2022 Seibu Lions name translations

 

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One of our most common gags here at Graveyard Baseball is to do a literal translation of Lions players and their family names. On Twitter, it often looks like this:

#埼玉西武ライオンズ 直訳スタメン

左　Golden Child
遊　Root Paddy
捕　Forest
一　Mountain River
指　Chestnut Mountain
二　Outside Cape
三　贈与者
右　Love Ladle
中　Bell Tree

投手　Tall Bridge#npbeng @Cape_Lions @64Uni_Lions @EthanRKassel

— Graveyard Baseball (@GraveyardBall) October 8, 2022

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Here is the 2022 edition of every Seibu Lions player.  

To prevent redundancy, we have assigned 田 to paddy and 野 to field. If some guys have the same family name, we've translated their first name as a bonus. When seeing that kanji, the last name is first, first name is last.

For players with the same surname, we also translated their first name.

Italicized names are players who are not returning for 2023.

All draft picks from 2022 are not included since they won't play until 2023. 

Pitchers:

Tatsushi Masuda 増田: More paddies

Kona Takahashi 髙橋 光成: Tall bridge, Light growing

Ken Togame 十亀: Ten turtles

Shota Hamaya 浜屋: Beach Roof

Katsunori Hirai 平井: Flat well

Yasuo Sano 佐野: Assistant field

Ichiro Tamura 田村: Paddy village

Keisuke Honda 本田: Book Paddy

Shota Takekuma 武隈: Warrior shadow

Tatsuya Imai 今井: Now well (Well as in the noun, not the adverb/adjective)

Kaima Taira 平良: Flat Good

Yutaro Watanabe 渡邉: Ford Edge (ford as in ferry crossing or transit, not the car).

Tetsuya Utsumi 内海: Inside Sea (Inlet)

Ryosuke Moriwaki 森脇: Forest Armpit (or side / flank)

Kaito Yoza 與座: Participation Seat

Tetsu Miyagawa 宮川: Shrine River

Hiroki Inoue 井上: Well Top

Koki Matsuoka 松岡: Pine Tree Hill

Takeru Sasaki 佐々木: Assistant Tree

Katsuhiko Kumon 公文: Government Documents

Ren Omagari 大曲: Big Bend

Yoshinobu Mizukami 水上: Water Top

Chihiro Sumida 隅田: Corner Paddy

Shunsuke Sato 佐藤: Assistant Wisteria

Shinnosuke Hada 羽田: Feather Paddy

Masaya Kuroda 黒田: Black Paddy

Yuto Akagami 赤上: Red Top

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Catchers:

Tomoya Mori 森: Forest

Masatoshi Okada 岡田: Hill paddy

Shoya Makino 牧野: Shepard Field

Masato Saito 齊藤 誠人: Adjusted Wisteria, Sincere Person

Sena Tsuge 柘植: Mulberry Plant

Yuto Koga 古賀: Old Joy

Daichi Nakaguma 中熊: Center Bear

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Infielders:

Sosuke Genda 源田: Root paddy (源 [gen] can refer to the origin or root of something)

Hotaka Yamakawa 山川: Mountain river

Takeya Nakamura 中村: Center village

Haruka Yamada 山田: Mountain paddy

Shuta Tonosaki 外崎: Outside cape (cape as in headland, not the cloak)

Kakeru Yamanobe 山野辺: Mountain Field Area

Ryota Kawano 川野: River Field

Kento Watanabe 渡部: Cross Section

Takayoshi Yamamura 山村: Mountain Village

"Brandon" Taiga Tysinger ブランドン: Broom Hill 

Due to going by his given name and not being a foreigner as someone born in Okinawa, Brandon gets recognized here. 

Seigo Nakayama 中山: Center Mountain

Natsuo Takizawa 滝澤: Waterfall Swamp

Shinya Hasegawa 長谷川: Long Valley River

Shota Hiranuma 平沼: Flat Marsh

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Outfielders:

Yuji Kaneko 金子 侑司: Gold child, Assistant director

Takumi Kuriyama 栗山: Chestnut mountain

Manaya Nishikawa 西川: West River

Seiji Kawagoe 川越: River surpass

Masato Kumashiro 熊代: Bear substitute

Shohei Suzuki 鈴木: Bell tree

Daisuke Togawa 戸川: Door river

[Aito] Takeda 武田 愛斗: Military paddy, Love Big Dipper / Ladle (Takeda has his first name registered)

