Seibu Lions sign Mark Payton

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The Saitama Seibu Lions announced they signed OF Mark Payton for the 2023 season.  

Payton, 31, last played for the Chicago White Sox and appeared in only eight MLB games in 2022. With the Charlotte Knights, their AAA affiliate, he had a slashline of .293/.369/.539 with 25 HRs in 119 games. 

He was a Rule 5 draft pick twice in his career, once at the minor league level by the Oakland Athletics in 2018 and a second time at the MLB level by the Cincinnati Reds in 2019. He also spent time with the New York Mets organization at the AAA level after a trade.

After doing well with in AAA with the Las Vegas Aviators while in the Oakland Athletics organization in 2019, some thought he was worthy enough for a call up, but the A's outfield blocked his chances due to Ramón Laureano, Mark Canha, Stephen Piscotty and Robbie Grossman on the roster. 

Payton's professional career initially began with the New York Yankees organization as a 7th round draft pick in 2014 out of college. 

With the Lions outfield having uncertainty and a revolving door, they hope to find stability with Payton being an everyday player. He'll get the opportunity right away in the outfield along with rookie Takuya Hiruma. 

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Yoshida enters Boston with unreal expectations

 

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The Boston Red Sox officially signed Masataka Yoshida to a five-year contract last week for $90 million. He was introduced in public on Thursday in a press conference. 

He had a humble introduction and even spoke his opening statement in English. There were of blanket lip service statements by both the Red Sox and Yoshida's agent Scott Boras. 

"We've watched Masataka for a while," said Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom. "For us, the thing that really stood out from all angles, from the scouting angle, from breaking down the performance, is just the quality of the at-bat. There's a very unique combination of contact skills and strike-zone discipline, and an ability to impact baseball that we feel has a chance to really impact the game at the Major League Level."

Despite all the positive accolades Yoshida had with the Orix Buffaloes, there's more concern than confidence for those in New England. 

The Boston Red Sox have had a disastrous off-season when hoping to retain star SS Xander Bogaerts, only to lose him in free agency to the San Diego Padres. 

Previously, they traded former MVP Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers with the feeling he would not be re-signed, acting like a small market team. Notably, the Red Sox just designated Jeter Downs, one of the key pieces in that trade, for assignment just to make room for Yoshida on the roster. 

They signed pitchers Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin to help the bullpen, yet the Red Sox still look like an organization playing second fiddle or even third fiddle to the rest of their division. 

Boston has also dumped dead weight in Eric Hosmer. J.D. Martinez has an agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers pending a physical while Rafael Devers is the only significant player remaining from the 2018 World Series championship winning team. 

Last season, the Red Sox finished in dead last of the AL East division. If one were to sum up their 2022 in a nutshell, it was being blown out by the Toronto Blue Jays in a 28-5 loss, where an inside-the-park grand slam from Raimel Tapia put an exclamation point on the embarrassment.  

Boston was hoping to retain Bogaerts and possibly make an additional splash with the free agents available. Now that Carlos Correa, Dansby Swanson and Aaron Judge all signed with other teams while Bogaerts joined San Diego, both fans and the front office have felt a sense of shock while signing Yoshida feels like desperation for what they don't have or didn't spend. 

Up to the time of this writing, Yoshida is the largest fiscal free agent signing in this offseason by the Red Sox. 

The Red Sox don't believe in rebuilding, yet they've lost out on all the main targets everyone expected them to be in the discussion for. They still have Trevor Story who was a big signing last offseason, but health is a major concern for him going forward. 

Yoshida's long swing and defense are the biggest concerns for his MLB career. It's unsure how it translates against a fastball that isn't seen as much in Japan. 

His range is not as great and it would be best suited if he takes left field, moving Alex Verdugo to right field so he has less space to work with at the Green Monster. Yoshida already compared the Green Monster wall similar to the now-unused Sapporo Dome. 

The amount Yoshida was signed for was a shocker as he admitted it in his press conference. Boras said there were plenty of offers, indicating it quite the bidding war for his services. Yoshida took Boston's offer less than 24 hours after his posting window started. 

"I was very surprised by this deal,” Yoshida said with the help of his interpreter. “I want to say thank you to Scott Boras and the Boras Corporation, and thank you to the organization for accepting me. Obviously, I’m going to play hard next season.”

