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Baseball / Japanese Baseball

Ace Tanaka leads Eagles quest to reach Japan Series for first time

SENDAI –

Masahiro Tanaka’s record-setting regular season is over and starting Thursday, he and his Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles teammates will set their sights on making more history in the final stage of the Pacific League Climax Series against the Chiba Lotte Marines.

After winning the franchise’s first pennant, the Eagles will turn their attention to bringing the Japan Series to Sendai for the first time.

But to get there, they will need to defeat the Marines in the best-of-six series at Kleenex Stadium. After going a record 24-0 this year, Tanaka is slated to start Game 1.

During the regular season, Tanaka went 3-0 in three starts against the Marines with a 0.75 ERA.

“I don’t feel any nerves yet, but there is a feeling that at last it’s finally starting,” Tanaka said on Friday, when he went through his normal pre-start routine.

“I don’t think it’s any different from the regular season, but it’s very important that I take the lead in order for the team to gain momentum. I want to go after our opponents.”

Eagles skipper Senichi Hoshino has managed in three Japan Series but is making his debut in the Climax Series, a format that was adopted in 2007.

“Surprisingly, everyone seems calm and collected. Perhaps some nerves will come out tomorrow,” he said. “There’s no urge to do anything different, just go with our usual arrangements, I think.”

The Marines struggled at the end of the regular season but regained their footing in the decisive final game of the first stage against the Seibu Lions.

“I want Tanaka to do what he needs to do — to slow them down,” Hoshino said.

As league champs, the Eagles begin the series with one win to their credit and will advance to the Japan Series if the final stage ends in a tie.

The winner here will take on the winner of the CLCS final stage at Tokyo Dome between the league champion Yomiuri Giants and the Hiroshima Carp.

The Eagles went 14-10 against the Marines this season and were 10-2 against them in Sendai. Lotte, however, went into its first-stage series at Seibu Dome having gone 3-9 there this season.

The Marines will go with out-of-sorts, left-handed ace Yoshihisa Naruse, who pitched two good games against the Eagles early in the season.

Naruse, however, hasn’t pitched well since June 8, spent three months on the farm due to “poor form,” and was hammered in Lotte’s season finale, when the Marines needed to win to clinch home-field advantage in the first stage.

Ironically, the previous Sendai-based team to play in the Japan Series was Lotte.

The 1974 PL champion Lotte Orions’ principle home park that year was the same stadium. Unfortunately at that time, the park did not have the required capacity to host Series games and Lotte’s home games were played at Tokyo’s Korakuen Stadium.

Since entering baseball as an expansion franchise in 2005, Rakuten has remodeled the stadium and added seats — although the team has had to rush to add even more this autumn to reach an acceptable capacity for Series play.

Buster Olney @Buster_ESPN

Bidding on Cuba defector Jose Abreu is expected to be for a $70 million deal sources say. White Sox, Astros, Rangers viewed as frontrunners.

[Sounds about right to me. I guess it all depends on how much we want to bite the bullet to advance to the next level. Abreu is one helluva hitter and not too bad a defender.]

Two more hits for Jesus Aguilar, two more runs scored, and another rbi. One of those hits was a solo job giving Jesus two in six games. His average plummeted to .591 on the 2-5 night. Six games! Six multi-hit games. Aguilar is "en fuego".

Ugueth Urbina is playing baseball again. He pitched a scoreless inning, walked one, and struck out one. The Leones team decided to give Urbina a chance to pitch again and would you believe he was involved, not in any deaths, but a contract dispute?!?!?! WoW!

Around the Farm: October 16, 2013
Tyler Naquin

By Michael Goodman

October 17, 2013

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Around the Farm (ATF) takes a quick look at some of the daily performances by Indians prospects. This is a special fall and winter ball version of ATF that recaps all the offseason action by Indians players in the Arizona Fall League and the Caribbean Leagues. The positions listed below are where the player was playing in the game.