Wataru Takagi 高木 渉: Tall Tree, Ford (as in fording or crossing a river)

Junichiro Kishi 岸: Beach

Gakuto Wakabayashi 若林: Young Grove

Yuta Nakamigawa 仲三河: Between Three Rivers

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Ikusei:

Toshihiro Idei 出井: Exit Well

Hiromasa Saito 齊藤　大将: Adjusted Wisteria, General

Sho Ito: 伊藤: Italian Wisteria

Joseph Ken Miyamoto 宮本: Shrine Book

Taishi Mameda 豆田: Legume Paddy

Kaito Awatsu 粟津: Millet Harbor

Towa Uema 上間: Above Space

Takeru Furuichi 古市: Old Market

Shinya Sugai 菅井: Sedge Well

Keishin Kawamura 川村: River Village

Hitoto Komazuki 駒月: Horse Moon

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Manager and Coaches:

Hatsuhiko Tsuji 辻: Intersection

Kiyoshi Toyoda 豊田: Rich Paddy

Shigenobu Shima 嶋: Island

Masahiro Abe 阿部: Corner head of Yamato Group (saw Africa for Abe's name, but too confusing)

Fumiya Nishiguchi 西口: West Mouth

Tomoaki Sato 佐藤: Assistant Wisteria

Kazuo Matsui 松井: Pine Tree Well

Hiroyuki Takagi 高木 浩之: Tall Tree, This Abundance

Yosuke Hiraishi 平石: Peace Stone

Kosuke Noda 野田: Field Paddy, Abundance of help

Satoshi Kuroda 黒田: Black Paddy

Shogo Akada 赤田: Red Paddy

Eiji Kiyokawa 清川: Pure River

Tatsuyuki Uemoto 上本: Top Book

Tatsuya Ozeki 小関: Small Connection

Tatsuya Oishi 大石: Big Rock

Norio Tanabe 田辺: Paddy Border

Hayato Aoki 青木: Green Tree

Hisashi Takayama 高山: Tall Mountain

Shota Nakata 中田: Center Paddy

Shuichiro Osada 長田: Long Paddy

Yuji Onizaki 鬼崎: Demon Peninsula

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Bonus: Foreigners

As a continuous gag, we reverse translate the foreigners to see what their name in Japanese would literally look like, not just katakana sounds. Here is what their names would look like in kanji. Chinese names also included.

Nien Ting Wu 呉: Donor / Zouyosha (贈与者)

While Wu is Taiwanese, his name can also reference being a Giver though it mostly represents a kingdom/dynasty. 

Brian O'Grady: Noble / Koushou (高尚)

O'Grady's name has Gaelic origins being a derivative of the word for noble.

Dietrich Enns: God's Helmet / Kami Kabuto (神兜)

Enns, of Irish origins is short for Anselm of German descent which is God's helmet.

Burch Smith: Strike / Dageki (打撃)

Smith has Old English origins for a strike, the noun for the action of hits with a hammer or another craftsmen tool. 

Jantzen Witte: White One / Shirojin (白人)

Witte has Dutch and Germ)an origin. Very similar to how Wade LeBlanc has white as his surname with French origin.  

"Bo" Takahashi: To Live / Ikiru (住む)

 While Bo is a nickname, we'll include this name as Scandinavian descent given he goes by this instead of his surname meaning to Live or Dwell. 

Ikusei: 

Romer Cuadrado: Square / Shikaku (四角)

In Spanish, Cuadrado is the word for square. 

Jasier Herrera: Iron Mine / Tetsukouzan (鉄鉱山)

Herrera, with Spanish origin, is an iron mine. Fittingly 鉄 is the same character for Nishitetsu, the former Lions name in Fukuoka. 

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Bonus: Samurai Japan 

Just for fun we've thrown in Samurai Japan's squad for the 2023 World Baseball Classic going beyond Genda and Yamakawa.

Yu Darvish ダルビッシュ: 托鉢 (Takuhatsu たくはつ)

With Darvish having Iranian descent, his family name is a Sufi holy man derived from ‘Dervish’ a member of a Sufi Muslim religious order from Pahlavi driyosh meaning ‘beggar one who goes from door to door’.

托鉢 would count in religious manners of begging or monk's begging. 