Boras is great for getting his clients what they want whether it's mostly money, or in Yusei Kikuchi's case, flexibility when he signed with Seattle. What makes this even more crazy, Yoshida is less accomplished statistically than Seiya Suzuki was before joining the Chicago Cubs, yet he will make $5 million more when his contract is up. 

It's easy to root for the guy to have success. However, Boston is large media market that he has never experienced. With the Orix Buffaloes, he could be anonymous and not have the spotlight aside from two Japan Series trips. 

Playing for a few East Coast markets comes with a territory of high praise when great, but even larger scrutiny when failure occurs. It's much like playing for the Hanshin Tigers where the media will nitpick everything they see, nothing can be hidden. 

While the Rex Sox have had success with Japanese players of the past in Koji Uehara, Junichi Tazawa and Hideaki Okajima, most historians would say Daisuke Matsuzaka was a disappointment. Even though he won that 2007 Japan Series and even has an RBI hit to show off his batting skills, the injuries and condition didn't make it worth his contact as that team was already loaded. 

Boston fans are like animals being hungry for success. Any shortcomings and the rage gets amplified.  Patience won't come easy and with his contract already having five years, they expect the best as soon as possible.

Even at age 29, he doesn't exactly have upside and will need to be an impact sooner than later. Can he succeed? Sure. However, with the state of the team and the questions of Yoshida's abilities, there's no guarantee he'll be successful being in this market.

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Seibu Lions sign David MacKinnon

 

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The Saitama Seibu Lions reached an agreement with infielder David MacKinnon on Tuesday as Ken Rosenthal first reported. It became official later in the day. 

MacKinnon, 28, appeared in 22 MLB games combined with both the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics last season. 

He made his debut with the Angels after having a strong season in AAA Salt Lake City. As a result of being called up, he was teammates with Shohei Ohtani for about two months and recorded seven hits in 64 at-bats. 

After being designated for assignment in August, he was claimed off waivers by the Oakland A's. After a decent week in AAA Las Vegas, the A's started him twice and he appeared in only six games, mostly as a defensive replacement. 

MacKinnon was teammates with now-Hanshin Tigers IF Sheldon Neuse and was even on the field when the latter was a pitcher briefly. He was designated for assignment after the 2022 season an non-tendered by the A's. 

In his combined AAA season, he had a slashline of .318/.416/.585 with 15 home runs in 79 games. 

He was originally a 32nd round draft pick of the Angels in 2017 out of college.

While MacKinnon played only 3B and 1B at the MLB level, he's capable of playing outfield. The Lions can slot him in left field where Brian O'Grady was last season or can have him be a 3B hoping to find a consistent bat. MacKinnon should also spell Hotaka Yamakawa at 1B if they want an all-defense in the late innings. 

MacKinnon is the second foreign signing by the Lions after Jesus Tinoco.

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Lions sign P Jesus Tinoco

 

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The Saitama Seibu Lions announced they signed RHP Jesus Tinoco on Thursday. He will wear No. 54. 

Tinoco, who will turn 28 in April, was on the Texas Rangers last season. He earned a MLB roster spot for most of the second half and has a strong September.  However, his primary highlight was being the pitcher to give up Aaron Judge's last home run of the year, his 62nd which is now a single-season American League record. 

With a decent September, Tinoco even earned some opener starts as the Rangers were in the midst of transition and cleaning house with the firing of both their manager Chris Woodward and head of baseball operations Jon Daniels. They recently passed the torch to Chris Young, who has a general manager title in name only before Daniels was dismissed. 

He also had two separate stints with the Colorado Rockies and one with Miami Marlins. His career began as an international free agent signing with the Toronto Blue Jays organization until he was traded to Colorado in 2015 as part of a deal involving Troy Tulowitzki and Jose Reyes. 

As a pitcher for the Lions, Tinoco could through as fast as 97 mph (157 km/H) which sounds nice in velocity on paper. Besides a four-seam fastball, he can throw a curve ball, slider and sinker. 

The Lions will most likely slot him as a reliever as a possible bridge before the closer position with Kaima Taira going into the rotation. He should be depth to go with Yoshinobu Mizukami and Keisuke Honda (dubbed H&M) as setup men.

Tinoco is the first foreign signing by the Lions in this offseason and only the third on the roster to go with Dietrich Enns and Bo Takahashi. 

