FromJapan

Ippei is scheduled to attend Ohtani's press conference on December 14, appears to be joining the Dodgers. Reference: (a Japanese sports newspaper) The Chunichi Sports on Dec. 12, 2023

Yamamoto is represented by Joel Wolfe (Wasserman). Wasserman's Headquarters is located in LA.

There was an offer from a certain NPB team, but Tsutsugo turned it down. By the way, an all-natural turf baseball park, which Tsutsugo spent about $1,400,000 of his own money to build, has been completed in his hometown of Hashimoto City, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. It is the first baseball park in Japan to use the same grass as Anaheim Stadium.

The posting system has changed since Ohtani's transfer. If Sasaki were to transfer now, there would be no benefit for Chiba Lotte Marines as there would be little transfer money for the team.

When applying for a passport in Japan, names must be written in Roman letters using Hepburn Romanization, the standard system for transcribing Japanese into Latin characters [1]. Among several Hepburn notations, the one that omits diacritics without distinguishing long and short vowels is the default for the passport. Under this format, his name would be written as "Otani". However, he may choose to insert an "h" after the "o" to indicate a long vowel, "Ohtani", as long as this spelling remains consistent for future application of the passport. I cannot confirm whether his actual passport uses "Ohtani" or "Otani". Starting in 2013, Ohtani's first season with the Nippon Ham Fighters, his uniform already displayed the "Ohtani" spelling. However, many English newspapers published in Japan used "Otani". In November 2016, Jon Morosi informed the author of the reference [2] that MLB.com had switched to "Ohtani", and articles on the website written by him would reflect this change. At that time, the NPB's official English website still used "Otani" on its player roster page. Currently, the notation of long vowels in NPB is arbitrary. Sadaharu Oh [3], the lifetime home run record holder in Japan, was known as the player to add an "h" to a long "o" vowel in the English spelling of his name. 1, (Wikipedia) Hepburn romanization 2, (Yahoo! Japan on November 17, 2016) "Ohtani" or "Otani"? 3, (Wikipedia) Sadaharu Oh

Senga (Mets) already returned to Japan in mid-October. If the Mets can't land Yamamoto, they will likely target Imanaga instead.

On December 7th (JST), Shota Imanaga's agent, Hasegawa (Octagon), responded to a Japanese interview. "Shota Imanaga has interest from over 10 teams, although there are various levels of interest. Many teams want a left-handed starting pitcher. He has already held interviews with multiple teams online. Unless the destinations of Ohtani and Yamamoto are decided first, the market will not move easily." Imanaga's comment after the players meeting of Yokohama DeNA BayStars on the same day: ”Personally, it hasn't sunk in yet, but I'm really happy that many teams are interested in me at the age of 30.” Source of Imanaga's comment in Japanese: Nippon Television Network News on December 8

I have partially translated the article below. Reference in Japanese: Bunshun Online on March 30, 2023 In February 2012, when former Red Sox player Hideki Okajima signed a minor league contract with the Yankees, Ippei was hired by the Yankees as his exclusive interpreter. However, Okajima was unable to pass a physical check conducted during his provisional contract because an abnormality was found in his left shoulder, his contract was invalidated. Ippei's contract was also cancelled.

In response to comments criticizing Ohtani and his agent for not disclosing information regarding his own free agency, a Japanese sports news article introduced Erica Weston's post as follows. ”A reporter for the Angels' local broadcast station who knows Ohtani well, sarcastically defends him.”

In this shop, Ohtani goods were the most popular among individual players, but there were also Trout T-shirts. Angels caps

On my way home from work, I stopped by "SELECTION", the sports goods shop in Tokyo. It's a fish-shaped Trout hat that happened to be in the photo I took inside the store. So I don't know the price.

(Link) Ako Gishisai - Japan Travel Ako: One of the domain names in western Japan during the feudal era Gishi: Loyal retainer Sai: Festival (it is close to Memorial Service) ------ My Cover Photo is Himeji Castle's keep, designated National Treasures of Japan, situated approximately 18.5 miles from the ruins of Ako Castle. ------ #17 is filled. On December 2nd (3rd in JST), Kanta Maeda (Tigers) was interviewed on Japan's Sports TV Show. He said that Ohtani's destination would be decided in about five days. On November 3rd, the day before the Winter Meetings, Washington, Minassian, and other team officials entered the venue.

