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Here's what some of the members
of the Japan baseball media thought about the season prior to Opening Day 2008.
(We'll keep this up until shortly before the next season, so you can see how
they did.)
Yomiuri
Giants -- Projected Finish: 1
The defending CL champion Giants have few
weaknesses after their winter free agent splurge.
Alex Ramirez and Seth Greisinger come over from
Yakult and speedballer Marc Kroon from Yokohama, making the Giants even more
frightening on offense and on the mound.
Ramirez is coming off the best of his seven
seasons in Japan and is a proven run producer, last year becoming only the third
player and the first foreigner to reach 100 RBIs in five consecutive seasons.
He can step in and bat cleanup if Lee Seung
Yeop's bat falls off like it did last season.
Greisinger led the CL with 16 wins in 2008, and
Kroon was nearly automatic in the save role in his three years with the BayStars.
Two areas that might hurt the Giants are age and
speed. The veteran outfield trio of Ramirez, Yoshitomo Tani and Yoshinobu
Takahashi aren't the most fleet of foot, although manager Tatsunori Hara has
plenty of speed on his bench and will probably give impressive reserve
outfielder Yoshiyuki Kamei more playing time.
But with the power the Giants pack--tops in Japan
in homers and runs last season with 191 and 692, respectively--Yomiuri can slug
its way through those problems.
Koji Uehara is back in the starting rotation,
joining Greisinger, Tetsuya Utsumi and Hisanori Takahashi and a number of strong
candidates for the last two spots.
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From
Jason Coskrey of The
Japan Times:
It's been five seasons since manager Tatsunori Hara led the Kyojin to the
Japan Series title. The Yomiuri faithful are becoming restless.
This year, with All-Stars as far as the eyes can see, the pressure will be on
Hara to end the title drought.
The Giants made a big splash this offseason, upgrading what was already the
top lineup in Japanese baseball with the acquisition of slugger Alex Ramirez.
In 2007, Ramirez was arguably the best player in Japan from the All-Star game
until the end of the year, setting a Central League record with 204 hits and
finishing first in the league in RBIs (122) and second in batting average
(.343).
Ramirez's right-handed bat gives the Giants more balance in a loaded lineup
that also includes Best Nine members Yoshinobu Takahashi, Michihiro Ogasawara
and Shinnosuke Abe.
Yomiuri made significant upgrades to its pitching staff by acquiring 16-game
winner Seth Greisinger. The Giants also signed All-Star closer Marc Kroon to
facilitate Koji Uehara's return to the starting rotation.
They join 14-game winners Hisanori Takahashi and Tetsuya Utsumi, 12-game
winner Hiroshi Kisanuki, with Norihito Kaneto, Ken Kadokura and possibly
Takahiko Nomaguchi providing other options.
Kentaro Nishimura returns to the bullpen to be the bridge between the
starters, setup man Kiyoshi Toyoda and Kroon.
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