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Lions acquire Cho as Mori free agent compensation

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The Saitama Seibu Lions announced their decision on Thursday to select RHP Yaku Cho (Yi Chang) as the free agent compensation selection from the Orix Buffaloes for the loss of Tomoya Mori.

Cho, who will be 29 in February, was both a spot starter and relief pitcher for the Buffaloes from 2019-2022. Most recently, he recorded a 2.38 ERA in 15 ichi-gun games, 22.2 innings with the Buffaloes in 2022. 

Due to the high competition of depth with Orix pitchers, he fell out of favor with other relievers taking his spot. His career-high of innings in 2020 reached 48 in 13 games of work.

Originally, Cho drafted as an outfielder in the Ikusei draft of 2016. At the farm level, he transitioned to being a pitcher in the middle of 2018 and switched his position registration in 2019, eventually earning a promotion from ikusei that year. 

The Lions hope he can be an ichi-gun contributor in the bullpen or starting rotation in 2023. His salary for 2023 will be about ¥12 million. 

While Cho was born and raised in Taiwan, he doesn't count as a foreigner because he graduated from both high school and university in Japan. 

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Track record:

The Lions have taken a player who they think can help immediately since 2013. Cho fits the quota as compared from past yrars. Here are the previous free agent compensation decisions when given the opportunity:

2013: 

P Taiki Nakago from the China Lotte Marines after losing Hideaki Wakui

IF Ryota Wakiya from the Yomiuri Giants after losing Yasuyuki Kataoka

2016:

Cash option from the Rakuten Eagles after losing Takayuki Kishi

2017:

P Hayato Takagi from the Yomiuri Giants after losing Ryoma Nogami

2018: 

P Tetsuya Utsumi from the Yomiuri Giants after losing Ginjiro Sumitani

Cash option from the Rakuten Eagles after losing Hideto Asamura

2022: 

P Yaku Cho from the Orix Buffaloes after losing Tomoya Mori

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With Mori as a Type A free agent, the Lions picked the option of half of Mori's 2022 ¥210 million salary at ¥105 million combined with an unprotected player. 

Alternatively, they could've taken the 80% salary option which was ¥168 million.

Orix sent their list to the Lions on December 9. A total of 28 players were protected by Orix and foreigners did not apply to this list. 

Playing with the roster and who was available, here was our mock protection list:

Pitchers:

(13 protected): Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Hiroya Miyagi, Taisuke Yamaoka, Daiki Tajima, Yoshihisa Hirano, Ren Mukunoki, Shota Abe, Yuki Udagawa, Soichiro Yamazaki, Motoki Higa, Hitomi Honda, Taisuke Kondo, Yuta Kuroki

Available: Ryota Muranishi, Daichi Takeyasu, Kohei Suzuki, Yuito Mae, Kaede Yokoyama, Atsuya Kogita, Nobuyoshi Yamada, Taisei Urishihara, Shunpeita Yamashita, Ryo Yoshida, Kohei Azuma, Yaku Cho

Most of the pitchers listed are no-brainers. One could debate that Hirano was available if they think he's too old and not valuable enough to protect for someone younger. However, he was an important closer for the team last season.

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Catchers:

(2 protected): Kenya Wakatsuki, Yuma Tongu 

Available: Ryo Ishikawa, Takuma Nakagawa, Sho Fukunaga

The Buffaloes recently acquired Ryo Ishikawa in a trade with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. They needed to protect him if they saw value, but given the Lions situation, it's doubtful they would pluck Ishikawa of all players. 

Orix also lost Torai Fushimi in domestic free agency, but Tongu and Wakatsuki were no-brainers to protect here. 

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Infielders:

(6 protected): Yuma Mune, Keita Nakagawa, Ryoichi Adachi, Tomoya Noguchi, Ryo Ota, Kotaro Kurebayashi

Available: Ryota Ishioka, Masahiro Nishino, Koji Oshiro, Tatsuya Yamaashi, Seiichiro Oshita, Sho Gibo

The infield is also clear cut on who to keep. Adachi is up there in age, but he had value to the team last season. Everyone else protected saw significant ichi-gun time to be protected. 

Nishino was the interesting option as he didn't play much, yet when healthy, he can be an effective bat on the infield. His issue is not staying healthy.