Shohei Ohtani 大谷: Large Valley

Shosei Togo 戸郷: Door Village

Yuki Matsui 松井: Pine Tree Well

Roki Sasaki 佐々木: Assistant Tree

Taisei Ota 翁田: Venerable Old Man Paddy

Hiromi Itoh 伊藤: Italian Wisteria

Yoshinobu Yamamoto 山本: Mountain Book

Ryoji Kuribayashi 栗林: Chestnut Grove

Shota Imanaga 今永: Now Eternal

Atsuki Yuasa 湯浅: Hot Water Shallow

Yuki Udagawa 宇田川: Roof Paddy River

Hiroya Miyagi 宮城: Shrine Castle

Keiji Takahashi 高橋奎二: Tall Bridge, Constellation Two. 

Hiroto Takahashi 高橋宏斗: Wide Ladle

Takuya Kai 甲斐: A-Grade Beautiful 

Takumi Oshiro 大城: Big Castle

Yuhei Nakamura 中村: Center Village

Tetsuya Yamada 山田: Mountain Paddy

Shugo Maki 牧: Pasture

Takumu Nakano 中野: Center Field

Kazuka Okamoto 岡本: Hill Book

Munetaka Murakami 村上: Village Above

Kensuke Kondo 近藤: Near Wisteria

Ukyo Shuto 周東: Circuit East

Masataka Yoshida 吉田: Joy Paddy

Seiya Suzuki 鈴木: Bell Tree

Lars Nootbaar: 著名 / ちょめい Chomei

Nootbaar's family name has Dutch descent and references being notable or famous. 

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Seibu Lions 2023 camp lists announced

 

The Saitama Seibu Lions announced their camp lists for both A-camp in Miyazaki prefecture and B-camp in Kochi prefecture. 

Here are the full lists for both camps:

A-Camp (Nango, Miyazaki)

Pitchers: Yutaro Watanabe, Kona Takahashi, Tetsu Migagawa, Chihiro Sumida, Wataru Matsumoto, Shunsuke Sato, Shota Hamaya, Katsunori Hirai, Ryosuke Moriwaki, Bo Takahashi, Kaito Yoza, Keisuke Honda, Yaku Cho, Tatsuya Imai, Jesus Tinoco, Ren Omagari, Kaima Taira, Yoshinobu Mizukami, Dietrich Enns, Minato Aoyama

Catchers: Yuto Koga, Sena Tsuge, Daichi Nakaguma

Infielders: Hotaka Yamakawa, Ryosuke Kodama, Kakeru Yamanobe, Sosuke Genda, Shuta Tonosaki, David MacKinnon, Takayoshi Yamamura, Nien Ting Wu, Ryota Kawano, Naomasa Yohkawa

Outfielders: Takuya Hiruma, Mark Payton, Gakuto Wakabayashi, Shohei Suzuki, Manaya Nishikawa, Wataru Takagi

B-Camp (Haruno, Kochi)

Pitchers: Tatsushi Masuda, Katsuhiko Kumon, Takeru Sasaki, Ichiro Tamura, Hiroki Inoue, Haruto Yamada, Shinnosuke Hada, Masaya Kuroda, Yuto Akagami, Hiromasa Saito, Kaito Awatsu, Sho Ito, Towa Uema, Jasier Herrera, Toshihiro Idei, Daiki Miura, Taishi Mameda, Shinya Sugai

Catchers: Masatoshi Okada, Kaito Noda, Masato Saito, Shoya Makino, Ryosuke Koresawa, Takeru Furiuchi

Infielders: Brandon Tysinger, Shota Hiranuma, Seigo Nakayama, Ryusei Sato, Takeya Nakamura, Matsui Takizawa, Shinya Hasegawa, Kazuki Nomura

Outfielders:

Takumi Kuriyama, Yuji Kaneko, Yudai Furukawa, Aito Takeda, Yuta Nakamigawa, Junichiro Kishi, Seiji Kawagoe, Romer Cuadrado, Joseph Miyamoto, Montell Higuma

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It's interesting how Kodama and Aoyama will be given a look with the ichi-gun staff alongside the obvious first round draft pick Hiruma. If Kodama impresses, it's possible he can be plugged into the infield and be an immediate help. 

The Lions put all the veterans in B-camp and more than usual this time around, it feels like a half rebuild coming. 

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Fujinami will use Oakland as an audition for MLB

 

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As the final domino fell among NPB players going to MLB, it had the least amount of fanfare. Shintaro Fujinami signed with the Oakland Athletics this month and was officially introduced on Tuesday along with his agent Scott Boras, interpreter Issei Yamada, manager Mark Kotsay and General Manager David Forst.

