Adjust Font Size: A A       Guest settings   Register

Killer Kyojin?

Discussion in the Open Talk forum
Killer Kyojin?
Realizing that Tuffy Rhodes has now been released it came to mind how many rather prominent careers have been "ruined" by the Giants. It may just well be the person achieves their prime with the previous team, signs a big contract with the Giants, then tapers off with injuries, off years, etc. Off the top of my head, a list of players who's career was never the same after leaving their previous team:

Name (previous team)
Tuffy Rhodes (Buffaloes)
Rodney Pedraza (Hawks)
Kenichiro Yoshinaga (Hawks)
Akira Etoh (Carp)
Kazuhiro Kiyohara (Lions - had a few decent years with the Giants)

The biggest exception I can think of is Hiroki Kokubo (also Hawks) and maybe Kimiyasu Kudoh (Lions then Hawks). Is there a pattern with the Hawks? I'm not sure because I'm a Hawks fan and have followed them closely - so I know the players.

It could also be a common factor with anyone who switches teams (Akiyama's stats definitely went down after going to the Hawks from the Lions).

Any thoughts?
Click to reply to this topic  Reply to this topic
Comments
Re: Killer Kyojin?
[ Author: Guest | Posted: Nov 11, 2005 9:37 AM ]

That list you have is quite short. The Giants have actually taken more cleanup hitters than that and completely ruined their careers (might not be their fault, but they did still manage to ruin the players' careers some how).

Katsumi Hirosawa, Swallows to Giants
Howell, Swallows to Giants
Hiroo Ishii, Buffaloes to Giants
Roberto Petagine, Swallows to Giants
Eric Hillman, Marines to Giants
Click to reply to this topic  Reply to this post
Re: Killer Kyojin?
[ Author: Something Lions | Posted: Nov 11, 2005 10:11 AM | SL Fan ]

Anyone who switches teams via free agency in Japan are bound to be past the average prime age of athletes (around 27) because it takes so many years to gain FA rights here. At the same time there's still some stigmatism attached to trades in NPB (teams tend to trade to get rid of problems, rather than gain strength), so the chances of traded players performing better are also slimmer than in MLB, I reckon.

So, I'm not sure if switching teams itself is a bad thing, it's rather that players that switch teams in Japan don't tend to be on the upswing of their careers.

Of course, the Giants are famous for signing bunch of big name FAs while not having enough positions to play them, "kaigoroshi" as they say.
Click to reply to this topic  Reply to this post
Re: Killer Kyojin?
[ Author: Jingu Bleacher Bum | Posted: Nov 11, 2005 1:04 PM | YAK Fan ]

While many great stars have slumped after moving to the Giants, I don't think it's a common factor for anyone switching teams. Just look at what Tomoaki Kanemoto has done since moving to the Tigers. Chunichi's Motonobu Tanishige has also improved a little after moving from Yokohama.
Click to reply to this topic  Reply to this post
Topic: Rakuten Proposing Merger with TBS? Previous Topic
Go back to the topic listing  Back to Topic List    Click to go to the top of the page  Top of the page
Next Topic Topic: Popularity of Baseball and TV Coverage
Discussion
About

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

Sidebar

Beta Version - Still a work in progress.

Search for Pro Yakyu news and information
Copyright (c) 1995-2024 JapaneseBaseball.com.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Some rights reserved.