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Outfielders:

(7 protected): Masataka Yoshida, Shuhei Fukuda, Kodai Sano, Yutaro Sugimoto, Ryoto Kita, Ryoma Ikeda, Haruto Watanabe

Available: Kendai Gen, Yuya Oda, Takahiro Okada, Yukikazu Sano

Despite Yoshida being posted and reaching an agreement with the Boston Red Sox, he didn't sign the dotted line and the transaction couldn't officially go through when the protected list was sent on December 9. His agreement was pending a physical. 

The Lions would have gotten the posting fee money if Yoshida was unprotected and they claimed him.

This opened the door for an extra player being exposed as a result since they needed to protect him in order for the posting process to go through. If anyone was rooting for chaos, it would have been a silly scenario if Yoshida was unprotected.

Everyone else from Sugimoto and Fukuda are clear cut starters to frequent options off the bench. This is unit doesn't haven't the most value for the Lions to claim.

Takahiro Okada was potentially the most famous name available, but he's also past his prime and it was a tempting marketing option for the Lions much like how they saw Tetsuya Utsumi from the Giants.  Okada had a marginal 2020 and his last great season was 2017. 

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Factoring who was on the Japan Series team for 2022, it easy to come up with several pitchers for this protected list while some guys were exposed for having a good 2021, but not the best 2022. 

Personally had Ryo Yoshida, Nobuyoshi Yamada and even Kohei Suzuki as options among the pitchers available. Might have been tempted to go for Nishino given he fell out of favor, but relieved the Lions didn't select Okada for the marketing purposes. 

Yamashita could have been an interesting option too if unprotected, given he was a former first round pick and is in his early 20s, but we'll assume the pitcher position was mostly protected. 

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We also polled our Japanese following on Twitter. 

オリックスからの補償は何がいい？

What do you want as compensation for the loss of Mori?

拡散してください @64Uni_Lions@nerimamo @Cape_Lions #森友哉 #seibulions #埼玉西武ライオンズ #bs2022

— Graveyard Baseball (@GraveyardBall) November 15, 2022

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2023 Seibu Lions Salary List

 

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December is a month of salary negotiations for all teams. Here are the reported figures for the Seibu Lions: 

This list will continue to update as time goes on. 

Legend: 

^ - Raise

|v| - Paycut

= - Same wages

R = Coming off their first game or season at the ichi-gun.

AVG/OBP/SLG for position players. 
 

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Pitchers: 

Tatsushi Masuda: ¥300 million =; (2-5), 2.45 ERA, 31 SV in 52 games, 51.1 innings

Masuda is entering the third of a four-year contract. 

Kona Takahashi: ¥180 million, ^ by ¥70 million; (12-8), 2.20 ERA in 26 games, 175.2 innings

Kaima Taira: ¥170 million ^ by ¥70 million; (1-3), 1.56 ERA, 34 HLD, 9 SV in 54 games, 57.2 innings

Dietrich Enns: ¥170 million ^ by ¥70 million; (10-7), 2.94 ERA in 23 games, 122.1 innings

Katsunori Hirai: ¥80 million [^] by ¥12 million; (6-8), 4.22 ERA, 2 HLDS in 30 games, 81 innings

Wataru Matsumoto: ¥65 million, ^ by ¥11 million, (7-6), 3.19 ERA in 21 games, 129.2 innings

Tatsuya Imai: ¥45 million, [v] by ¥6 million, (5-1), 2.41 ERA in 9 games, 59.2 innings

Imai will have his jersey number changed from #11 to #48.

(R) Yoshinobu Mizukami: ¥40 million ^ by ¥30 million, (4-4), 1.77 ERA, 31 HLD, 1 SV in 60 games, 56 innings

Mizukami also won Pacific League Rookie of the year

Ryosuke Moriwaki: ¥40 million ^ by ¥5 million, (1-1), 10 HLD, 1.72 ERA, 1 SV in 43 games, 36.2 innings

Katsuhiko Kumon: ¥36 million [v] by ¥4.5 million, (0-0), 0.00 ERA, 7 HLD in 18 games, 9 innings

Bo Takahashi: ¥35 million ^ by ¥15 million, (0-0), 2.56 ERA, 2 HLD in 27 games, 31.2 innings

