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Seibu Gets Dragons' Relief Ace Okamoto

Discussion in the NPB News forum
Seibu Gets Dragons' Relief Ace Okamoto
As a compensation pick for the free agency of Kazuhiro Wada, the Seibu Lions picked Dragons' relief ace Shinya Okamoto. I'm kind of shocked by this.

Earlier rumors stated that Seibu were going after Nori Nakamura, then Ochiai said that they made a last minute move to put Nori on the protected roster. After that, most people thought that Seibu would go after inconsistent young starter Mitsuru Satoh or often injured former #1 pick Atsushi Nakazato.

Chunichi probably thinks that they're going to lose Okamoto eventually to free agency, so they might as well lose him now. Okamoto has made at least 40 appearances each year since 2003 and has been very consistent for the Dragons as a regular reliever. This is a big pick up for Seibu, as they could possibly use Okamoto as the closer they've so desperately needed since Kiyoshi Toyoda left.
Comments
Re: Seibu Gets Dragons' Relief Ace Okamoto
[ Author: BigManZam | Posted: Jan 20, 2008 1:38 PM | CLM Fan ]

As if Seibu didn't already rob Chunichi with the acquisition of Okamoto, the Dragons will also pay 2.2-oku yen to the Lions. Okamoto's annual salary is 9,000-man, so that money makes up for Wada's annual salary.

I'm not sure if free agent compensation is necessarily "fair," but you can't argue with the fact that it makes for some interesting off season moves and strategy.
Re: Seibu Gets Dragons' Relief Ace Okamoto
[ Author: Dan Miceli | Posted: Jan 20, 2008 6:17 PM ]

I've thought the Wada signing was a poor one for the Dragons all along. They are going to pay him too much money, he's past his prime, and there will be no DH for him other than a handful of inter-league games.

And now the Dragons lose Okamoto. Your thinking about why they left him unprotected is probably correct, bigmanzam.

If I were a Dragons' fan, I wouldn't be happy at all at the way things have transpired in this case.
Re: Seibu Gets Dragons' Relief Ace Okamoto
[ Author: firearmofmutiny | Posted: Jan 21, 2008 9:20 PM | CD Fan ]

Great. Now the Dragons have lost both of their setup men (but I consider Hirai an addition by subtraction). I wonder if the Dragons are going to let a couple of their prospect starters that can't make ichi-gun onto the first team as relievers. I know Nakazato, when he was healthy, was brought in for relief in 2006.

I wish the Lions would have taken Mitsuru Satoh. From the 2nd half of 2006 (after his winning streak) to his one start in 2007, he was an automatic loss, just like Masa Yamamoto was this past season.
Re: Seibu Gets Dragons' Relief Ace Okamoto
[ Author: BigManZam | Posted: Jan 23, 2008 7:10 AM | CLM Fan ]

Hirai was re-signed by the Dragons.
Re: Seibu Gets Dragons' Relief Ace Okamoto
[ Author: firearmofmutiny | Posted: Jan 31, 2008 9:11 AM | CD Fan ]

Well (bleep). No doubt he becomes Iwase's new setup man, and that will mean plenty of blown 8th-inning leads for the Dragons. (The main reason why Hirai won 4 games last year is because the Dragons got the lead back the next half-inning.)
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