Arizona Fall League:

Jake Lowery (Peoria Javelinas, C): 1-for-3. In his second appearance of the fall, Lowery went 1-3 with a single. He’s now 2-6 this offseason playing at most twice a week as a taxi-squad player. Defensively, Lowery gave up three stolen bases in four attempts.

Tyler Naquin (Surprise Saguaros, CF): 1-for-4, R, 2 K. Naquin led off the game with a single against Giants’ top pitching prospect Kyle Crick, but was silent afterward. As was a common theme for Indians farmhands on the night, Naquin finished 1-4 (two strikeouts) with Surprise’s only run scored on the night. After striking out in over 22% of his at-bats in Carolina and 25% in Akron last season, the two strikeouts are something that we don’t want to see.

Joe Wendle (Surprise Saguaros, 2B): 1-for-4, K. Batting behind Naquin, Wendle followed with a single of his own in the first off of Crick. That would be his only highlight of the night as he also finished 1-4. Following up a big season at Carolina, Wendle hasn’t gotten off to a good start in Arizona as he is hitting .154 in the early going.

Tony Wolters (Surprise Saguaros, C): 1-for-4, K, PB. Wolters slid back behind the plate defensively in this game. He allowed his second passed ball, but also threw out a would-be base stealer. Like Naquin and Wendle he went 1-4 on the night and raised his batting average to a mere .143 thus far.

Shawn Armstrong (Surprise Saguaros, RP): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. Armstrong pitched a scoreless inning in the fifth for Surprise. He struck out one, walked one, and allowed a hit in his inning of work. It’s his third inning of work this fall, and even though it wasn’t particularly sharp, it was his best outing yet.

Venezuela Winter League:

Jesus Aguilar (Leones del Caracas 1B): 2-for-5, 2 R, HR, RBI, K. Aguilar tallied his sixth straight multi-hit game in a row and hit his second home run of the offseason. Aguilar continues to dominate in Venezuela, leading the league in batting average and runs scored. It is this kind of showing that gives promise to the Indians search for a middle of the order right-handed bat for the big league team where maybe that guy is already in the organization.

Ezequiel Carrera (Navegantes del Magallanes CF): 1-for-4, R, HR, RBI. Carrera isn’t long for the Indians organization, but he did manage his first home run of the offseason. Overall, it was just a 1-4 night for Carrera and for the first time since the Venezuela league opened, he failed to draw a walk.

Baseball / Japanese Baseball

Unbeaten Tanaka leads Eagles past Marine

Kyodo

Oct 17, 2013

SENDAI –

Masahiro Tanaka’s unbeaten year continued on Thursday, when the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles ace defeated the Chiba Lotte Marines 2-0 to win Game 1 of the Pacific League Climax Series Final Stage.

Before a Kleenex Stadium-record crowd of 24,332, Tanaka’s shutout lifted the league champion Eagles to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. As champions, they have a one-win advantage.

Tanaka, who went a record 24-0 in the regular season, pitched a seven-hit shutout — his third complete-game victory in three career postseason games. The right-hander walked one and struck out nine.

“It was a joy to be able to play baseball in a game that everyone was psyched up for that played out like the way it did,” said Tanaka, who was pushed to the limit by a revival game from Marines ace Yoshihisa Naruse.

“When Tanaka pitches, we play with some confidence. He doesn’t lose.”

Game 2 on Friday will see Takahiro Norimoto, who set the Rakuten record for wins by a rookie with 15, against Seth Greisinger — who twice led the Central League in wins but has struggled with shoulder trouble this year.

“It’s said we can’t win when Tanaka doesn’t pitch, so we need to go out and disprove that,” Eagles captain Motohiro Shima said.

Before a Kleenex Stadium-record crowd of 24,332, Tanaka’s shutout lifted the league champion Eagles to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. As champions, they have a one-win advantage.

There are advantages and incentives to winning league championships in Japanese baseball. The champions enter the series with a 1-0 lead even though they have not played any games in the final stages of the Climax Series. The winner of this series moves on to their "world series" against the Central league winners.