Kaito Yoza: ¥33 million ^ by ¥22 million (10-7), 2.88 ERA in 15 games, 115.2 innings 

Keisuke Honda: ¥30 million [v] by ¥17.4 million; (4-2), 20 HLD, 1.97 ERA in 45 games, 50.1 innings

Tetsu Miyagawa: ¥25 million [^] by ¥6 million; (1-0), 1 SV, 1 HLD, 2.59 ERA in 45 games, 48.2 innings

(R) Chihiro Sumida: ¥20 million, ^ by ¥4 million; (1-10), 3.75 ERA in 16 games, 81.2 innings

Takeru Sasaki: ¥20 million ^ by ¥6.5 million; (3-0), 3.03 ERA, in 37 games, 29.2 innings

(R) Shunsuke Sato: ¥16 million ^ by ¥3.5 million; (3-4), 4.60 ERA in 12 games, 47 innings

Shota Hamaya: ¥10 million [v] by ¥3.1 million; (5-4), 5.38 ERA in 14 ni-gun games

Ichiro Tamura: ¥10 million [v] by ¥2.5 million; (0-0), 6.00 ERA in three games, 3 innings

Yutaro Watanabe: ¥8.5 million [v] by ¥1.5 million ; (1-1), 6.08 ERA in 3 games, 13.1 innings

Ren Omagari: ¥8 million [v] by ¥1 million; (0-0), 6.35 ERA in six games, 5.2 innings

Masaya Kuroda: ¥6.5 million =; (1-3), 8.20 ERA in 10 ni-gun games

Shinnosuke Hada: ¥6 million =; (0-2), 7.04 ERA in five ni-gun games

Koki Matsuoka: ¥6 million [v] by ¥1.5 million; (1-4), 5.95 ERA in 31 ni-gun games

Hiroki Inoue: ¥5.4 million [v] by ¥1.3 million, (2-0), 2.00 ERA in five ni-gun games

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Infielders:

Sosuke Genda: ¥300 million ^ by ¥110 million; .266/.317/.338, 2 HR in 108 games

Genda signed a five-year extension through 2027

Hotaka Yamakawa: ¥270 million ^ by ¥140 million; .266/.375/.578, 41 HR in 129 games

Yamakawa has domestic free agent rights after 2023

Takeya Nakamura: ¥200 million =; .196/.241/.355, 12 HR in 88 games

Shuta Tonosaki: ¥160 million ^ by ¥56 million; .215/.295/.356, 12 HR in 132 games

Tonosaki signed a four-year contract through 2026, avoiding domestic free agency

Nien Ting Wu: ¥28 million ^ by ¥3 million; .227/.322/.327, 5 HR in 94 games

Shota Hiranuma: ¥15 million ^ by ¥1 million; .260/.356/.342, 1 HR in 30 games 

Kento Watanabe: ¥12 million [v] by ¥4 million; .184/.295/.321, 10 HR in 97 ni-gun games 

Ryusei Sato: ¥11 million ^ by ¥1.2 million; .115/.175/.167, 1 HR in 37 games with Fighters

Kakeru Yamanobe: ¥10.7 million [v] by ¥1.3 million ; .152/.200/.242, 0 HR in 30 games

Ryota Kawano: ¥7.5 million ^ by ¥1 million; .143/.125/.143, 0 HR in five games, Made ichi-gun debut

Natsuo Takizawa: ¥7.5 million ^ by ¥2.8 million; .224/.258/.271, 0 HR in 48 games, made ichi-gun debut, promoted from ikusei

Seigo Nakayama: ¥7 milllion =; .000/.000/.000, 0 HR in 1 game, made ichi-gun debut

Takayoshi Yamamura: ¥7 million =; .297/.332/.365, 0 HR in 60 ni-gun games

Brandon Tysinger: ¥7 million [v] by ¥2 million ; .345/.429/.564, 2 HR in 19 ni-gun games 

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Outfielders: 

Takumi Kuriyama: ¥179 million =; .264/.326/.360, 3 HR in 89 games

Yuji Kaneko: ¥126 million =; .277/.323/.370, 1 HR in 44 games

Kaneko enters the final year of a four-year contract. 

