NEWSWORTHY
Eagles announce plans to make Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi world's first cashless stadium
The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles want you to leave your cash at home. The Pacific League club late last week unveiled a plan to make its home stadium, Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi, completely cashless in 2019. The Eagles say it will be the world's first ...
Yusei Kikuchi's move shows revised posting system not great for NPB clubs
Why would an NPB team post its best players now? If the going rate for someone like Yusei Kikuchi, one of the best pitchers in Japan, is only just over $10 million, how long before NPB clubs see the value in just keeping their top ...
Newly-minted Seattle Mariners left-hander Yusei Kikuchi returned to Japan on Sunday after completing his move to the major leagues this past week, expressing excitement as he begins preparing for the next step in his career. Speaking to reporters at Narita airport outside Tokyo, Kikuchi, one ...
Pitcher Yusei Kikuchi has finalized four-year contract with the Seattle Mariners that guarantees $56 million and incudes club options that would be make it worth $109 million over seven seasons. Seattle announced the agreement Wednesday, just ahead of the deadline for the 27-year-old to sign ...
Yusei Kikuchi may follow Shohei Ohtani's example in the MLB
Although Yusei Kikuchi is arriving in the major leagues with less fanfare than Shohei Ohtani did a year ago, the lefty could — like Ohtani did — help change people's minds about Japanese pitching. Kikuchi, who has reportedly reached a deal with the Seattle Mariners, ...
Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi has agreed to sign with the Seattle Mariners, sources revealed Monday. Kikuchi has agreed to a four-year deal with the Mariners, according to MLB.com. The 27-year-old lefty was posted to Major League Baseball on Dec. 3 by the Seibu Lions and had ...
Yusei Kikuchi prepared himself for move to majors
Yusei Kikuchi's impending move to the major leagues this winter has been planned out long in advance, according to sources close to the left-handed pitcher. From the instant the Seibu Lions announced they would be willing to post their No. 1 pitcher this offseason, Kikuchi ...
Giants experience downside of NPB free agency as Tetsuya Utsumi departs
The images late last week of lefty pitcher Tetsuya Utsumi posing for photos wearing a white Seibu Lions uniform over his dress shirt — he wore a blue tie for effect — might've been a bit jarring for Yomiuri Giants fans. Other fanbases, like those ...
Pitcher Tetsuya Utsumi to join Lions as compensation for Giants' signing of Ginjiro Sumitani
The Yomiuri Giants announced Thursday they will send veteran left-hander Tetsuya Utsumi to the Seibu Lions in compensation for their recent acquisition of free agent catcher Ginjiro Sumitani. The 36-year-old Utsumi joined the Giants from the Tokyo Gas corporate league team in 2004 and was ...
Pacific League MVP Hotaka Yamakawa has signed a new contract with the Seibu Lions, the Saitama club said Wednesday. The 27-year-old first baseman, who led Nippon Professional Baseball in home runs this year, will receive an estimated annual salary of ¥110 million ($973,000), nearly tripling ...
The Seibu Lions have posted left-hander Yusei Kikuchi to the major leagues, the Pacific League champions announced Monday. Kikuchi, 27, applied to Nippon Professional Baseball, and the league in turn informed Major League Baseball, according to the team. He needed his club's approval to move ...
Tomoya Mori, Ko Shimozuru recipients of Sky Perfect Dramatic Sayonara of the Year Award
Tomoya Mori sent the fans at Seibu Dome into hysterics with his sayonara double in April. Ko Shimozuru did the same in July with a home run at Mazda Stadium. There aren't many things in baseball more exciting or dramatic than a sayonara hit. Of ...
