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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.)
From the Yomiuri
Shimbun Online
Seibu
Lions --
Predicted Finish: 5
Last year's catastrophic fifth-place finish was
caused by a batting collapse. Although two of the Lions' biggest hitters are
gone, the chances are good that new manager Hisanobu Watanabe's club will be
better at scoring runs.
Shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima could be the Lions'
offensive center, but he is injury prone. His promising power has also largely
vanished since 2005, the year the Mizuno company took some juice out of its
balls.
Second base was a hole last season following
Yasuyuki Kataoka's April 18 collision with teammate G.G. Sato, who helped make
up for the costly crash by becoming the club's big run producer.
Because Craig Brazell is in his prime (he turns
28 in May), he is a solid step ahead of most hitters with similarly solid minor
league credentials and might be better than Alex Cabrera was last season,
although it wasn't a good year for Cabrera.
Sato, Kataoka and Brazell should give the Lions a
decent base of power. On top of that are three wild cards: Nakajima, Hisashi
Takayma and Hiram Bocachica, who might tip the balance and turn the Lions into
playoff participants.
Takayama, who was successful in 2007 as a
pinch-hitter, would make a super platoon combination with Takumi Kuriyama in
center. With Bocachica in left and Sato in right, the Lions could have an
adequate outfield.
The starting pitching will get a boost from free
agent lefty Kazuhisa Ishii, who should bounce back after his first losing season
in Japan since he went 1-5 in 1995. Right-hander Hideaki Wakui turns 22 in June
and has established himself as one of Japan's top arms. The Lions also have
veteran Fumiya Nishiguchi, coming off a mediocre year, and second-year
right-hander Takuya Kishi.
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From
Jason Coskrey of The
Japan Times
New manager Hisanobu Watanabe takes over a team that limped to its worst
finish in more than 25 years and lost Alex Cabrera and Kazuhiro Wada.
Without Cabrera and Wada, the pressure is on shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima, who
has batted at least .300 and driven in more than 60 runs in each of the past two
seasons, and will bat third.
He will help set the table for new cleanup hitter Craig Brazell.
The Lions will likely need increased production out of second baseman
Yasuyuki Kataoka (.255, .290 on-base percentage), if he stays in the leadoff
spot, and third baseman Takeya Nakamura (.230, 7 home runs, 32 RBIs), if they
hope to rebound from a fifth-place finish, their first outside the top three
since 1981.
G.G. Sato gives the Lions some power in the outfield alongside Takumi
Kuriyama and newcomer Hiram Bocachica.
The pitching staff starts with 17-game winner Hideaki Wakui, who should get
the ball on Opening Day. Behind him is 11-game winner Takayuki Kishi.
The Lions added depth in the offseason by signing ex-Yakult hurler Kazuhisa
Ishii and can also turn to right-hander Fumiya Nishiguchi.
Seibu also bolstered its bullpen by acquiring ex-Chunichi Dragons setup man
Shinya Okamoto.
He joins a pair of relievers who posted double-digit saves in 2007 — Alex
Graman and Chikara Onodera.
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