"Aito" Takeda: ¥33 million ^ by ¥13 million ; .243/.266/.369, 9 HR in 121 games

Shohei Suzuki: ¥15 million ^ by ¥6.4 million; .250/.279/.321, 1 HR in 58 games

Junichiro Kishi: ¥14.5 million [v] by ¥1.5 million ; .205/.284/.356, 2 HR in 45 games

Seiji Kawagoe: ¥14 million ^ by ¥2 million ; .259/.346/.381, 2 HR in 50 games

Gakuto Wakabayashi: ¥12.2 million [v] by ¥1.8 million ; .207/.258/.207, 0 HR in 28 games 

Manaya Nishikawa: ¥8.5 million ^ by ¥700K ; .000/.000/.000, 0 HR in 35 games

Wataru Takagi: ¥7.5 million ^ by ¥1 million ; .111/.195/.111, 0 HR in 13 games

Shinya Hasegawa: ¥6.7 million ^ by ¥2 million .185/.221/.246, 0 HR in 37 games, made ichi-gun debut, promoted from ikusei

Yuta Nakamigawa: ¥6 million =; .188/.289/.453, 9 HR in 47 ni-gun games 

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Catchers: 

Masatoshi Okada: ¥30 million =; .000/.000/.000,  HR in one game

Sena Tsuge: ¥20 million ^ by ¥5 million; .173/.202/.250, 1 HR in 42 games

(R) Yuto Koga: ¥15 million ^ by ¥2.5 million; .155/.265/.241, 1 HR in 26 games

Shoya Makino: ¥7.4 million ^ by ¥1.7 million ; .137/.194/.207, 0 HR in 11 games

Makino will be under an ikusei contract recovering from injury

Masato Saito: ¥5.8 million ^ by ¥500K ; .000/.000/.000, 0 HR in 1 game

Daichi Nakaguma: ¥4.5 million =; .000/.000/.000, 0 HR in 1 game, Made ichi-gun debut, promoted from ikusei

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===

Ikusei: 

Towa Uema: ¥5 million [v] by ¥1.5 million,  No games recorded in 2022

Sho Ito: ¥5.3 million [v] by ¥1.7 million; No games recorded in 2022

Kaito Awatsu: ¥5.3 million =; (0-0), 3.38 ERA in 10 ni-gun games 

Hiromasa Saito: ¥5 million [v] by ¥5 million; (1-4), 9.56 ERA in 14 ni-gun games

Toshihiro Idei: ¥4 million = ; (2-6), 5.52 ERA in 28 ni-gun games

Taishi Mameda: ¥2.8 million =; (3-6), 3.76 ERA in 18 ni-gun games

Yuto Akagami: ¥4.7 million =; (3-3), 3.27 ERA in 23 ni-gun games

Shinya Sugai: ¥2.8 million =; (0-0), 3.00 ERA in three ni-gun games

Joseph Ken Miyamoto: ¥4 million =; .187/.221/.253, 1 HR in 43 ni-gun games 

Takeru Furuichi: ¥2.8 million =; .179/.303/.214, 0 HR in 15 ni-gun games

=== 

2022 Draft picks with uniform numbers listed:

Main Draft

1. OF #9 Takuya Hiruma: ¥16 million, ¥100 million signing bonus with up to ¥50 million in incentives

2. OF #33 Yudai Furukawa: ¥7.5 million, ¥70 million signing bonus 　

3. C #38 Kaito Noda: ¥6.5 million, ¥50 million signing bonus 

4. P #29 Minato Aoyama: ¥10 million, ¥40 million signing bonus 

5. P #36 Haruto Yamada: ¥7 million, ¥25 million signing bonus　

6. IF #0 Ryosuke Kodama ¥10 million, ¥30 million signing bonus 　

Keep in mind education affects the salary.  Aoyama came out of college while Kodama is a shakaijin from the industrial leagues. 

Ikusei Draft

1. IF #118 Kazuki Nomura ¥3.2 million, ¥3.5 million signing bonus 

2. OF #119 Montell Higuma ¥4 million, ¥3.5 million signing bonus 

3. P #121 Daiki Miura ¥4 million, ¥3.5 million signing bonus

4. C #122 Ryosuke Koresawa ¥4 million, ¥3.5 million signing bonus 

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Lions acquire Yohkawa, lose Matsuoka in new active player draft

 

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NPB held its first ever Active Player Draft (現役ドラフト) this past week where the inspiration is similar to the Rule 5 Draft in MLB. 