This team was founded in 1950 by the Japanese National Railways abbreviated as Kokutetsu in Japanese, and was named the Kokutetsu Swallows. The nickname "Swallows" is named after the Tsubame, which means bird swallow in Japanese, a limited express train run by Japan National Railways at the time. The team was then sold and had a different nickname, but when Yakult became a sponsor, it returned to its original nickname, the Swallows.

On November 8, NPB announced Dillon Peters (Angels 2019 - 2021) as a free agent. He had played as a starting pitcher of Tokyo Yakult Swallows 18 games this season, going 6-5 with a 3.22 ERA. He was scheduled to be on the mound on September 8th, but due to poor lower body condition, he was unable to pitch and returned to the United States on September 13th. (Reference in Japanese) Nikkan Sports on November 13, 2023 Recent rumors...

On December 1, infielder David MacKinnon (Angels 2017 - 2022) was removed from the roster of Saitama Seibu Lions and announced as a free agent. It was reported that this was because they could not agree on the amount of the contract fee. Seibu's general manager Watanabe revealed that he was still negotiating with MacKinnon to stay. MacKinnon is now in the US. (Link) His stats in NPB for 2023 season By the way, Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed only two home runs 2023 season, but MacKinnon hit a two-run home run from Yamamoto on May 6, 2023. (YouTube) MacKinnon's 2-run HR from Yamamoto MacKinnon's evaluation of Yoshinobu Yamamoto is below. (Partial Quotation) "Yamamoto could win the Cy Young Award next year." "It wasn’t fun facing him." (Link) The Athletic on Nov 27, 2023 Projecting Yoshinobu Yamamoto: What to expect from the Japanese star pitcher

Japanese version. The seven Chinese characters (kanji) to the right of Ohtani mean ”the Outstanding Designated Hitter”. Shohei Ohtani wins the Outstanding Designated Hitter Award for the third time He is the second player in history to achieve this feat for three consecutive seasons Following the MVP award, it was an honor befitting his great season

NPB's Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and Orix Buffaloes are interested in acquiring Cabbage. The Hawks and Buffaloes are the teams those Senga (Mets) and Yoshida (Red Sox) belonged to until 2022, respectively. (References in Japanese) Sponichi Annex on October 19, 2023 SANKEI DIGITAL on November 27, 2023

(YouTube, From 3:20) Interview with director Kuriyama on November 29, 2023 Kuriyama was the manager of the NPB Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, which Ohtani belonged to during his NPB era, and was the manager of the 2023 WBC Japan team. All eyes are on which team's uniform Shohei Ohtani will wear next season. When a reporter asked Kuriyama a direct question, ”Where is Ohtani going next season?" He acted as if he knew, "Is it okay for me to say this?" But he quickly replied with a wry smile, "That's not true." "He's thinking about a lot of things right now. It won't take long, and I'm sure he'll tell everyone properly. I hope you'll support him wherever he goes." When followed by a question, "Have you received any information about which team Ohtani will go to?" He denied, "I haven't received any information, it really hasn't come to me!" "If his information had actually come to me... , I can't make jokes like this," he said with a laugh.

To commemorate pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto's naming of the Sawamura Award, the Orix Buffaloes have released a video of his pitching (various breaking balls) this year. (YouTube 3m17s) BsTV on November 28th, 2023. Background music is somewhat noisy. His pitching form starting in 2023 season is characterized by moving his left leg low and smoothly shifting his balance forward.

Hisashi Yamada was a submarine pitcher (1969 - 1988) for the Hankyu Braves, the predecessor team of the Orix Buffaloes to which Yamamoto belongs. Ichiro also belonged to Orix during his time at NPB.

Maeda, who has a total of 162 wins between Japan and the United States, spoke in October as follows: "I'll be 36 next year, so it's not like I'll be able to pitch for another 10 or 20 years. I've had surgery on my elbow, so I think I'll be able to pitch for at least five more years, and my goal is to win 200 games between Japan and the U.S." (Reference in Japanese) NHK NEWS WEB on November 29th, 2023 The Tigers were the first to formally offer him. He immediately decided to sign the Tigers, who gave him high praise as a starting pitcher. (Reference in Japanese) SANKEI DIGITAL on November 27th, 2023

Maeda and Fujinami are represented by Scott Boras.