Baseball / Japanese Baseball

Sugano delivers as Giants move closer to Japan Series

by Jason Coskrey

Staff Writer

Oct 17, 2013

Tomoyuki Sugano grew up wanting to pitch in an important game for the Yomiuri Giants.

The rookie right-hander joined the team to much fanfare this season, and in his first playoff start proved he was worth the wait.

Sugano out-pitched Hiroshima Carp ace Kenta Maeda, and Takayuki Terauchi provided all the support he needed with a three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning as the Giants beat the Carp 3-0 in Game 2 of the Central League Climax Series Final Stage on Thursday night at Tokyo Dome.

“I had a special feeling entering the game,” Sugano said. “It was a must-win game for Hiroshima, and that’s why they started Maeda-san. They had the momentum, but I tried to not be too passive against them.”

The Giants have won the first two games of the series which, coupled with the automatic one-game advantage they have as CL champions, leaves them one win away from advancing to the Japan Series for the second consecutive year.

Red-hot Tribe prospect Aguilar helps power Caracas

Indians No. 17 prospect Jesus Aguilar continued his torrid Venezuelan League start on Wednesday, homering to help lead Caracas to an 11-2 win over Caribes.

By Adam Berry / MLB.com | 10/17/2013 11:52 A.M. ET

Venezuelan Winter League

Caracas 11, Caribes 2

Led by the league's top two hitters -- Indians' No. 17 prospect Jesus Aguilar and Tigers farmhand Danny Dorn -- and a strong pitching performance from five pitchers, Caracas rolled to a big win over Caribes on Wednesday. Aguilar finished 2-for-5 with a homer and two runs scored, making his average .591 (13-for-22) over the first six games of the season. The 29-year-old Dorn, who's been in Triple-A since 2009, hit a homer and a double and drove in two runs to raise his average to .478.

Caracas Starter Tiago Da Silva struck out five over five scoreless innings before giving way to former Major Leaguer Ugueth Urbina, who tossed a scoreless sixth.

Caracas scored two runs in the second on Daniel Mayora's homer to left and two more in the third, when Dorn and Mayora doubled and a wild pitch scored Mayora. Dorn tacked on a two-run homer in the fourth, and Luis Rodriguez hit a three-run shot in the fifth. Aguilar's sixth-inning homer gave Caracas a 10-0 advantage, and former big leaguer Bobby Abreu had a ground-rule double and scored later that inning. Caribes scored a run in the eighth and another in the ninth, the former on a single by Royals Minor League outfielder Gorkys Hernandez and the latter on a homer by Oscar Salazar.

Magallanes 3, Zulia 2

Center fielder Ezequiel Carrera, who's seen brief Major League time with the Indians and Phillies, opened the scoring with a homer to left field. Magallanes added another run in the seventh, when Adonis Garcia singled to right and scored on a Frank Diaz double to left. Mario Lisson gave his team a 3-0 lead with a leadoff shot to center in the ninth.

After two two-out singles, an error, a hit batter and a wild pitch, Zulia was within a run with men at second and third, but Yoel Hernandez retired Adrian Sanchez to get out of the jam.

La Guaira 4, Lara 2

La Guaira used 10 pitchers and rallies in the sixth and seventh innings to grind out a win over Lara on Wednesday. No. 1 Dodgers prospect Joc Pederson drew three walks and scored a run for Lara, and Seattle's Jesus Montero went 2-for-4 while playing first base. Lara also got two hits, including a double, from No. 11 Marlins prospect Jesus Solorzano.

But the game belonged to La Guaira, led by a 6-for-15 performance from its first four hitters: Rangers No. 2 prospect Luis Sardinas (1-for-4, two runs), No. 9 White Sox prospect Carlos Sanchez (2-for-3, run), designated hitter Cesar Suarez (1-for-3, RBI) and first baseman Andy Wilkins (2-for-5). Lara took a 2-1 lead in the first on Joe Thurston's two-run double to right, but La Guaira manufactured the tying run in the sixth on a groundout, and used an infield single, a sacrifice bunt, a throwing error, a wild pitch and Suarez's single to score two in the seventh.