With a slight twist in rules by comparison to the North American counterpart, each team designated two players available for any team to take. The draft order was done on a waiver wire basis similar to the regular draft in October. Up to 24 players could switch teams, but only one round occurred with nobody taking a second player. 

With many players unable to find an opportunity, the purpose of the Rule 5 is to give that chance to those who are buried and find a change of scenery. Johan Santana and Mark Canha are some of examples where a Rule 5 pick worked out in MLB.

The Saitama Seibu Lions selected IF Naomasa Yohkawa of the Hanshin Tigers with their nomination. They also lost P Kouki Matsuoka to the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in the process.

Yohkawa, 31, was mostly a bench player for the Hanshin Tigers and spent many years as a survivor from being cut after each season. 

Last year, he was a primarily a pinch-hitter against left-handed pitchers and hit .357 in that situation. In a limited 45 games, he slashed .294/.351/.426 in only 68 at-bats.

Only two seasons has he appeared in more than 70 ichi-gun regular season games. Our friends @thehanshintiger said his defense is not the greatest. 

With the Lions lacking offense, Yohkawa is versatile enough to be a spell 3B or outfielder, but likely can't start everyday. He should be part of mix in the outfield if the Lions play the matchups properly while also giving others a break. His estimated salary for 2023 is ¥22 million. 

Matsuoka, 22, was a third round draft pick out of the independent Baseball Challenge League back in 2019. His 3/4 arm slot was inspired by former Yakult Swallows pitcher Yong-Chang Lim.

 However, his time with the Lions has been limited to seven ichi-gun games in mop up duty with little hope in sight. With the Lions bullpen options being stacked last year, he failed to play an ichi-gun game. He will seek a new opportunity with the Fighters. 

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Compensation list has arrived

The Orix Buffaloes sent their FA compensation list to the Lions on December 9 and Hisanobu "Nabe-Q" Watanabe has said he looked at it already. While Masataka Yoshida reached an agreement to sign with the Boston Red Sox, he hasn't signed the contract since Orix sent the list or protected across to the Lions. 

There are 28 players the Lions cannot claim and it's very likely the Buffaloes had to protect Yoshida even though he was already posted, this protecting only 27 players eligible for 2023. There should be options available. It's possible we could do a mock list if time permits. 

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Oakland A's / Seibu Lions Series: Burch Smith

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The Saitama Seibu Lions came off a disastrous 2021, where it was their first last place finish in 42 years. An overhaul took place with every import player being let go. 

Another former Oakland A's player emerged as part of the new group of foreign players hoping to make an impact in 2022. 

Burch Smith

Tenures: 2020-2021 with the Oakland Athletics, 2022 with the Seibu Lions 

Statistics with Oakland: 37 games, (3-1), 55.1 IP, 3.81 FIP, 1.229 WHIP, 6.7 K/9

Statistics with Lions: 20 games, (1-0), 38.1 IP, 3.29 ERA, 1.146 WHIP, 8.7 K/9

Born and raised through several areas in Texas, Burch Smith worked his way up initially through the Junior College path before transferring to the University of Oklahoma. He was even drafted in the 49th round by the Cleveland Indians in 2009 and 20th round in 2010 even though he didn't sign. 

The San Diego Padres drafted him in the 11th round of 2011 and he made his MLB debut in 2013 being called straight up from AA with 10 appearances. 

After not making an MLB game in 2014, he was a piece of a larger three-team trade that sent him to the Tampa Bay Rays which involved Wil Myers, Jose Castillo and Steven Souza. 

Smith underwent Tommy John surgery to miss the 2015 season and only appeared for the Rays at the minor league level in 2017.

He became a Rule 5 draft pick of the Mets I'm December 2017 and was traded to the Kansas City Royals, staying on their MLB roster for the entire 2018 season. In 38 games, he started six of them with a 1-6 record and 6.92 ERA. The Royals designated him for assignment in 2018.

Smith entered 2019 on a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. He made seven MLB appearances before the team designated him for assignment again. 

The San Francisco Giants claimed him off waivers in August of 2019 where he recorded a 2.08 ERA in 10 games. He was once again designated for assignment after the season.