Fujinami, who turns 29 in April, signed a one year, $3.25 million contract with the A's, while the team will pay the Hanshin Tigers a $650,000 posting fee with 20% of the contract. 

What made him sign with the Oakland A's? It was all about the opportunity and chance to play. 

"It was important for him to have a chance to be a starter. That’s how we’ve seen him perform in Japan," Forst said. "I expect he’ll be in the rotation. We have a lot of questions to answer about our rotation overall. But with his track record and the way he pitched down the stretch for Hanshin, we know he’ll be an important part of our rotation."

The Oakland A's had a continuous revolving door with players being shuffled at all positions in 2022. 

Only two spots in the rotation are guaranteed with Cole Irvin and Paul Blackburn being there from last year. 

James Kaprielian is coming off an injury while JP Sears and Ken Waldichuk were both starters to end the season coming from a trade that involved Frankie Montas. 

The A's also signed Drew Rucinski, who spent the last four seasons as a starter for the NC Dinos in KBO. Throw in former first round draft pick A.J. Puk who could also be a candidate and there's just too many names. 

To begin the year, they can afford to run a six-man rotation to ease Fujinami into a regular rotation schedule, let alone experiment with the pitchers who are the roster. 

The news outlets in Japan had Fujinami linked to the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox, but the A's emerged as the favorites when the dust settled and January came about. He flew to the States last week to take his physical and sign all the paperwork necessary. 

Kotsay said he will be back in Japan to acquire the work visa before going to Arizona for spring training.

By signing with the A's, it's a sign that he has to prove his worth to earn something later. 

The A's will be able to play him in order to get noticed elsewhere and if he does well to start, they'll trade him before the July 31 deadline and get a prospect or two in return. 

It's likely other teams weren't willing to play him immediately and saw too much risk with his control history.  

Fujinami came off one of his best seasons in seven years by lowering his walk rate and being useful multiple roles from the rotation and bullpen. Like most A's pitchers, he should benefit from playing inside the Oakland Coliseum, which has a large foul territory. 

He can throw a curveball, fastball, two-seamer, cutter, slider and splitter.  It's a versatile load as with most Japanese pitchers, but he and the team will need to figure out what is most useful going forward. 

For the A's it's a low-risk signing while also breaking a glass ceiling at the same time. 

This is the first time they've paid a posting fee after previously winning a bid for Hisashi Iwakuma's rights, only to low-ball him to prevent anyone else from signing the pitcher. 

Historically, they never sign a Scott Boras client in free agency either. Boras is an agent who is great at getting a player what he wants and most of the time, it's money. 

In the past, Boras would use the A's as leverage to bring out more funds from another team throwing a better offer like Adrian Beltre as an example. 

In Fujinami's case, he valued wanting a job in the starting rotation over funds. The A's have their own uncertainty from location to several players not being part of the long term future. 

Previously, Yusei Kikuchi wanted a team who could be patient with his development as he picked the Seattle Mariners over other teams who may have offered more money. 

The other glass ceiling was holding a public press conference, their first since Yoenis Cespedes before the 2012 season among major leaguers. They signed Hiroyuki Nakajima for 2013, but he failed to play in an MLB game. 

Last year, the A's offloaded their asset players before their value diminishes over time. The result of 2022 was their first 100 loss season since 1979, mostly playing a roster full of career minor leaguers who got a chance to showcase themselves and be noticed. Most recently Matt Davidson, David MacKinnon and Sheldon Neuse were part of the 2022 A's and signed contracts with NPB teams for 2023.

As a trivial coincidence, Fujinami is swapping teams and places with Neuse as the latter will be with the Hanshin Tigers. 

The A's are one of the softest media markets in baseball being in the heart of the Bay Area. They don't move the needle with a small fanbase combined with being second fiddle to the San Francisco Giants. 

This is a complete 180 from what Fujinami experienced with the Hanshin Tigers where Kansai is the most intense market in Japan. Instead of being high profile, he could be anonymous and go incognito in the Bay Area with a mostly empty Oakland Coliseum.

Fujinami has a lot to prove, but if he pulls of a strong start, someone else will want him and offer the A's something in return. It's win for all sides of he plays well. 

This is just an audition in Oakland with the plan to use the A's as a stepping stone for the long haul. 

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ICYMI: Here are some media things about Fujinami

Interview on A's cast with Chris Townnsend

GM David Forst on Fujinami

Fujinami's outing in August Forst spoke of. 

