NPB Tracker

Update: Brewers beat writer Tom Haudricourt has more.

Sponichi got Brewers owner Mark Attanasio on the record about Norichika Aoki on January 12. Here’s what Attanasio had to say:

“It certainly wasn’t a tryout. It was an opportunity for our GM and manager to directly see what type of player he is.”

“Defensively he was terrific and he’s a professional with an established track record, so he took it seriously.”*

*Note: translation of a translation.

Sponichi expects the Brewers and Aoki to reach an agreement by the start of the week. The two sides have until the 17th to work out a deal.

A bit of front office news to pass along here — last week, the Yokohama DeNA Baystars hired Shun Kakazu as an assistant to GM Shigeru Takada. Kakazu, 30, is a Harvard graduate who worked in Lotte’s front office during the Bobby V era and spent the last two years scouting for the San Francisco Giants.

The extent of my knowledge of Kakazu is limited to Bobby singing his praises on his personal blog, most notably after Kakazu’s trip to the winter meetings, and upon Bobby’s return to Connecticut for the 2008-09 offseason. That said, I like the idea of Kakazu having a top job in an NPB front office, mostly because he breaks the mold of front office guys being former players, or coming from the ownership’s parent company.