With the assignment time nearly expired, the Giants traded Smith to the Oakland Athletics for cash considerations. This trade was an interesting footnote in history because it was the first time sending any major league player in a trade for both teams involved since 1990, when Darren Lewis was swapped for Ernest Riles. 

Previously there were waiver claims and minor league transactions, but it broke the longest trade drought among any two MLB teams. 

With Oakland in a shortened 2020, Smith looked promising out of the bullpen to take innings and be a versatile reliever. However, a strained forearm cut his season short and he only appeared in six games. 

For 2021, Smith was part of a bullpen by committee in Oakland and took mostly medium to low leverage innings.  He recorded a 5.40 ERA in 43.1 innings of work and was designated for assignment in the final month of the season.

By 2022, the Seibu Lions called his name and he hoped to get a fresh start. He already had a friendship connection with the outgoing Zach Neal as he found as much information as he could before coming to Japan. 

A late arrival with no spring training, Smith made one of the best debuts for any foreigner coming to Japan. He threw seven innings without a hit allowed and only one walk. The Lions took him out due to a higher pitch count and lower velocity, where it was broken up in the eighth inning.

Smith success was short lived as he spent two months injured with a right arm discomfort. He came back shortly again only to have COVID-19 and be off the ichi-gun roster again. 

With Kaima Taira, Tatsushi Masuda and Yoshinobu Mizukami struggling in August, the Lions asked Smith to take some load in relief. He had a strong outing once with three relief innings and ate up the slack a few starters couldn't pitch.

This was also short lived as he couldn't retain his role as a setup man while Taira and Mizukami returned to form. 

When the year was over, Smith entered with uncertainty. The Lions presented an offer, but both sides couldn't come to an agreement as Smith wanted to be a starting pitcher and the team preferred him as a reliever. 

For 2023, Smith signed with the Hanwha Eagles of KBO, reuniting him with Lions teammate Brian O'Grady as they were on the same team once again. His time in Korea was short lived where he only appeared in one ichi-gun game before a shoulder injury took him out in the third inning.

The Eagles released him in late April after they found a replacement for their import slot on the roster. He appeared in 12 games for the Gigantes del Cibao in the  Dominican Winter Leagues at the conclusion of 2023. 

For 2024, he signed a minor league deal with the Tampa Bay Rays. 

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Others in Series:

Mateo "Matty" Alou

John Wasdin

Jose Ortiz

Ty Van Burkleo

Taylor Duncan

Roger Repoz

Jim Tyrone

Esteban German

Hiram Bocachica

Dee Brown

Neil Wagner 

Sean Nolin

Brian Schlitter 

Zach Neal

David MacKinnon

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Lions win awards, make decisions on all imports

 

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The Saitama Seibu Lions players received three specific Awards for the concluded 2022 season. Sosuke Genda and Shuta Tonosaki received a golden glove while Yoshinobu Mizukami won the Pacific League Rookie of the year award. 

For Genda, it was his 5th consecutive award while it was Tonosaki's second. Mizukami shocked the NPB world by being a reliable reliever in the 7th inning for much of the year. He even won a monthly MVP award in 2022.

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Foreigners returning

The Lions decided the fate for all five imports last season. Jantzen Witte and Brian O'Grady were first informed they were being let go without an offer.

Witte was unable to stay at the ichi-gun for a lengthy amount of time and an injury slowed his start.

O'Grady was second on the team in home runs with 15, but he couldn't hit one by the time it was late August as the team won without his offensive contributions. It was a tale of two halves. 

Dietrich Enns and Bo Takahashi will both return in 2023 with contracts.  Enns was a solid middle of the rotation starting pitcher capable of going 5-6 innings each time. Takahashi was a mop up pitcher, but his age and  low cost proved to be something the team valued in hoping he can develop.  

Lastly Burch Smith was let go after both sides couldn't decide on an agreement.  The Lions wanted Smith as a reliever while he preferred to be a starter. Smith ended up missing several months of action due to various injuries and even left two starts early. 

With limited health concerns, the Lions didn't give him an offer. 

Salary negotiations are currently happening for all teams and the Lions reached multiple contract extensions.

Shuta Tonosaki and Sosuke Genda will be under team control through the 2026 season as the latter received a five-year contract and the former a four-year. 

Genda would have been a domestic free agent after 2023 if he wasn't locked up while Tonosaki reached free agent rights after the 2022 season. 

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