All posts by Jim Allen

sports editor for a wire service in Tokyo

Rest in peace Marty Kuehnert

I learned late Friday night that Marty Kuehnert had died at the age of 78.

Robert Whiting, in his obituary, Saturday, wrote, “At the time of his death, the Sendai-based Marty was serving as an adviser to the pro baseball Rakuten Golden Eagles of the NPB’s Pacific League as well as Senior Adviser to General Manager of the pro basketball Sendai 89ers of Japan’s B League. Many people remember him from his days as affable owner/operator of The Attic sports bar and Attic Jr. in Kobe, as well as Legends sports bar in Roppongi in Tokyo.”

Marty, a catcher at Stanford University, came to Japan on an exchange program, and immersed himself in not only the language but the culture of Japanese baseball. He earned laurels as the manager of the independent Lodi Orions in the Single-A California League and went to work for the cash-strapped Lions, then Fukuoka.

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Roki Sasaki’s future uncertainty

On Saturday, the Lotte Marines announced they would post 23-year-old flame thrower Roki Sasaki two years before both he and the Pacific League club could really cash in through his transfer to MLB.

Last week, I heard the Marines were working on some conditions they would ask Sasaki to swear to in order to secure their blessing, but couldn’t really guess what those might be. They could not, for instance, ask him to kick back some of his first MLB salary, since that would contravene the NPB-MLB posting agreement. Perhaps they asked him to hire someone from Lotte to help in his transition? Who knows.

If you stay up to date with the various media reports, you might not be too surprised if Sasaki were to show up for a press conference wearing a Dodgers shirt and hat, so closely has he been linked to them. But Sunday morning, I heard from a source close to Sasaki, who informed me nothing is etched in stone.

A few people on Twitter attacked me when I reported that his ascension to Chavez Ravine is not a lead-pipe cinch, because it wasn’t what they wanted to hear, I suppose, and who the fuck am I to rock their Dodgers love boat fantasy.

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