Pink Slips and Retirements

Firstly the pink slip players - basically none of them made any impact on the first team or second team for that matter. Two of Tigers pointless signings of worn out has beens go Yuji Yoshimi (No. 42); pitcher by way of Lotte and BayStars and Hisashi Takayama (No. 62); outfielder by way of Seibu. The other two were Ken Nishimura (No. 43); pitcher and Tetsuya Sakaguchi (No. 122); developmental squad infielder.

Now to the retirements, firstly the irrelevant one Takeshi Hidaka (No. 37); catcher. He was signed from Orix and rapidly proved to be as abysmal as Imanari behind the plate. If anything exposed Tigers policy of signing useless old has beens it was this signing. Totally unable to adjust to the Tigers team he was consigned to the second team and obviously has been told he can jump or be pushed. Now if Tigers can dump that arselicker Fujii things will look up.
The second retirement is more significant Tomoyuki Kubota (No. 30); pitcher. He started out as Tigers closer but temperamentally found it difficult and was replaced by Kyuji Fujikawa. This did not mean that Kubota was a bad pitcher his temperament was just better suited to that of set up. He formed part of the famous JFK trio who ruled Japanese baseball for several years. A strong pitcher with a very fast fastball and stunningly precise placement; Kubota could throw the same ball at the batter just varying the placement by a matter of a couple of centimetres to get the batter out. He occasionally got attacks of nerves but mostly was reliable and very good. However, injuries began to take their toll - he broke both wrists rescuing his baby daughter from falling and he had elbow problems. There were attempts to make him a starter which never really prospered and elbow problems meant that his placement and speed suffered. He last appeared in the first team in the 2013 season but it was clear that he was ready for retirement. No appearances meant that retirement was a certainty. However, he will be remembered as part of the famous trio.

If I remember correctly, Fujikawa wasn't suddenly given the closer job because Kubota was failing. Kubota had a serious arm injury (from catching his infant falling out of the crib). Fujikawa proved to be so effective that he was kept as the closer and Kubota moved to set up when he returned.

Another addition to the pink slips is Issei Morita (No. 69) an infielder. He played in only a few top team games and never made it. He did hit a home run in his debut game though.

Toritani might well be going to the Astros. Takahiro Arai signed to Carp for 20 million yen. Given that Tigers offered him 80 million he must have been really pissed with the organisation. Kuwahara joined the Tigers from Orix and was assigned No. 64. He was traded for someone forgettable and one must assume that he is also in that unfortunate state.

Just what the majors are looking for. A 33 year old SS with limited range. Durable, sure but will only get a minor league offer. Trust me on this. Astros have Carlos Correa in their system. Arguably the most exciting SS prospect in the majors.

Toritani is best suited to staying in J-ball. MLB would be a stretch for him.

What are the Tigers planning to do to replace Toritani? I heard they were going after Nakajima, but hadn't heard recent updates about that. Or move Nishioka back to SS? Have to agree with The Whisperer that his MLB prospects are limited and I wouldn't be surprised if he's back with the Tigers after a year.

They are still chasing Nakajima (offer stands at one billion yen over 3 years) but are planning to slot him into third. Their current thinking is that Yamato will take over short with Nishioka moving to centre.