Aragua 6, Margarita 1

After being held hitless for four innings, Aragua broke out in a five-run fifth inning and rolled on to a 6-1 win over Margarita on Wednesday. Jim Murphy doubled and Guillermo Quiroz singled him home to open the scoring, then Jose Martinez was hit by a pitch and Juan Infante walked to chase starter Luis Chirinos. But Aragua used two run-scoring groundouts and RBI singles from Jermaine Mitchell and Alex Romero to open up a big lead the club wouldn't relinquish.

Mexican Pacific League

Guasave 12, Mazatlan 0

Orioles farmhand Zelous Wheeler and second baseman Jose Rodriguez drove in three runs apiece as Guasave used a pair of four-run innings to roll past Mazatlan. Rodriguez got right to work in the first, doubling home Eduardo Arredondo. Wheeler got in on the action in the third, blasting a two-run shot to left-center. Rodriguez then singled, stole second and came around to score on Jesus Cota's single. Guasave put up another run in the third on shortstop Walter Ibarra's error.

Rodriguez drove in another run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly, and he and Wheeler were in the middle of Guasave's sixth-inning rally as well. After back-to-back doubles and Arredondo's walk, Wheeler knocked an RBI single to center and took second on Bryan Peterson's throwing error. Rodriguez scored Arredondo on a groundout, and Wheeler scored on Mark Hamilton's groundout to first base. Wheeler and Rodriguez scored in the eighth on a double-play groundout and Jesus Vega's single, respectively.

Hermosillo 2, Los Mochis 1

Hermosillo got the big hit when it counted, including an RBI triple by Carlos Gastelum in the third inning and a solo home run by first baseman Jesse Guitierrez in the fourth to beat Los Mochis in a tight contest. Along with Gastelum, Jose Amador also had two hits in the game. Juan Oramas got his first win of the season, allowing just two hits in five innings of work. He also struck out eight.

It was only after Oramas exited that Los Mochis was able to get on the board. In the eight inning, Jamie Johnson belted an RBI single to center field, one of his two hits on the night. Thomas Melgarejo was handed his first loss of the season, allowing two runs on eight hits in six innings of work. Unlike Oramas, he struck out only one batter.

A total of 221 ​​players were barred from playing in tournaments Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Most corresponds to the Dominican Republic with 74, while the Venezuelan league had 48, the Mexican League 21, and the Puerto Rican League 12.

Extreme fatigue is a clause in the "Winter League Agreement" which provides power to major league organizations to prevent their players from playing in the winter leagues, provided working beyond the parameters previously established in the labor agreement. Like those players who finished in the disabled list are included.

[Indian players on the list were Asdrubal Cabrera, Danny Salazar, Carlos Santana, and Jose Ramirez.]

Cuban slugger Abreu down to Astros, both Sox

First baseman, who defected this summer, expected to command about $70 million

By Jesse Sanchez / MLB.com | 10/17/2013 2:12 P.M. ET

Cuban slugger Jose Abreu has narrowed his list of possible destinations to three teams and could sign within the next two weeks, according to multiple industry sources.

The Astros, Red Sox, and White Sox have emerged as the frontrunners to sign the 26-year-old first baseman to a deal expected to be in the $70 million range. The Rangers, Giants, and Marlins were among the teams to express strong interest but are no longer in the running.

A known commodity on the international scene, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound, right-handed batter hit .360 (9-for-25) with three home runs and nine RBIs in six games in this year's World Baseball Classic. He's a former MVP in Cuba, where he had one of the best seasons in league history in 2010-11, hitting .453 with 33 home runs and 93 RBIs in just 66 games.

Abreu defected from Cuba in August and established residency in Haiti -- the first step toward becoming a free agent -- last month. He was later unblocked by the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and declared a free agent by Major League Baseball.

MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez reports that a passed physical is all that stands in the way of Cuban first baseman Jose Abreu's six-year, $68 million deal with the White Sox.
The deal was first reported by FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal, and it appears the two sides are nearing the finish line. The contract will be the highest ever given to an international player, beating out Yu Darvish's six-year, $56 million deal. Abreu, who turns 27 in January, will be the White Sox' long-term replacement at first base for Paul Konerko.

Related: White Sox
Source: Jesse Sanchez on Twitter Oct 17 - 11:06 PM

Lawrence Dolan bought the Indians for $323M in 2000. Chairman & CEO Paul Dolan was selected as club control person 1/10/13.

Forbes magazine valued the club at $559M in March, 2013.

Abreu gets $11.3 mil / yr

Bourn gets $12.0 mil / yr

Swisher gets $14.0 mil / yr

It will be interesting to see which player performs up to his earnings.

I have to think that Viciedo and Ramirez influenced Abreu's decision.

Around the Farm: October 17, 2013
Will Roberts

By Tony Lastoria

October 18, 2013

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Around the Farm (ATF) takes a quick look at some of the daily performances by Indians prospects. This is a special fall and winter ball version of ATF that recaps all the offseason action by Indians players in the Arizona Fall League and the Caribbean Leagues. The positions listed below are where the player was playing in the game.

Arizona Fall League

Tyler Naquin (CF): 1-for-5, R, 2 K. Naquin has had a solid showing so far in the AFL recording a hit in all six games he has played. On the flip side he has just 8 hits in those 6 games, has yet to record an extra base hit, and has 5 strikeouts to 0 walks.

Will Roberts (SP): 4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 2 K. A typical Roberts outing where it may not be pretty in the box score, but the results are there in the end. He’s had two solid showings so far in the AFL and has shown why the Indians still think he can be a back of the rotation option down the road.

Jeff Johnson (RP): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K. This was Johnson’s third time out and the first time he put forth a scoreless outing in the AFL. The data sample is extremely small, but what’s hurt him in the early going is 3 walks in 3 innings pitched.

Venezuela Winter League

Bryan Price (RP, Bravos de Margarita): 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K. Price has been used for multi-inning stints in each of his first two outings in Venezuela. In 5.0 innings he has allowed just 1 run on 2 hits, 2 walks and has 3 strikeouts. This is a big offseason for him as the Indians may roster him or he could be picked up in the Rule 5 Draft.

Ezequiel Carrera (CF, Navegantes del Magallanes): 2-for-4, BB, 2 SB. Easily the best game to date so far in the early going in Venezuela. This was his first multi-hit effort and he reached base in 3 of his 5 plate appearances and also showcased some speed with 2 stolen bases. Interestingly, he has one walk in 6 of his 7 games played.

Manuel Boscan (C, Aguilas del Zulia): 0-for-1, K. A rare and limited appearance in a game for Boscan who is a part of the Venezuela team but likely a part of the developmental team which gets very few opportunities with the main team.

Jesus Aguilar (1B, Leones del Caracas): 1-for-5. Aguilar broke his string of consecutive multi-hit games to start the season at six. He has recorded a hit in all seven winter ball games and even after a “rough” 1-for-5 day he is hitting .519.

They moved Aguilar up from 4th in the batting order to #3. Daniel Mayora bats second now and Danny Dorn is hitting cleanup. Both are putting up stellar numbers also. I expect Aguilar will be moving back to cleanup.

joez wrote:Lawrence Dolan bought the Indians for $323M in 2000. Chairman & CEO Paul Dolan was selected as club control person 1/10/13.

Forbes magazine valued the club at $559M in March, 2013.

Abreu gets $11.3 mil / yr

Bourn gets $12.0 mil / yr

Swisher gets $14.0 mil / yr

It will be interesting to see which player performs up to his earnings.

I have to think that Viciedo and Ramirez influenced Abreu's decision.

Abreu was not available last year so it does not matter who lives up to their contract.

The only thing that influenced Abreu was money.

Unless the Indians are trading Santana there is a real log jam at first.

White Sox are just plugging Abreu into Konerko's pay slot. No big deal.