While he spoke about preferring his nickname as "Fuji" like Mt. Fuji, the former Japanese nickname he carried was Shin-chan. If anyone approaches him, Shin-chan would fit the bill. 

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Senga should be great support for a loaded rotation in New York

 

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Kodai Senga signed with the New York Mets to a five-year, $75 million contract this past week. He has the flexibility to opt out after the 2025 season if he wishes.

As Senga, who will be 30 in January,  was introduced to the media and it was clear how much he wanted to win over having a payday. 

What helps about this signing? He doesn't need to be an ace or the top pitcher in the Mets rotation. 

The Mets already have Max Scherzer and newly signed Justin Verlander to take the top two rotation spots while Senga could be the No. 3 pitcher. 

Last year, the Mets looked like they would dominate the NL Division, yet found a way to come up short and couldn't hold off the red hot Atlanta Braves in the final games. New York was eventually eliminated by the San Diego Padres in the wild card round for what was an embarrassing collapse. 

Jacob deGrom signed with the Texas Rangers while Chris Bassitt joined the Toronto Blue Jays in free agency, so the Mets brought in some different faces to reload. New York also lost Taijuan Walker to the Philadelphia Phillies. 

Besides Verlander and Senga, the Mets also signed Jose Quintana which should solidify the rotation. They could easily pitch David Peterson or Carlos Carrasco as the No. 5 or even No. 6 starters as well for the back end. 

There are other depth options including Elieser Hernandez, who was acquired by trade from the Miami Marlins and even Joey Lucchesi, who is returning from Tommy John surgery.

An argument can be made their rotation could be even better than what it produced in 2022.  They could ease Senga into the rotation with six men to start until he's used to pitching every four days. 

What has helped for the Mets is the change in ownership from having the controversial Wilpon family to now Steven A. Cohen. 

Since Cohen purchased the team, they've been willing and spend and invest in players, including having to eat the remainder of Robinson Cano's contract. Cohen himself has been active on social media as if he were just a rabid fan wanting to win. Money hasn't been a problem as he's provided plenty of resources. 

They've signed several free agents last year including Mark Canha, the aforementioned Scherzer and Starling Marte while they retained OF Brandon Nimmo this year to an eight-year contract. 

Notably, Billy Eppler became the GM in 2021, the same person who helped orchestrate the signing of Shohei Ohtani to the Los Angeles Angels. Difference with Eppler today is how he doesn't have a hands-on owner watching over his back on every move and has more freedom under Cohen.

In the opening press conference, Eppler rightfully introduced Senga mentioning not only his obvious championships and easy accomplishments, but the fact that he was an ikusei (developmental player) before he even made it to the ichi-gun of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. 

"He had to scratch and claw his way to the NPB," Eppler said of Senga. "He's constantly working to improve. He fought his way to become a star. That's a pretty good sign of resiliency. Frankly, I think it's one that Mets fans in the community would really identify with and feel good about."

Senga had to work his way up the ladder starting at the bottom and being a reliever before they made him a starting pitcher in 2016. 

The spotlight of New York shouldn't be a problem for Senga since he's been an ace in the past. If we're looking at concerns, it's his walk rate hovering around 9% while giving up home runs at a consistent rate. 

Durability was also a concern with recent shoulder and ankle injuries, but when healthy, Senga's fastball and "ghost" fork ball (splitter) should be effective in MLB. The former can go as fast as 102 mph. It wouldn't hurt if he could improve his slider for an extra pitch into his arsenal. 

Competition will be fierce as the Philadelphia Phillies were in the World Series last season while the aforementioned Braves won the division on the final week. Senga is already embracing his new challenge saying he looks forward to facing the Phillies lineup. 

The Mets are contenders on paper, yet they still haven't shown they can finish a full season like 2015 under this current regime.  Every game counts. 

Senga is already looking forward to being with teammates Scherzer and Verlander while he picked up the advice from Yu Darvish to learn more English. 

It's been a long time coming for Senga as he expressed desire to be in MLB as early as 2017, when he was at the World Baseball Classic playing for Samurai Japan. The Hawks stayed consistent with their policies in posting players, which is never doing it at all, forcing Senga to wait for international free agent rights. 

The best thing about this whole process was not having any deadline and being allowed to visit cities, teams and not rush the process like the posting system would have done. It was a carefully calculated decision to want to win now, not about the money at all. 

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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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