MLB interest. The only others I could see getting a MLB nibble are the Hawks' Muramatsu and the Buffaloes' Ohmura. It's pretty easy to leave out almost all of the guys over 30 because they're in decline, and that diminshes any interest MLB would have in them.
Jim Albright
- Irabu (Hanshin)
- Shimoyanagi (Hanshin)
- Takatsu (Yakult)
- Muramatsu (Daiei)
- Matsui (Seibu)
All but Muramatsu are considering the Majors. All but Takatsu are considering other teams within Japan.
Reports state that the Mets and Braves are both interested in Shimoyanagi.
In the past, Daiei has stated that they will not negotiate with any player who declares free agency. They appear to have changed their minds this year and have stated that, after Muramatsu has tested the market as he would like, that they will still talk with him. The domestic market for Muramatsu is heating up. Both Orix and Nippon Ham have expressed strong interest in him, and are both requesting meetings in the near future.
The Giants and Nippon Ham have both expressed interest in Little Matsui, and the Lions are hoping that they can keep him.
Jim Albright
So far as stolen bases is concerned, he finished second [leaders page] with 32, 10 behind team mate Iguchi who had 42 stolen bases. Had he played the additional 31 games he was out injurred, he'd have given Iguchi some competition, for sure. Also, you might want to note that this was the most stolen bases for Muramatsu since he stole 42 in 1997 [Muramatsu's profile page]. The only Stolen Base Crown that Muramatsu has came in 1996 when he stole 58 bases in 108 games.
This is a site about Pro Yakyu (Japanese Baseball), not about who the next player to go over to MLB is. It's a community of Pro Yakyu fans who have come together to share their knowledge and opinions with the world. It's a place to follow teams and individuals playing baseball in Japan (and Asia), and to learn about Japanese (and Asian) culture through baseball.
It is my sincere hope that once you learn a bit about what we're about here that you will join the community of contributors.
Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Some rights reserved.
- October 28 - November 6, 2003
- November 7, 2003
- November 8, 2003
As you can see, no player may discuss signing with another ball club until November 8. Until then, where any given player (i.e. K. Matsui) will go is complete speculation and I will have no comment on the matter. Japanese and foreign (MLB) clubs must wait until November 8 to talk with potential free agents or risk tampering charges.Qualifying players may submit, in writing, that they wish to exercise their right to free agency to their respective team.
The respective ball clubs notify the Commissioner's Office of players who have declared free agency.
Lift of ban against negotiating with other teams.
Now that that's clear, this is the list of candidates by team and position:
Hanshin Tigers
P Yabu Keiichi
Chunichi DragonsP Irabu Hideki
P Shimoyanagi Tsuyoshi
P Ishige Hiroshi
IF Yagi Hiroshi
IF Kuji Teuyoshi
IF Hirosawa Katsumi
P Yamamoto Masahiro
Yomiuri GiantsP Kitoh Makoto
P Ochiai Eiji
IF Tatsunami Kazuyoshi
IF Sakai Tadaharu
OF Sekikawa Koichi
P Kawamoto Yasuyuki
Yakult SwallowsIF Kiyohara Kazuhiro
IF Etoh Akira
IF Gotoh Koji
P Takatsu Shingo
Hiroshima Toyo CarpC Furuta Atsuya
IF Suzuki Ken
IF Hamana Chihiro
IF Dobashi Katsuyuki
OF Iida Tetsuya
P Sasaoka Shinji
Yokohama BayStarsC Nishiyama Shuji
C Seto Terunobu
IF Nomura Kenjiro
OF Kimura Takuya
OF Maeda Tomonori
OF Ogata Koichi
OF Machida Kojiro
C Nakajima Satoshi
Fukuoka Daiei HawksC Nakamura Takeshi
IF Ishii Takuro
IF Taneda Hitoshi
IF Ogawa Hirofuji
OF Saeki Takahiro
P Yoshida Shuji
Seibu LionsC Taguchi Masanori
C Bohnishi Koji *
IF Torigoe Yusuke
OF Muramatsu Arihito
OF Ohmichi Noriyoshi
C Itoh Tsutomu *
Osaka Kintetsu BuffaloesIF Matsui Kazuo
IF Ueda Kiroaki
P Takamura Hiroshi
Chiba Lotte MarinesP Akahori Motoyuki
P Yoshida Toyohiko
P Shimada Naoya
C Matoyama Tetsuya
IF Igarashi Akihito *
OF Ohmura Naoyuki
P Hashimoto Takehiro *
Nippon Ham FightersIF Hatsushiba Kiyoshi
IF Hori Koichi
OF Kakeuchi Tetsuya
OF Satoh Yukihiko
IF Tanaka Yukio
Orix BlueWaveIF Ohshima
Note: Players with an "*" have announced that they are retiring.
[Admin: I'll add profile links and full names later. Just wanted to get this information out.]
[Corrected some names and added links on Oct 30, 2003 8:58 PM JST]