Spring training starts today, unless you play for the Seibu Lions, who have said their camp will open in Feb. 6 in Miyazaki “because this is a WBC year,” although the logic of that seems to have escaped nearly everyone outside the organization.
Speaking of the WBC, Yu Darvish gave Japan some good news in what has been a spring of uncertainty about when its MLB players will be available. There is also some news about an umpire who decided to make some extra money on the side and who is now out of work, and words from some managers ahead of Japan’s first day of pro baseball training.
New Marines commandant Masato Yoshii and new Lions trainer Kazuo Matsui answered questions for the media Tuesday, while new old Hanshin manager Akinobu Okada spoke on Sunday, and I’ll give you some of those riveting exchanges.
We also had our final monthly award winners, two going to one league’s pennant winner, while the other league’s both went to its last-place team. Seven teams announced their first-round picks in Thursday’s draft, and we had the first trade of the offseason.
Some people asked where they could get the Bill James Win Shares calculations for NPB that I use to inform my award voting and which are rather different from WAR. So I’ll post the last three season’s files for you.
