NPB Update 日本やきゅニュ-ス

Kenjo Jojima, the power hitting catcher for the Softbank Hawks, has a bad shoulder and will rest it for a week. I still hold out hope that the M's will look at Jojima as a bridge between our current catching mess and Clement.

Think the M's have issues with guys making a ton of money and not producing, I give you Kazuhiro Sasaki of the Yokohama Bay Stars. Kaz returned in 2004 and has the highest salary in NPB at 650 Million Yen, a little over 6 Million Dollars. The end appears to be insight for Kaz as the team sent him down to the farm team earlier this year and he lost his closing duties to Marc Koon. 0-3 with 4 saves and a 9.53 ERA are the telltale signs of the end of a career. Sasaki hopes to pitch in his hometown of Sendai when the Baystars have a home away from home game against the Giants. Koon recently set the record for fastest pitched clocked last month with a 161 km fastball against the Tigers.

Sasaki has also been engaged in a lot of changes in his personal life.

Softbank continues to lead Lotte by 3.5 games, both have left the rest of the Pacific League in the dust. In the Central League, the Tigers have a 2.5 game lead over the Dragons and the Giants have managed to pull within a game and a half of the last place Hiroshima Carp.